Jiska de Groot
Biographic Data
| ID | 5437518 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jiska de Groot |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jiska |
| FAMILY NAME | de Groot |
| SIGNATURE | DE GROOT J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cape Town |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0413-0051 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 83 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Mind the gap
This paper examines transitions along the financing continuum for energy access companies, highlighting the dynamic and often non-sequential pathways through which they secure capital. It explores the complexities of moving between funding types and stages, identifying the critical junctures where funding gaps emerge and how these discontinuities affect the delivery of energy access business models and technologies. Drawing on the Transforming En…
The ‘capability’ of South African energy governance to deliver urban sustainable transitions
Critical to the trajectory and outcome of urban sustainable energy transitions is the ability of government institutions to foster conditions for change and innovation. In this paper, a theoretical perspective combining state power and local governance capability is used as a lens to examine the transition of the energy system in South Africa based on semi-structured interviews with a range of relevant stakeholders, supplemented by analysis of pu…
The informality-energy innovation-finance nexus
This paper proposes the concept of the informality- energy innovation- finance nexus, as a theoretical framework to analyse micro-grid based urban off-grid energy access. The provision of energy access in urban informal set- tlements has received increased attention by scholars working on informality and energy in recent years. Recently, scholars have looked at the off-grid-urban informality nexus and have argued for the integration of off- grid …
Beyond the Grid
In this paper, we argue using smart technologies beyond the grid disrupts the access and use of existing energy sources, with profound impacts on everyday social life. We show how off‐grid smart energy solutions constitute their own politics when considering existing conceptualisations of urban infrastructures in geography and the social sciences. To expose its politics, or “micropolitics”, we consider how tensions occur at the interface between …
Smart and disruptive infrastructures
Smart urbanism is an established research area in geography and the social sciences. We draw on ‘worlding-provincialising’ strategies identified in an Urban Studies Special Issue from February 2021 to explore how smart infrastructures, a form of smart urbanism, disrupt representations of informality and urban development in new and productive ways. Focussing on the disruptive or troublesome implications of smart infrastructures reveals site-level…
Solar energy at the peri-urban frontier
Most of the global population that lack access to electricity services live in sub-Saharan Africa. Peri-urban areas of large African cities, often characterized by the presence of informal settlements, exist in a kind of ‘scalar limbo,’ unable to benefit from either access to the city grid or from programs aimed at the electrification of rural areas. In addition, in those areas where lack of electricity access is common, energy poverty combined w…
Rethinking education for SDG 7
Rethinking the off-grid city
There has been a resurgence in interest in the off-grid city in the Global South, and on how it functions as a collection of places, lived spaces, and dynamic infrastructural configurations. As scholars and practitioners working in the South African off-grid urban context, we identify four areas for further elaboration in off-grid urban research: 1.) redefining academic and practical understandings of the “grid”, ultimately moving to rethink its …
Why do low-income urban dwellers reject energy technologies? Exploring the socio-cultural acceptance of solar adoption in Mumbai and Cape Town
Is (in)access to infrastructure driven by physical delivery or weak governance? Power and knowledge asymmetries in Cape Town, South Africa
Scales of governance
In this paper, we argue for a multiscalar focus on the governance of energy policy and practice. This perspective reveals the translation of agendas and policies across scales stretching from the global to the local. We analyse South Africa’s energy landscape, which is influenced by: a highly complex and dynamic set of generation and production networks, policy strategies, multiple state and non-state actors, and the continuing impact of aparthei…
Covid-19 responses
Throughout the early months of 2020, COVID-19 rapidly changed how the world functioned, with the closure of borders, schools and workplaces, national lockdowns, and the rapid normalization of “self-isolation” and “social distancing”. However, while public health recommendations were broadly universal, human capacity to accordingly transform everyday life has differed significantly. We use the example of South Africa to highlight the privileged na…
Energy consumption behaviours of children in low-income communities
Fuelling women's empowerment? An exploration of the linkages between gender, entrepreneurship and access to energy in the informal food sector
This interdisciplinary review paper explores linkages between access to energy, women's empowerment and entrepreneurship. This will be discussed in the context of the informal food sector. Despite expectations that access to energy for productive uses empowers women by enabling them to generate an income, women in developing countries face a range of barriers when establishing and operating enterprises, including access to energy. The literature …
