The workshop is part of a working group for Renewable Energy Applications for Cities convened by Connective Cities in collaboration with the Romanian development agency RoAid.

Apart from the municipal experts and the Connective Cities team, the conference was graced by the attendance of Daniella Dobre (RoAid), Massimiliano Pedretti (Delegation of the European Union to Tanzania), and Dr. Tobias Godau (GIZ ProWaS – Water Security and Climate Resilience for Urban Areas in Tanzania.

The conference was a follow-up event of the kick-off workshop in Nairobi in 2023, focusing on the topic of Street Lighting and E-Mobility applications in the urban context.

Participants

The participant experts represented the cities of Nairobi, Kisumu and County of Baringo (Kenya), City of Kasungu (Malawi), Gulu city (Uganda), City of Dar es Salaam, City of Mwanza and City of Tanga (Tanzania). The Working Group is accompanied by the international representatives from the cities of Gersthofen (Germany), Slatina and Alba Luluia (both Romania).

Participating institutions were:

• Malawi Local Government Association (MALGA)
• Regional Administration and Local Government Tanzania (PO-RALG)
• The City Climate Gap Fund (through the project support office of the Global Covenant of Mayors)
• The African Development Bank (through the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Department)

Ideas presented:

All ten cities presented their projects and received advice. All ten cities are familiar with the prerequisites for funding and have completed 70% of these requirements.

Kisumu, Kenya:

Improving electric mobility and street lighting in the city of Kisumu. Piloting a PPP model for the deployment of charging infrastructure for 2- and 3-wheel motorcycles.

Baringo, Kenya:

Solarization of a water pump that pumps water from Lake Baringo to a treatment plant in Kabernet town.

Gulu, Uganda:

Solarization of the main street of Gulu City.

Mwanza, Tanzania:

Solar Project on Ijinga Island generated from solar panels to operate water pumps that push water to a treatment tank. Fundraising stage, feasibility analysis completed already.

Nairobi: Energy efficiency and Solarization of markets. Target pilot projects: City Market, City Park Market, Kangundo Road Market and Gikomba Market. Energy audits for these sites have been carried out.

Dar es Salaam: Solar powered street lighting along market street incorporating solar power radio for the market and charging stations for three wheelers.

Tanga: The cites faces an ever-growing landfill. The city intends to undertake a waste to energy project. To begin, the city therefore aims to undertake waste value chain analysis. This will highlight the waste characteristics and the attendant calorific values.

Kasungu: The City of Kasungu presented a double challenge of deforestation due to the heavy usage of biofuels (firewood and charcoal) and the high cost of power for lighting the streets compounded by lack of such streetlights in many areas. The city therefore prioritizes for the project to prepare a solution for solar street lighting still integrated with the main grid for back-up.

Malawi Local Government Association (MALGA): The proposed project focuses on installing solar-powered streetlights to improve lighting in selected municipalities and cities in Malawi. This initiative aims to enhance the local business environment, improve security, and contribute to local economic development.

Targeted Municipalities: Kasungu, Karonga, Luchenza, Mangochi.
Targeted Cities: Zomba City, another city to be determined.

Next Steps of the Working Group

In the journey to support the cities to develop solutions to their challenges, Connective Cities and RoAid plan to continue their support via:

• Insight sessions and webinars: present emerging knowledge in short learning sessions.
• Best practices: Publishing of innovative solutions of the collaborating cities.
• Conferences / Workshops: to bring the city experts together to scale up peer to peer and associated learning.
• Expert missions: will be availed to city experts with clear cases and inputs for experiential learning and exchange. This will include virtual formats where cities are connected according to relevance of needs.