Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SESA (Smart Energy Solutions for Africa)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2023-04-01 do 2024-03-31
Implemented in nine African countries, the EU-funded SESA project will develop and test solutions to accelerate the green transition and energy access in Africa. It will explore innovative technologies and services in urban and rural contexts and support their uptake, deepening technical, financial and policy aspects.
The co-developed demonstration actions will be initially tested in the Kenya living lab and based on the initial learnings, various aspects of the tested innovations will be validated in living labs in different socioeconomic operating environments (Ghana, South Africa, Malawi and Morocco). The learning from the validation living labs will strengthen the applicability and replicability of the technologies as well as the basic business concepts, which will be shared in the SESA toolbox and incubator programme.
SESA will facilitate a structured co-development process, which starts with the co-development of energy access innovations that have a high potential for take-up and are tested, validated and later replicated. Each technology will be demonstrated in the living lab, and a corresponding information and training package is created. Each of the living lab team will consist of technology experts, local implementation partners along with local authorities and innovators, guided by business development, finance and policy experts. Demonstration actions will aim to test innovative technologies and services in different contexts that have a high level of replicability and a high potential for long-term sustainability. As part of an effort to go beyond the state of the art and maximise the projects impact, the project will co-develop innovations with local partners and cooperate closely with sister projects to exploit synergies.
The co-developed demonstration actions will be initially tested in the Kenya living lab and based on the initial learnings, various aspects of the tested innovations will be validated in living labs in different socioeconomic operating environments (Ghana, South Africa, Malawi and Morocco). The learning from the validation living labs will strengthen the applicability and replicability of the technologies as well as the basic business concepts, which will be shared in the SESA toolbox and incubator programme.
SESA will facilitate a structured co-development process, which starts with the co-development of energy access innovations that have a high potential for take-up and are tested, validated and later replicated. Each technology will be demonstrated in the living lab, and a corresponding information and training package is created. Each of the living lab team will consist of technology experts, local implementation partners along with local authorities and innovators, guided by business development, finance and policy experts. Demonstration actions will aim to test innovative technologies and services in different contexts that have a high level of replicability and a high potential for long-term sustainability. As part of an effort to go beyond the state of the art and maximise the projects impact, the project will co-develop innovations with local partners and cooperate closely with sister projects to exploit synergies.
Major activities perfomed during the 2nd reporting period include:
WP1 Toolbox and evaluation
a) Toolbox was launched
b) Baseline for evaluation was set
WP2 Capacity building, city-to-city cooperation, and professional development
a) European Study Tour (8-13 May 2023) took place
b) 7 Capacity building sessions and webinars took place
c) Community of Practice was established
d) 7 Peer-to-peer knowledge exchanges took place
e) 2nd Regional event in Ghanawas organised between 9-13th Octrober 2023.
WP3 Technical and business partnerships, models and implementation plans
a) 1st Incubator programme for SMEs was finalised
b) 2nd SESA Call for Entrepreneurs and 8 companies selected for replication actions
WP4 Comparative demonstration and replication actions
a) All the LLs (Malawi, Morocco, South Africa, Ghana) were launched and are running
b) A continuous testing of technologies is taking place, validation of some first findings
WP 5 Scale-up, bankability, commercialisation, and institutionalisation
a) A Call for Ideas was launched, and 27 Concept notes were received, 10 out of the 27 concept notes selected, where 4 out of 10 detailed concept notes selected for pre-feasibility study
WP 6 Exploitation and Dissemination
a) Publication and dissemination of 4 scientific articles
We engaged with community leaders, government officials and local government on activities lined up at the living lab i.e. the identification of sites where 10 info-spots will be installed by the Basic Internet Foundation. We also engaged them on user needs assessment preliminary studies to recommend what specifications are appreciated by the end users.
Validation call
Facilitated the Malawi call for entrepreneurs under the Siemens Stiftung call where one member from the Malawi lab was in the jury. After a thorough selection process Smart Energy Enterprise (SEE), who work with smallholder farmers in supplying solar powered irrigation systems emerged a winner and currently the living lab is yet to develop strategies and identify how the living lab can work together with SEE.
Testing of the first prototype
The first prototype that was created by Make it Green was sent to Malawi in October 2022. It was tested by several end users. Among other things, it was observed that the first prototype was not suitable for Malawi due to the expensive material that was used, and it still had other tech functions to be addressed. This led to a new prototype which now has a functional technology (provide energy for light and charging).
WP1 Toolbox and evaluation
a) Toolbox was launched
b) Baseline for evaluation was set
WP2 Capacity building, city-to-city cooperation, and professional development
a) European Study Tour (8-13 May 2023) took place
b) 7 Capacity building sessions and webinars took place
c) Community of Practice was established
d) 7 Peer-to-peer knowledge exchanges took place
e) 2nd Regional event in Ghanawas organised between 9-13th Octrober 2023.
