The first Regional Energy Learning Alliance (RELA) webinar was a great success! Our CESET partner Professor Yacob Mulugetta of University College London gave a great presentation on community energy in East Africa which stimulated a fascinating Q&A session. Questions included:
- What kind of components of renewable energy systems are already produced in the region/all of Africa or are they imported?
- Could you please provide any policy examples or papers which discuss how equity and justice are being explored in energy policy discussions in East Africa?
- For rural and remote communities where community-level energy projects such as mini grids are unfeasible, household solar-home-systems (SHSs) are a common approach. However, they require maintenance and battery replacement which can be unsustainable for households without the funds or access to local technicians. Do you have any experience with communities that have received SHSs and to what extent do you think community cooperation can make this approach sustainable in the long run?
- What (novel) elements do you identify that could invite less obvious scenarios? Would these advance and/or derail sustainability transitions?
- Community energy systems are very vulnerable to politics in the East Africa region. This is both national level politics destroying the ground for off grid supply and local level politics such as church interests trying to take over systems. An umbrella organisation is needed to protect community energy systems so they do not fail. What are your thoughts?
If you missed it the first time round or want to hear it again, you can watch it on the CESET YouTube playlist.
You can also register for the forthcoming RELA webinars via Eventbrite.