Space, Patronage, Procedure
This article considers King Charles I's wartime court at Oxford (1642–46). For all the influential and in‐depth work undertaken on Charles' court during the 1620s and 1630s, there has been little attempt to chart the history or structure of the court after 1642. The court was much smaller, and more physically confined, after it moved from Whitehall to Oxford. This essay contributes a brief description of this institution, relying primarily on neg…
Covid-19 responses
Throughout the early months of 2020, COVID-19 rapidly changed how the world functioned, with the closure of borders, schools and workplaces, national lockdowns, and the rapid normalization of “self-isolation” and “social distancing”. However, while public health recommendations were broadly universal, human capacity to accordingly transform everyday life has differed significantly. We use the example of South Africa to highlight the privileged na…
Why do low-income urban dwellers reject energy technologies? Exploring the socio-cultural acceptance of solar adoption in Mumbai and Cape Town
Rethinking the off-grid city
There has been a resurgence in interest in the off-grid city in the Global South, and on how it functions as a collection of places, lived spaces, and dynamic infrastructural configurations. As scholars and practitioners working in the South African off-grid urban context, we identify four areas for further elaboration in off-grid urban research: 1.) redefining academic and practical understandings of the “grid”, ultimately moving to rethink its …
Fuelling women's empowerment? An exploration of the linkages between gender, entrepreneurship and access to energy in the informal food sector
This interdisciplinary review paper explores linkages between access to energy, women's empowerment and entrepreneurship. This will be discussed in the context of the informal food sector. Despite expectations that access to energy for productive uses empowers women by enabling them to generate an income, women in developing countries face a range of barriers when establishing and operating enterprises, including access to energy. The literature …
Is (in)access to infrastructure driven by physical delivery or weak governance? Power and knowledge asymmetries in Cape Town, South Africa
Solar energy at the peri-urban frontier
Most of the global population that lack access to electricity services live in sub-Saharan Africa. Peri-urban areas of large African cities, often characterized by the presence of informal settlements, exist in a kind of ‘scalar limbo,’ unable to benefit from either access to the city grid or from programs aimed at the electrification of rural areas. In addition, in those areas where lack of electricity access is common, energy poverty combined w…
Scales of governance
In this paper, we argue for a multiscalar focus on the governance of energy policy and practice. This perspective reveals the translation of agendas and policies across scales stretching from the global to the local. We analyse South Africa’s energy landscape, which is influenced by: a highly complex and dynamic set of generation and production networks, policy strategies, multiple state and non-state actors, and the continuing impact of aparthei…
The informality-energy innovation-finance nexus
This paper proposes the concept of the informality- energy innovation- finance nexus, as a theoretical framework to analyse micro-grid based urban off-grid energy access. The provision of energy access in urban informal set- tlements has received increased attention by scholars working on informality and energy in recent years. Recently, scholars have looked at the off-grid-urban informality nexus and have argued for the integration of off- grid …
Beyond the Grid
In this paper, we argue using smart technologies beyond the grid disrupts the access and use of existing energy sources, with profound impacts on everyday social life. We show how off‐grid smart energy solutions constitute their own politics when considering existing conceptualisations of urban infrastructures in geography and the social sciences. To expose its politics, or “micropolitics”, we consider how tensions occur at the interface between …
Smart and disruptive infrastructures
Smart urbanism is an established research area in geography and the social sciences. We draw on ‘worlding-provincialising’ strategies identified in an Urban Studies Special Issue from February 2021 to explore how smart infrastructures, a form of smart urbanism, disrupt representations of informality and urban development in new and productive ways. Focussing on the disruptive or troublesome implications of smart infrastructures reveals site-level…
Rethinking education for SDG 7
Energy consumption behaviours of children in low-income communities
Space, Patronage, Procedure
This article considers King Charles I's wartime court at Oxford (1642–46). For all the influential and in‐depth work undertaken on Charles' court during the 1620s and 1630s, there has been little attempt to chart the history or structure of the court after 1642. The court was much smaller, and more physically confined, after it moved from Whitehall to Oxford. This essay contributes a brief description of this institution, relying primarily on neg…
Space, Patronage, Procedure
This article considers King Charles I's wartime court at Oxford (1642–46). For all the influential and in‐depth work undertaken on Charles' court during the 1620s and 1630s, there has been little attempt to chart the history or structure of the court after 1642. The court was much smaller, and more physically confined, after it moved from Whitehall to Oxford. This essay contributes a brief description of this institution, relying primarily on neg…
