In addition to the energy-access solutions being developed and implemented at the living-lab sites themselves, the SESA Toolbox is one of the key outputs of the SESA project. It is not only a ‘deliverable’ by itself, but more importantly, its content will reflect the insights and learnings from many of the activities that will be undertaken by the many collaborating SESA partners. The toolbox will therefore contain information that is collected and created by all partners during the project’s development, implementation, and use of the solutions across the demonstration and validation sites.

The purpose of the Toolbox is to share these insights and learnings in ways that will help others, be they policy makers or local community members, embark on similar journeys. We are happy to announce that, with the project, we have achieved a first milestone for the SESA Toolbox. The preliminary version of the Toolbox is now online. This means that, under coordination of ICLEI World Secretariat and Cenex NL, and based on input from multiple SESA partners, the functional requirements and design was developed. In collaboration with dissemination partner F6S, it has now been launched as the (preliminary) version of the Toolbox.

The website-based Toolbox has seven main categories: Agriculture, Economics, Energy, Environmental, IT, Mobility, and Social. It allows visitors and users of the Toolbox to search content
by filtering down through these main categories. Further fine-tuning or alternative search for topic specific content can be and filtered down using additional filter selections. This will facilitate users finding the desired information quickly and easily. Each item displayed in the search results will have a description of what it is about and include documents, catalogues, tools, videos, or any additional material that is relevant. Individual items will be made available for download where possible.

The SESA Toolbox is currently online and available for partners and over the course of the next few months will be populated with first collection of ‘content material’. We will also use this time to test its functionalities on a broader level with the partners and make some adjustments if useful. After which the Toolbox will be made available for everyone.

In addition, the SESA project is also looking for ways to make the content in the SESA Toolbox also available via Info-spots technology. This solution is dedicated to address issues of making (digital) information and knowledge available and accessible for people in areas with limited connectivity- access for technical or economic reasons. Be sure to keep an eye out for further updates on these next steps for the SESA Toolbox in the SESA newsletter, website and social media posts!

The past 29th June we had the pleasure to host our first session at World Urban Forum Eleventh Session in Katowice (Poland).  Building sustainable, secure and resilient energy systems at scale through local action gathered speakers from the SESA consortium and guests actively working on the topic.

The moderation was in charge of SESA coordinator Giorgia Rambelli, Coordinator Climate Policy and Energy Governance, ICLEI European Secretariat; Lea Ranalder, Associate Programme Management Officer, UN-Habitat; Rana Adib, Executive Director, REN21; Rohit Sen, Head, Sustainable Energy ICLEI World Secretariat; Joseph Oganga, Chief Officer Department of Energy and Industrialisation, Kisumu County, Kenya; And, Dr. Oliver Lah,  Head of Research Unit Mobility and International Cooperation, Energy, Transport and Climate Policy , Professor at Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy.

Speakers discussed technologies and solutions for sustainable energy systems, with the goal of accelerating energy access and increasing resilience to climate change. We present you with some highlights from our session to reflect about the actions we must take to ensure that innovative local energy solutions can be accessed by communities in order to guarantee their social and economic development.

Lea Ranadler

We need a reality check. We have made great progress when it comes to SDG 7, but are not on track to reach the 2030 goals. We have made barely any progress on renewable energy in the last 10 years. Energy demand has expanded in the past few years.We are actually have record numbers of coal when it comes to electricity consumption. The coal phase out we were discussing at COP is not happening and it is the vulnerable and poor who will be hit the most. The good news is that cities as be key actors in the energy transition are taking action. They are procuring renewables for energy consumption, improving public transport, pooling their resources, building coeds, and using both their regulatory and their facilitatory potential to bring about change.

Rana Adlib

150 countries are subsidising fossil fuels. We are spending 11.000 dollars per minute on fossil fuels. There are much more opportunities to use renewables and they have much more potential than we think, but we are creating market rules, that not allow us to thrive on those opportunities. Renewables allow citizens and city governments to not only be energy consumers, but also energy producers. Yet, the reality is that only 9% of cities over 250.000 inhabitants have net zero targets.

Oliver Lah

On practical day to day to level, we need to bring many actors together, including the business sector.For example, when we talk about. developments for e-mobility, we need to have integration between mobility and energy systems and combine business solutions for mobility and energy access, through capacity building. It#s a long journey. There are a few project, like SESA, through which we are creating a viability check. These are reference points for further scaling up. We see that there is potential to graduate to next level by engaging the private sector and leveraging as much as possible what is already on the ground.

Rohit Sen

When we talk about technological solutions, it is important to understand that while access to technology is not evenly divided across the world, technology is evolving. For example, solar panels have evolved from being heavy structures, to being flexible. We don’t know how the technology is going to be in 2030, it might be better or more efficient. We do know that cities need to work together with all stakeholders, and also focus on citizens and behavioural change. We cannot expect that if we build cycling paths in New Delhi or Dhaka, they will be used in the same way as in Europe. We need to take citizen behaviour into account.