WP3 Technical and business partnerships, models and implementation plans
a) 1st Incubator programme for SMEs was finalised
b) 2nd SESA Call for Entrepreneurs and 8 companies selected for replication actions
WP4 Comparative demonstration and replication actions
a) All the LLs (Malawi, Morocco, South Africa, Ghana) were launched and are running
b) A continuous testing of technologies is taking place, validation of some first findings
WP 5 Scale-up, bankability, commercialisation, and institutionalisation
a) A Call for Ideas was launched, and 27 Concept notes were received, 10 out of the 27 concept notes selected, where 4 out of 10 detailed concept notes selected for pre-feasibility study
WP 6 Exploitation and Dissemination
a) Publication and dissemination of 4 scientific articles
We engaged with community leaders, government officials and local government on activities lined up at the living lab i.e. the identification of sites where 10 info-spots will be installed by the Basic Internet Foundation. We also engaged them on user needs assessment preliminary studies to recommend what specifications are appreciated by the end users.
Validation call
Facilitated the Malawi call for entrepreneurs under the Siemens Stiftung call where one member from the Malawi lab was in the jury. After a thorough selection process Smart Energy Enterprise (SEE), who work with smallholder farmers in supplying solar powered irrigation systems emerged a winner and currently the living lab is yet to develop strategies and identify how the living lab can work together with SEE.
Testing of the first prototype
The first prototype that was created by Make it Green was sent to Malawi in October 2022. It was tested by several end users. Among other things, it was observed that the first prototype was not suitable for Malawi due to the expensive material that was used, and it still had other tech functions to be addressed. This led to a new prototype which now has a functional technology (provide energy for light and charging).
All the SESA lessons learned and challenges including technological, regulatory and business aspects will be documented (including detailed process and steps taken). The most successful cases will be presented in form of the case studies and disseminated at various European and African fora, events and workshops between 2024 and 2025.
The final version of the Deliverable 1.6 will provide the concrete figures about the project results and its socio-economic impact like the direct and indirect job creation, number of participants trained etc, number of communities getting access to electricity etc. The Evaluation framework D.1.2 and User needs assessment D.1.3 are the crucial reports that include the KPI methods and evaluation measurement.
More capacity building and peer to peer exchanges are foreseen until the end of the project and beyond the project timeline, as SESA has the online training available at the NUA campus website and webinar recordings.
Final reports concerning business model and business plans D.3.4 and report on incubator programme D.3.3 will provide with business recommendations and success factors to run SMEs in the African context (on clean cooking, e-mobility, mini-grids, solar irrigation etc). The most prominent and successful business models will be described with the potential for replication and scaling up.
Implementation summary reports (D.4.3) for the demonstration actions will provide not only with the final updates of the LLs but will include more information from the business and customer perspective.
Pre-feasibility studies for transformational sustainable energy projects are expected to gain external funding for its development and implementation.
Policy roadmaps and briefs will provide with recommendations of different technologies regulatory requirements that hinder their deployment. There will be set of different recommendations for DG. INTPA and potentially at the EU-AU level. More proposals for international funding mechanisms are expected to be finalised also in early 2025.
The final report D.6.1 on Dissemination, communication and exploitation strategy will provide the concrete steps taken. Some of the technologies that are being tested have a replication and scaling up potential. The dedicated section to the LLs and SMEs is available at the SESA website and contains the most updated state of art of the LLs.
The final version of the Deliverable 1.6 will provide the concrete figures about the project results and its socio-economic impact like the direct and indirect job creation, number of participants trained etc, number of communities getting access to electricity etc. The Evaluation framework D.1.2 and User needs assessment D.1.3 are the crucial reports that include the KPI methods and evaluation measurement.
More capacity building and peer to peer exchanges are foreseen until the end of the project and beyond the project timeline, as SESA has the online training available at the NUA campus website and webinar recordings.
Final reports concerning business model and business plans D.3.4 and report on incubator programme D.3.3 will provide with business recommendations and success factors to run SMEs in the African context (on clean cooking, e-mobility, mini-grids, solar irrigation etc). The most prominent and successful business models will be described with the potential for replication and scaling up.
Implementation summary reports (D.4.3) for the demonstration actions will provide not only with the final updates of the LLs but will include more information from the business and customer perspective.
Pre-feasibility studies for transformational sustainable energy projects are expected to gain external funding for its development and implementation.
Policy roadmaps and briefs will provide with recommendations of different technologies regulatory requirements that hinder their deployment. There will be set of different recommendations for DG. INTPA and potentially at the EU-AU level. More proposals for international funding mechanisms are expected to be finalised also in early 2025.
The final report D.6.1 on Dissemination, communication and exploitation strategy will provide the concrete steps taken. Some of the technologies that are being tested have a replication and scaling up potential. The dedicated section to the LLs and SMEs is available at the SESA website and contains the most updated state of art of the LLs.