Fuelling women's empowerment? An exploration of the linkages between gender, entrepreneurship and access to energy in the informal food sector
This interdisciplinary review paper explores linkages between access to energy, women's empowerment and entrepreneurship. This will be discussed in the context of the informal food sector. Despite expectations that access to energy for productive uses empowers women by enabling them to generate an income, women in developing countries face a range of barriers when establishing and operating enterprises, including access to energy. The literature …
Energy consumption behaviours of children in low-income communities
Scales of governance
In this paper, we argue for a multiscalar focus on the governance of energy policy and practice. This perspective reveals the translation of agendas and policies across scales stretching from the global to the local. We analyse South Africa’s energy landscape, which is influenced by: a highly complex and dynamic set of generation and production networks, policy strategies, multiple state and non-state actors, and the continuing impact of aparthei…
Covid-19 responses
Throughout the early months of 2020, COVID-19 rapidly changed how the world functioned, with the closure of borders, schools and workplaces, national lockdowns, and the rapid normalization of “self-isolation” and “social distancing”. However, while public health recommendations were broadly universal, human capacity to accordingly transform everyday life has differed significantly. We use the example of South Africa to highlight the privileged na…
Why do low-income urban dwellers reject energy technologies? Exploring the socio-cultural acceptance of solar adoption in Mumbai and Cape Town
Is (in)access to infrastructure driven by physical delivery or weak governance? Power and knowledge asymmetries in Cape Town, South Africa
Solar energy at the peri-urban frontier
Most of the global population that lack access to electricity services live in sub-Saharan Africa. Peri-urban areas of large African cities, often characterized by the presence of informal settlements, exist in a kind of ‘scalar limbo,’ unable to benefit from either access to the city grid or from programs aimed at the electrification of rural areas. In addition, in those areas where lack of electricity access is common, energy poverty combined w…
Rethinking education for SDG 7
Rethinking the off-grid city
There has been a resurgence in interest in the off-grid city in the Global South, and on how it functions as a collection of places, lived spaces, and dynamic infrastructural configurations. As scholars and practitioners working in the South African off-grid urban context, we identify four areas for further elaboration in off-grid urban research: 1.) redefining academic and practical understandings of the “grid”, ultimately moving to rethink its …
The ‘capability’ of South African energy governance to deliver urban sustainable transitions
Critical to the trajectory and outcome of urban sustainable energy transitions is the ability of government institutions to foster conditions for change and innovation. In this paper, a theoretical perspective combining state power and local governance capability is used as a lens to examine the transition of the energy system in South Africa based on semi-structured interviews with a range of relevant stakeholders, supplemented by analysis of pu…
The informality-energy innovation-finance nexus
This paper proposes the concept of the informality- energy innovation- finance nexus, as a theoretical framework to analyse micro-grid based urban off-grid energy access. The provision of energy access in urban informal set- tlements has received increased attention by scholars working on informality and energy in recent years. Recently, scholars have looked at the off-grid-urban informality nexus and have argued for the integration of off- grid …
Beyond the Grid
In this paper, we argue using smart technologies beyond the grid disrupts the access and use of existing energy sources, with profound impacts on everyday social life. We show how off‐grid smart energy solutions constitute their own politics when considering existing conceptualisations of urban infrastructures in geography and the social sciences. To expose its politics, or “micropolitics”, we consider how tensions occur at the interface between …
Smart and disruptive infrastructures
Smart urbanism is an established research area in geography and the social sciences. We draw on ‘worlding-provincialising’ strategies identified in an Urban Studies Special Issue from February 2021 to explore how smart infrastructures, a form of smart urbanism, disrupt representations of informality and urban development in new and productive ways. Focussing on the disruptive or troublesome implications of smart infrastructures reveals site-level…
Mind the gap
This paper examines transitions along the financing continuum for energy access companies, highlighting the dynamic and often non-sequential pathways through which they secure capital. It explores the complexities of moving between funding types and stages, identifying the critical junctures where funding gaps emerge and how these discontinuities affect the delivery of energy access business models and technologies. Drawing on the Transforming En…
Economics (11 works) · Political science (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Business (8 works) · Energy and Environment Impacts (8 works) · Geography (8 works) · Economic growth (7 works) · Engineering (6 works) · Context (archaeology (5 works) · Corporate governance (4 works)