Municipalities worldwide must find ways to secure their energy supplies, reduce dependencies and make the transition to renewable energy sources while facing price fluctuation due to unstable circumstances and multiple global crises.

In addition to wind, water, and solar energy as renewable sources of primary energy, green hydrogen has been attracting growing attention as a carrier of clean energy. Already, there are several large-scale projects to produce green hydrogen under way. It is therefore a crucial time for cities and municipalities to jointly develop their standpoint and bring in their needs and ideas.

The German government has already established bilateral energy partnerships with a range of countries worldwide. The goal is to promote cooperation in the field of sustainable energy which provides opportunities for multiple benefits on all sides: new trade relationships, improved energy autarky and a contribution to sustainable energy transitions. However, this cooperation needs to extend to the municipal level as well. Municipalities are not only the key players when it comes to meeting the climate agenda, but also intermediaries between the national and the local level. And in this regard municipalities can use their leverage to be a part of sustainable energy projects and make use of opportunities for sustainable urban development, economic development, private sector involvement, and resilient energy networks.

To address these issues and work on strategies for municipalities to start taking a stronger role and express their demands with regards to international energy partnerships, Connective Cities has started a series of knowledge sharing and exchange events, which will result in joint working groups of municipalities. In these groups, municipalities will work on projects and strategies on how to profit from new and innovative energy systems and how to prepare to use the new potentials for making affordable, green energy available to their citizens. In addition, municipalities should adapt strategies, which allow them to benefit fast and efficient from the new potentials by setting up the right framework for example for new investments, dynamic economic development, technological upgrading, and job creation.

Activities

At a roundtable event held on 26 April 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya, Connective Cities brought together essential public and private stakeholders for a first exchange. Lack of access to basic energy services for poor households, high cost of energy production, centralized energy governance systems, and high volumes of both organic and inorganic waste by urban counties were highlighted as the major concerns that municipalities in Kenya faced and required support with getting long lasting solutions to address. In the very engaging discussions, a number of opportunities were identified including shared learning to better understand energy governance, the diversification and harnessing of alternative energy sources to produce cheaper power, tapping into feed-in-tarfiffs for solar pv on buildings, investment in waste to energy conversion technologies, provision of first-time energy access for off-grid households through minigrids, investment in solar powered water pumping, e-mobility services, partnerships with private companies, and access to finance for project ideas.

The potential for green hydrogen production in Kenya was also identified as very high and could enable e-mobility services such as powering waste transportation vehicles like in Germany, fertilizer production, and job creation for young people. Green hydrogen export opportunities to other countries were also highlighted.

Our partners, the Gap Fund and the Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa (CoMSSA) also offered valuable insights on the key questions that the participating municipalities ought to explore during their project preparation efforts. They provided guidance on potential areas to focus on and suggested strategies to ensure that the projects are well-prepared and able to attract financing.

Conclusion

Following this very successful first engagement, the ideas shared will be reviewed and separate events  organized to further refine and develop these ideas and insights, which can be developed into project concepts that would be beneficial for municipalities and their inhabitants.

Contact: Jelena Karamatijevic (jelena.karamatijevic(at)giz.de).