EMILIE ETIENNE

Sciences Po Grenoble, School of Political Studies

• Methods conference in sociology; for 1st year students – in French (30h*8 b/w 2022-26)
• An introduction to sociology - application to energy; for Master students – in French (3h*2 b/w 2022-24)
• Socio-ecological issues: a sociological approach; for 1st & 3rd year students – in French (3h*4 in 2023-25)

Master 2 "Transformative urban studies" (TRUST)

• Disaster Risk Management and Governance – in English (13,5h in 2021-22; 22,5h*2 b/w 2022-24)
• Social issues and urban transformations: inequalities, vulnerabilities, (in)formal city – in French (7,5h*3 b/w 2021-24)

Other teaching assignments

• Access to energy in the Global South; for Master students in economics – in French (1,5h in 2021-22; 3h in 2022-23)
• Co-creation of a cross-disciplinary course "Anthropocene and planetary limits"; for 1st year students – in French (2h in 2021-22)
• Supervision of a Master 2 dissertation (12h in 2023-24)

CV HAL link: 

https://cv.hal.science/emilie-etienne

LinkedIn: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/eetienne/

Between 2010 and 2020, I worked for NGOs and a social enterprise on energy, water and sanitation, and disaster risk management for urban and rural populations in Latin America, Asia and Africa. My interest in the future of these infrastructures and research in general led me to start a PhD in December 2020 to understand how development projects evolve over time.

My PhD is being carried out at the University of Grenoble-Alpes, under the supervision of Pascale Trompette, sociologist, and Sandrine Mathy, economist, respectively members of the PACTE and GAEL laboratories. Schneider Electric, through the Access to Energy team (Frédérick Choupin, Nicolas Plain) is sponsoring my work.

Working languages: French, Spanish, English and Portuguese

Subject: 

The future of solar projects: a socio-economic research on the autonomy of off-grid solutions in emerging countries

Supervisor(s): 

Pascale Trompette

External supervisor(s): 

Sandrine Mathy; GAEL

PhD abstract: 

The thesis focuses on the maintenance of small development infrastructures in a context of growing involvement of private actors since the 1980s. I look at solar mini-grids to provide electricity for rural households in Senegal and Kenya. Empirically, the thesis is based on interviews, observations and analysis of public policy documents. It draws on approaches from the sociology of organisations, the sociology of socio-technical arrangements and the socio-anthropology of development.

Mini-grids embody an ideal of self-sufficiency, necessary for their longevity. Through a historical perspective of the rural electrification project, I show that mini-grids rely on three conflicting rules: leaving no one behind in terms of electrification, setting cost-reflective tariffs, and providing an electricity service which quality is (acceptably) lower than that of the main grid.

To create a market, funders and operators establish ‘fictional expectations’ (Beckert J., 2016), which shape promises regarding the profitability of mini-grids. These expectations translate into calculative, narrative and relational devices designed to mould ideal users who comply with infrastructure constraints. Despite these mechanisms, mini-grids struggle to operate in a self-sufficient way relating to technical and financial aspects. That leads to a renewal of rules. I analyse the tensions and interactions between the actors involved, i.e. Western donors, state institutions, operators and African (non)users. I do so through the prism of chains of promises and accountability, in the sense of reporting and being held accountable.

By articulating local and (inter)national levels of analysis, the thesis makes the following two propositions: on the one hand, the ideal of self-sufficiency paradoxically leads to a strong interdependence between actors, which can be explained by the fragility of the socio-technical system; on the other hand, constraints fall onto the most fragile actors, namely users and operators. I conclude with an enriched definition of maintenance: it rests on a collective, which is linked by chains of promises and accountability, and is engaged in a continuous process of maintaining and renewing rules. As such, the maintenance of development infrastructure questions the temporalities of the aid sector, that is characterised by the notion of time-bound ‘projects’.

Journal articles

Reliability and accountability of off-grid solar electricity in Senegal

Emilie Etienne

Flux - Cahiers scientifiques internationaux Réseaux et territoires, 2022, 2022/3-4 (129-130), pp.59-75. ⟨10.3917/flux1.129.0059⟩

Conference papers

Sizing rural isolated mini-grids in Africa: beyond technical and economic calculations, how does sizing crystallize regulatory, financial and institutional uncertain constraints?

Théo Chamarande, Emilie Etienne, Sandrine Mathy

Governing Renewable Energy Rollouts in Financially Constrained Contexts, Nov 2022, University of Stavanger, Norway

Book sections

At the Margins of the Grid: The Politics of Off-Grid Electrification in Senegal

PASCALE TROMPETTE, Emilie Etienne, Rhosnie Francius

Nathanael Ojong. Off-Grid Solar Electrification in Africa, Springer International Publishing, pp.65-110, 2022, Energy, Climate and the Environment, 978-3-031-13825-6. ⟨10.1007/978-3-031-13825-6_3⟩

• Elected member of Pacte council from 2021 to 2024

1. Representation of PhD candidates at quarterly Unit Council meetings and General Assemblies
2. Implementation of a welcome process for new PhD candidates
3. Organization of a welcome day for new PhD in 2021 and 2024

4. Supporting PhD candidates in case of difficulties

   5. Coordination of an interview guide for PhD's Individual Follow-up Committees (CSI) to identify difficulties

    

• Member of the committee “Ecological transitions” within Pacte

1. Drawing up a founding text for the laboratory's ecological transition policy

2. Design and run workshops at the Annual General Meeting in 2023 to develop a governance process for these issues.

    

• Scientific conferences, with written contributions

Faye, F. B., Etienne, E. « Façonner les marchés dans les Suds à partir d’enjeux environnementaux: mini-réseaux et lampadaires solaires au Sénégal ». 11ème congrès de l’AFS; RT 12. Toulouse, 2025. 