Building sustainable, secure and resilient energy systems at scale through local action

Global warming brings harmful consequences to communities, and ecosystems around the world, and low carbon solutions to mitigate the effect of climate change, and increase the resilience of our communities are increasingly crucial. Incentivising community-owned RES is pivotal to securing energy access in remote vulnerable areas, helping the energy system to bounce back following extreme climate events, strengthening energy security, and increasing resilience to economic shocks. Implementing innovative local energy solutions promotes the economic development of communities retaining investments and revenues locally, fighting energy poverty, creating jobs and enhancing local engagement.

Building sustainable, secure and resilient energy systems at scale through local action session aims at showcasing and bringing together the experiences of cities, local businesses and communities in transforming the energy system through innovative and sustainable local solutions. Its focus will be on both technologies and innovative solutions developed to support sustainable energy action planning on the ground, presenting gaps, challenges, and replicable solutions implemented. Speakers will discuss technologies and solutions for sustainable energy systems, with the goal of accelerating energy access and increasing resilience to climate change.

The event will be in a format of an open dialogue with different stakeholders: solutions providers, solutions enablers, and solutions implementers allowing the audience to raise questions, share experiences and exchange on the best practices. Everybody will be invited to share their ideas and interest to establish the foundation for future partnerships, testing solutions presented, and join future knowledge-sharing opportunities. For engaging with our external audience we will use SESA official social media channels, using #SESAProject and #WUF11.

Agenda

  Moderator: Ms Giorgia Rambelli, ICLEI European Secretariat

During the Workshop, participants will discuss the following questions:

• Which solutions can be implemented to accelerate sustainable energy access and climate resilience of vulnerable communities?
• Which are the main challenges in developing local development projects? 
• What kind of measures and policies are necessary to overcome the main barriers and  scale up these solutions?
• Which are the financial burdens that SMEs face in implementing innovative business solutions, and which solutions can be provided to support them scaling-up? 

The event will take place on the 29th June, 2022 from 14:30 to 16:00 CEST at Workshop room 14. For more information visit World Urban Forum official website.

The SESA project involves a modular living lab demonstration action in Kenya, 4 validation demonstration projects in Morocco, Ghana, Malawi, and South Africa; and 4 replication demonstration projects in Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Nigeria. SESA draws upon thematic experts from Europe and Africa from relevant fields of application to provide insights and guidance to the support co-development of the living labs.

Each site has an implementation plan, the guiding roadmap for the living lab to achieve its sustainability goals. The plans describe the context needs and innovative energy solutions activities across the identified thematic areas in the different locations. The identified thematic areas include:

• Solar energy: Kenya (test), Ghana (validation), South Africa (validation), Morocco (validation), Namibia (replication), Tanzania (replication), Nigeria (replication), Rwanda (replication).
• Clean cooking/ Waste to energy (Biogas for cooking): Ghana (validation), Malawi (validation), Rwanda (replication).
• Second life EV (Li-ion batteries) batteries: Kenya (test), South Africa (validation),Morocco (validation).

The highly skilled experts, that are part of the project consortium and are involved in the development of the implementation plans, will share their specific experience and provide technical advice related to feasibility, costs and benefits, and monitoring for good performance over the project lifetime. Experts will also support replicability of innovative measures. The direct involvement of international networks and initiatives will ensure a high level of visibility and replication for the innovations tested in this project. A brief summary of the actions from SESA first phase follows:

Kenya: The demonstration implementation activities will be carried out at two project sites, Kisegi, a rural village in Homa Bay county, and Katito a peri-urban community in Kisumu County. Both demonstrations are solar charging hubs that houses PV modules, central Li-ion battery storage, and balance-of-system (BoS) to increase energy accessibility for a range of electrical needs within the local community. Learn more about the Kenya Living Lab. 

Morocco: The demonstration implementation activities will be carried out in urban location in Marrakech and low socioeconomic rural region currently without access to grid electricity. The urban demonstrator will make 40 electric motorcycles available for use by female students. The rural demonstrator will install 10 mini grids with Li-ion battery storage for use by families in remote and energy impoverished locations.

Ghana: The demonstration implementation activities are located in the Ga North Municipal district, which is an urban settlement, and Atwima Nwabiagya Municipal Assembly, which is a rural community. The innovation tested is biogas cooking systems to improve the knowledge, skills, trust and capacity of stakeholders in the design, construction, operation and maintenance of this clean, cheap cooking technology. Fuel will be sourced from waste feedstocks.

Malawi: The living lab is located in Mchinji district, Traditional Authority Mawvere. It will provide affordable and reliable energy in one of the most energy impoverished parts of Africa where only 13.4% of the population are connected to the national electrical grid. The innovation implementation activities will involve a portable cooker, which will be fueled from compressed briquets of residual agricultural byproducts. The design will both reduce smoke emissions and provide by beneficial bio char as a waste byproduct for use in agriculture.

