NEWS

From 8-13 May, SESA hosted the European Study Programme in three cities across Europe – Cascais (Portugal), Barcelona (Spain), and Gothenburg (Sweden). Organised by ICLEI Europe, the European Study Programme is the first part of the peer-to-peer exchange and took representatives from Living Labs from eight of the SESA countries to Europe. The programme allowed the delegation to visit these three cities with the objective of learning more about smart energy solution technologies and their deployment in a different context. It offered as well, the opportunity to exchange with European cities...

On 26 April 2023, the Smart Energy Solutions for Africa (SESA) project hosted an online webinar focused on solar energy. With Africa's abundant solar potential and the urgent need for energy access, the webinar aimed to address barriers and outline a future for solar energy in African countries. Organized by UN-Habitat, Smart Innovation Norway, and ICLEI WS, the webinar marked the culmination of the SESA capacity building program's first course on solar energy. Africa possesses one of the world's highest solar energy potentials, which plays a crucial role in energy transition and increasing...

Harnessing the scaling and replication potential of sustainable energy solutions in Africa: “2nd SESA Call for Entrepreneurs 2023” is open. Munich, May 2, 2023 - Siemens Stiftung on behalf of the Smart Energy Solutions for Africa (SESA) consortium, invites local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda and Tanzania to apply for the “2nd SESA Call for Entrepreneurs 2023”. The call is looking for entrepreneurs with expertise in addressing the continent's energy access challenges with a focus on rural and off-grid communities. Enterprises can apply for the call...

The first course in SESA’s Capacity Building Programme is now available! The online programme, designed to close the knowledge gap around renewable and smart energy solution technologies, aims to help participants understand what alternative technologies exist and how they work.  Case studies and examples relevant to the African context make up the foundation of the courses, but the programme is open to all participants who want to enter the world of sustainable energy, seek alternatives to traditional energy sources and opt for sustainable development in both urban and rural contexts.   The...

10 companies have been selected to take part in the program which aims at introducing companies to methods and strategies for reaching problem solution fit faster.The selected companies are: Nastech power solutions Econexus Smart Energy Enterprises Green Solar academy Cellys Technologies JERU aiScarecrow Technologies Magufina Wattsc Malasha Briquettes On the first seminar all the companies selected were introduced to each other and to the mentors from Smart Innovation Norway. This was followed by seminar on topic of Startup/Scaleup Life Cycle. From now onwards there will be seminar and...

Community and Knowledge Exchange are at the heart of the SESA Project. Given its multiple thematic areas and experts from different fields and countries, a lot is to be learnt from each other and shared as widely as possible to strengthen global and local capacities for the implementation of sustainable energy projects. Therefore, as part of WP2 which focuses on capacity building, online Community of Practices will be launched and maintained to strengthen the capacities of decision makers, practitioners and businesses in sustainable energy in Africa. The Community of Practices will serve as...

Siemens Stiftung on behalf of the Smart Energy Solutions for Africa (SESA) consortium is excited to announce the winners of the “SESA Call for Entrepreneurs 2022”. Launched in September 2022, the open and competitive call for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) focused on Productive Use of Energy (PUE) solutions in Ghana, Malawi, Morocco, and South Africa. The inaugural call for entrepreneurs encouraged women-led enterprises to apply, resulting in over 30 percent of the total applications coming from female founders.Meet the winners Econexus Ventures Limited (Ghana) a female-led...

SESA is a project, which 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. However, one of the questions we asked ourselves is "How can we get information on energy to people who do not have access to the Internet?" and that’s how the initiative of deploying the SESA Info-spots was born. Africa has about 20% of all landmass of the world and  to cover large areas makes installation of broadband challenging and expensive. Given the lower income in rural areas, the...

Target countries: Ghana, Malawi and South Africa 5 mid-stage start-up companies will be financially supported under European Union (EU) funded SESA project through its incubator programme.There is an opening for up to 2-3 regional mentors who have experience working with start-ups in the focus countries. 5 start-ups will focus on:Solar solutions for irrigation and buildings, Waste-to-energy solutions and off-grid energy solutions with battery storage (it would be a big plus if mentors have experience in these focus areas). Mentoring duration: March 2023- June 2024 with defined number of...

The SESA Call for Entrepreneurs 2022 was a great success, with many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana, Malawi, Morocco, and South Africa applying with their innovative Productive Use of Energy (PUE) solutions. The official results from the competition can now be found in an infographic below, which provides an overview of the applicants by country and sector. The winners of the competition are set to receive funding ranging from €50,000 to €70,000 per business over 18 months. This funding will be used to validate selected proof of concepts and business models for upscaling....

The past 25-28 October, 2022 the SESA consortium hosted its first General Assembly and Regional Event.  The visit took place in Nairobi and Kisumu (Kenya) and gathered 46 representatives from the organisations part of the initiative. The activities were divided into three main events: The General Assembly which took place from 25-26 October in Nairobi, where partners got together in person for the first time to share achieved milestones, engage in collaborative work and define next steps for the project. The first Regional event took place from 27-28 October in Kisumu, involving the launch...

Capacity building forms a vital part of successful and sustainable climate action projects and initiatives in Africa. Understanding the context-specific capacity gaps and needs in an area can shed light on the most suitable route to take to build capacity and, in turn, ramp up the success of a project. For this reason, capacity needs assessments and capacity building planning activities are embedded in the Sustainable Energy Solutions for Africa (SESA) project.   The SESA project works to increase energy access in Africa, supporting the uptake of scalable and replicable energy access...

What is the purpose of the Kenya Living Lab? And how are SESA actions going to be implemented there? The goal of the Kenyan living lab is to serve as a real-life test bed for piloting and testing innovative energy technologies and business models in rural and peri-urban contexts. The overall objective of the living lab is to test and provide sustainable energy access solutions that are relevant for both urbanized and rural contexts in Africa.  The living lab approach will be implemented by co-creating, testing and evaluating innovative technologies and business models with local users in...

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 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...

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...