International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy 2021; 10(1): 19-27 http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijsge doi: 10.11648/j.ijrse.20211001.14 ISSN: 2575-2189 (Print); ISSN: 2575-1549 (Online) Prospects and Constraints to Attaining Universal Access to Modern Energy in Malawi: A Review Hope Baxter Chamdimba 1, * , Gad Reuben Mugagga 2 , Elias Ako 2 1 Energy Resources Department, Ndata School of Climate and Earth Sciences, Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST), Thyolo, Malawi 2 Energy Technology Department, School of Engineering, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya Email address: * Corresponding author To cite this article: Hope Baxter Chamdimba, Gad Reuben Mugagga, Elias Ako. Prospects and Constraints to Attaining Universal Access to Modern Energy in Malawi: A Review. International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy. Vol. 10, No. 1, 2021, pp. 19-27. doi: 10.11648/j.ijrse.20211001.14 Received: February 3, 2021; Accepted: February 10, 2021; Published: February 26, 2021 Abstract: The Malawi Government regards energy as a life blood of the economy and as such a number of national policy documents have emphasized energy as one of the national priority areas that demand urgent intervention by the government and stakeholders. There is also a consensus that ensuring universal access to modern energy in an energy deficit country will also help improve living standards of people in line with national and global goals. Through a 2018 National Energy Policy, Malawi effectively domesticated the Sustainable Development Goal Seven and the Sustainable Energy for All objectives which among others seek to ensure universal access to modern energy by the year 2030. However, now in the last decade of the 2030 agenda, the country is not yet on the path to achieving the universal access to energy goal despite of having numerous opportunities for reversing the energy poverty trends. Doing a post-mortem is of essence in order to determine prospects and constraints to achievement of the national energy goals and objectives regarding universal access to modern energy. Therefore, this paper seeks to discuss the status of energy access to modern energy in the country, the prospects and constraints in relation to energy policy, regulatory environment, institutional capacity, energy resource, capital investment, technology and human resource. Keywords: Energy Constraints, Energy Prospects, Malawi, Modern Energy, Universal Access 1. Introduction Malawi, a Sub-Saharan country is one of the least developed countries around the globe considering that a good segment of the population is still in extreme poverty [1]. In an effort to reverse similar trends, the role of modern energy has proved to be so crucial in many other countries. This is particularly so because access to reliable, affordable and modern forms of energy plays an essential role in socio-economic development and improving the quality of life [2, 3]. Currently, the world depends on energy for almost everything and therefore improving access to modern energy shall be pivotal in driving developing countries such as Malawi to sustainable economic growth [4, 5]. The Government of Malawi (GoM) considers energy as the lifeblood of national economy due to its essentiality to most goods and services in a modern world [4, 6]. In pursuit of attaining universal access to energy, the United Nations came up with the ambitious Sustainable Development Goal Seven (SDG 7) which seeks to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by the year 2030 [7]. The SDG 7 is also reinforced by the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative which is aimed at achieving three specific objectives which are: achieving universal access to modern energy services; doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency; and doubling the share of renewable energy (RE) in the global energy mix from 18 to 36% [8]. Malawi just like many other developing countries in Africa has embraced and localised both the SE4ALL as well as the SDG 7 by integrating their provisions into the 2018 National Energy Policy (NEP) and adopting a national SE4ALL agenda [9, 10]. Increased energy investments shall be crucial if Malawi is to upgrade into a middle-income class nation in the next coming years. Modern energy also is a perquisite for attaining