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...

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...

By Stefanie Holzwarth from UN-Habitat   The Global Energy Demand Regardless of the source, energy is a major factor for development. It is needed for transport, industrial and commercial activities, buildings and infrastructure, water distribution, and food production. Most of these activities take place in or around cities, which are on average responsible for more than 75 per cent of a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and therefore the main engines of global economic growth. To run their activities, cities require an uninterrupted supply of energy. They consume about 75 per cent...

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...

The past 25th January the SESA Project participated in the First Energy research projects in cooperation with Africa workshop hosted by CINEA - European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency.  The event started with an overview of the policy context by Phillip Schild, Policy officer and Natalia Caldes, DG INTPA. Afterwards, each initiative had the chance to present their challenges and workplan for the upcoming years.  Giorgia Rambelli, Coordinator at ICLEI European Secretariat Brussels Office and SESA representative, shared with the participants the highlights of the our...

SESA is a new EU funded project under H2020 that aims at mitigating climate change while improving access to sustainable energy under affordable, reliable conditions.  SESA is a collaborative project between the EU and Africa that aims at providing energy access technologies and business models that are easily replicable and generate local opportunities for economic development and social cohesion in Africa. Through several local living labs, it is expected to facilitate the co-development of scalable and replicable energy access innovations, to be tested, validated, and later replicated...