Etienne, Emilie. « Public-private partnerships for energy access as partial organisations: understanding organisationality over time ». 40th EGOS Colloquium (European Group for Organizational Studies), Milan, Italie, 2024.

Etienne, Emilie. « The reliability of off-grid solar mini-grids in Kenya and Senegal: an accountability dissolved among stakeholders and systemic constraints ». SIGMA Dissemination event, Guildford, United Kingdom, 2024.

Chamarande, Théo, Emilie Etienne, et Sandrine Mathy. « Sizing rural isolated mini-grids in Africa: beyond technical and economic calculations, how does sizing crystallize regulatory, financial and institutional uncertain constraints? ». Workshop Governing Renewable Energy Rollouts in Financially Constrained Contexts, Stavanger, Norvège, 2022.

Etienne, Emilie, et Pierre Robert. « Pérennité et impact des projets d’électrification rurale décentralisée au Sénégal : quels résultats 7 ans après ? ». XXXVIIème Journées du développement de l'Association Tiers-Monde ; Brest, France, 2022.

Etienne, Emilie. « Le dernier maillon de l’électricité marchande : les gestionnaires villageois africains aux prises à des loyautés en tension ». Journées doctorales « Regards critiques sur le développement » ; Aubervilliers, France, 2022.

• Scientific conferences, oral contributions only

Etienne, E. « Une division internationale de l’énergie portée par les tensions géopolitiques : l’injonction aux énergies renouvelables décentralisées dans les Suds ruraux entre 1945 et 1981 ». Journée d’étude «Transformations Énergétiques, Transformations Politiques dans les Suds », Paris, 2024.

Etienne, E. « The reliability of off-grid solar mini-grids in Kenya and Senegal: an accountability dissolved among stakeholders and systemic constraints ». SIGMA event, Guildford, 2024. 

Etienne, Emilie. « Circulation de l’information et innovations techniques : comment les dispositifs numériques pour l’électrification rurale en Afrique redéfinissent-ils les relations entre acteurs ? » Présenté à 10ème congrès de l’Association Française de sociologie; Réseau Thématique 29 « Sciences et techniques en société », Lyon, France, 2023.

Trompette, Pascale, et Emilie Etienne. « At The Margins Of The Grid: The Politics Of Off-grid Electrification In Senegal ». Présenté à EADI CEsA General Conference 2023: Towards New Rhythms of Development; Session « SP24: Energy in Times of Unprecedented Challenges: Rethinking Off-grid Solar Technologies in the Global South », Lisbonne, Portugal, 2023.

Etienne, Emilie. « La maintenance des mini-réseaux solaires au Sénégal, un enjeu d’accountability balbutiant ». Journée doctorale; 11ème congrès de l’Association Française d’Economie Politique (AFEP) ; Amiens, France, 2022.

Etienne, Emilie. « The future of solar projects: a socio-economic research on the autonomy of off-grid solutions in emerging countries ». Organisé par l’association « Sorbonne Développement Durable » (SDD) et l’Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne présenté à Colloque international des doctorants, COP 21: 5 ans après, En ligne, 2021.

• Presentations within research laboratories

In France:

1. Pacte (UGA) (2021, 2022, 2023)
2. Grenoble Applied Economy Laboratory (GAEL - UGA) (2021)
3. Observatory of Energy Transitions (OTE) (2023, 2024)
4. Institute of Environmental Geosciences (IGE-UGA) (2022)
5. UMR Espace-Dev (2025)

Abroad:

1. University College London – United Kingdom (2023)
2. Centre for Climate & Energy Transformation, University of Stavanger – Norway (2022)

3. Nuvoni Centre for Innovation Research – Kenya (2022)

    

• Science outreach in non-academic spheres:

1. Contribution to various practitioners’ committees on energy in France (ADEME, SER, Fondem, Tenerrdis) and science outreach in non-academic spheres (NGOs, Schneider Electric, UNDP)

2. French competition “My PhD in 180 seconds”

3. Contribution to research proposals for European Union and French grants (LEAP-RE and ANR) with French, European and African partners.

4. 2023-2024: European programme on Knowledge brokerage for sustainability transitions, coordinated by the SSH Centre located in the UK (2023-24). This program aims to link social sciences and public policy in sustainability transitions. It consists in trainings around knowledge brokerage and support to the city of Valencia (Spain), along with four other young researchers based in Europe. This support consisted of interviews with Valencia stakeholders, a review of the grey and scientific literature on citizen engagement, and a workshop with the city of Valencia and other stakeholders to refine the initial results. This program benefits from European funding: https://sshcentre.eu/