SEED project meeting in Kenya: Great progress in developing a concept for an Energy-Hub for informal settlements

The second SEED project meeting was held in Nairobi, Kenya, during the week of 13-17^th February. During the week, the team from the Institute of new Energy Systems (InES) met with the project partners from the University of Bayreuth (UBT), the Universidade Eduaordo Mondlane (UEM) and Phaesun GmbH. The meeting was hosted by the local project partner, the Technical University of Kenya (TU-K).

The week focused on further developing the concept for the so-called Energy-Hub, meeting with Kenyan stakeholders and visiting the Kingstone informal settlement in Nairobi's Mukuru district. It is evident that the joint work of the past year is beginning to yield results. With regard to the Energy-Hub, important issues of governance, community involvement and benefits, as well as site selection, were discussed and taken forward. We were supported by the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) and Muungano, a non-governmental organisation (NGO). Muungano has been working for years to improve infrastructure development in informal settlements in Kenya.

The visit to the Kingstone informal settlement in Mukuru District was particularly informative. We were first welcomed by the NGO Mukuru Slums Developments Projects (MSDP), who gave the SEED consortium a comprehensive insight into their work on the ground and the various projects. Discussions with MSDP followed on from the previous days on sustainability, good management and ownership, and focused on their experience of implementing projects in Kingstone.

The subsequent visit to the informal settlement, led by the local Community Health Workers (CHWs), allowed us to experience the reality of the local people's lives first hand. In the subsequent discussions with the CHWs, questions about the daily lives of the residents were discussed, as well as the requirements for a possible concept for the Energy-Hub.

With the impressions gained during the week, the SEED project team is now motivated to start the final year of the project to further develop the concept of the Energy-Hub and adapt it to the realities of life in the informal settlements.

The energy concept developed by the SEED project aims to improve the living conditions of people living in informal settlements in urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim is to make renewable energy sources available through an Energy-Hub that can be used by both households and businesses. The SEED project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and will run until the end of March 2024. To learn more about the project, please visit https://www.seed-initiative.org/.