The challenges that come with accelerating energy transition and employing renewable energy solutions is not unique to Europe. Yet European cities possess a wealth of knowledge and experience that can be tapped into. This is one of the goals the Smart Energy Solutions for Africa (SESA) project is looking to address through its capacity building programme. SESA, coordinated by ICLEI Europe, is a collaborative project between the European Union and nine African countries (Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania) 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 peer-to-peer exchange, the project is looking to share experiences on the deployment of renewable energy solutions in different African contexts, but in the European context as well. To do so, a delegation from eight of the project’s living labs across Africa visited three European cities, ICLEI Members Cascais (Portugal), Barcelona (Spain), and Gothenburg (Sweden), with the objective of learning more about smart energy solution technologies and their deployment in Europe. It offered as well, the opportunity to exchange with city representatives and businesses on the possible ways of cooperating with the larger ecosystem of actors including private sector, public sector, academia and the local communities.
For example in Cascais, one key to the city’s success has not only been deploying smart energy technologies, but doing so with a focus on community engagement. In the city’s Action Plan for Climate Adaptation, the number one measure focused on creating stakeholder awareness. The challenges faced in Cascais in implementing renewable energy solutions are not unlike those faced in SESA’s living labs. For Edem Foli, Programme Manager at Nelson Mandela University: uYilo e-Mobility Programme, such exchanges drew parallels to her own experience in South Africa. “Engaging with community stakeholders is so important in getting your project off the ground. I was very surprised and relieved to learn that local governments in Barcelona and Cascais are facing similar challenges, getting buy-in from the community to accept these new technologies and convincing them of their advantages, in both an economic and social respect.”
Exchange programmes such as this open the door for a two-way dialogue and to this, João Dinis, Head of Climate Action Department at Cascais Ambiente, contributes, “The SESA project engages the best stakeholders from different regions that share the same challenges that we do. The geographical and social context may be different, but our goal remains the same. It’s valuable for us to learn how different regions have approached smart energy solutions in their communities, and it presents an opportunity for us to share our own.”
Subsequent opportunities for peer-to-peer exchange will involve SESA’s European Cities having the opportunity to visit the project’s living labs and discuss smart energy solution deployment in a different context, the most forthcoming opportunity taking place in October 2023 in Ghana for SESA’s next Regional Event.
To learn more about the SESA project, click here.