South Africa: The demonstration implementation activities are located in the Eastern Cape township of Alicedale and the semi-rural area KwaNonzwakazi on the outskirts of Alicedale. The demonstration innovation will include electric vehicle batteries and stationary storage applications, the demonstration will include the provision of infospots for Internet access. The off-grid community energy hubs will support a range of local community activities.

To support co-development of solutions, capacity building, funding and financing regional platforms are set up. Regional platforms will help organise regional teams and support partners coordinate with other relevant regional projects to maximise the potential for take-up and replication of the energy innovations tested in this project (ELICO, Leitat, RISE, UN-Habitat, UNEP, UEMI). A common implementation methodology will be developed, with the lead-partners for all regional teams (Europe, Africa). This forms the basis of detailed implementation plans, which include all the activities needed for preparation and execution of the demo, technical and operations issues, business model adaptation, stakeholder engagement and replication (Siemens, Green Energy Park, University of Rwanda, Going Green, Stockholm Environmental Institute).

The regional platforms and implementation teams are working closely with the capacity building team to support the training activities for the Living Labs and share their experiences with others to replicate innovation actions. The plans will be continually updated with input from project partners, so keep in tune for more information on the developments of the SESA Living Labs.

SESA will be present at the 9th edition of Africities will be held between 17th to 21st May 2022 in Kisumu, Kenya with the theme “The Role of Intermediary Cities of Africa in the Implementation of Agenda 2030 of the United Nations and the African Union Agenda 2063”. 

Africities is the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa’s flagship pan-African event that is held every three years in one of the five regions of Africa. The aim is to strengthen the role of local and regional governments in the development of the continent and to help build the integration and unity of Africa from its territories. Africities summit is the largest democratic gathering organised in Africa. 

The session Smart Energy Solutions for Africa: Energy Access, Carbon Neutral Architecture and Electric Mobility will take place the upcoming Friday, 20th May from 14:30 to 16:00 EAT. The SESA project co-organises and hosts this panel discussion with UN-Habitat, ABC21, SOLUTIONSplus, and Urban Pathways. 

The session will bring together public and private sector stakeholders with experience in energy access, low carbon building designs, and electric mobility through sharing experiences from the world’s best practices which can be adopted and tailored for African countries, in order to advocate for low-carbon energy solutions in urban settings in Africa through enacting necessary conditions for adaptation of these innovations. 

The speakers (Caroline Vicini, Swedish ambassador to Kenya; Hon. Mohamed Sefiani, Mayor of Chefchaouen, Morocco; Vincent Kitio, Lead, Urban Energy Team, UN-Habitat; Prof. Asmae Khaldoune, Al Akhawayn University-Morocco; Prof. François Garde, Director, Ecole Supérieure d’Ingénieur, Université de La Réunion; Giorgia Rambelli, Climate Policy and Energy Governance, Coordinator at ICLEI European Secretariat; Eng. Ephrem Ouma, County Director in charge of Petroleum & Electricity, County Government of Kisumu; Kenneth Guantai, Autotruck; Stephen Omondi Ooko, We!Hub; ) will debate around necessary environmental policy changes including the establishment of supportive initiatives and incentives on energy and resource efficiency, and clean energy generation in cities.

During the event, SESA will officially launch the first co-development test site to be implemented in Western Kenya (in both rural (Homabay) and urban (Kisumu) locations). Self-sustaining solar hubs will be installed with the aim of achieving an integrated system for sustainable energy access, productive use of energy and a circular economy. 

Session agenda

• 6 mins: Welcome by moderator, Vincent Kitio, UN-Habitat
• 6 mins: Opening Remarks – State Department of Housing and Urban Development, Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure Housing, Urban Development and Public Works 
• 12 mins Inspirational Statements:

1. Smart and Low Carbon Energy for Africa, Mayor of Chefchaouen, Morocco
2. Green Energy Transition, Swedish Ambassdor to Kenya

• 34 mins: Showcasing Energy efficiency and clean energy Solutions

1. 8 mins: Bioclimatic Architecture: buildings providing comfort with low energy needs; Prof. ASMAE KHALDOUNE, Al Akhawayn University-Morocco; 
2. 8 mins: Green Architecture; Prof. FRANÇOIS GARDE, Director, Ecole Supérieure d’Ingénieur,, Université de La Réunion
3. 6 mins: Electric Mobility Innovations in Kenya (Kenneth Guantai, Autotruck) 
4. 6 mins: Innovative energy solutions (Stephen Omondi Ooko, Head of Business Development and Innovation, We!Hub) 
5. 6 mins: Financing the Energy Transition (SwedFund)

• 15 mins: Q&A 
• 15 mins: Introducing the SESA project – The Kisumu Living Lab (Georgia Rambelli, ICLEI; Eng. Ouma, County Government of Kisumu)
• 2 mins: Closing Remarks by Moderator
•  

Find more information about the Africities event here.