Kenya: Women in Africa Go to Micro-grid School

Learning to build mini-grids to power homes, schools, health centres for villages, and local entrepreneurship, shaping a new future for rural communities in Africa. That’s the idea of the Micro-Grid Academy (MGA), a regional platform based in Nairobi (Kenya) that offers young technicians, entrepreneurs and engineers from East Africa theoretical and practical training on energy access and on decentralised solutions for renewable energy use. Launched on 24 January 2018, and now in its second cycle of courses, MGA is an initiative created by RES4Africa, of which Enel Green Power is a founder, in collaboration with Kenya Power Lighting Company (KPLC), the AVSI foundation, Strathmore University and the technical training centre St. Kizito VTI. Bringing Sustainable Energy to Africa The MGA courses respond to many of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), since access to energy has a positive impact on health and education services, on women’s emancipation, on the mitigation of climate change, on reliable food and water production and on energy security. “The Micro-Grid Academy aims to improve energy access in rural communities by promoting local entrepreneurship and job creation.” Marco Aresti, Head of Access2Energy program for RES4Africa Combining managerial and technical skills with practical training, MGA courses aim to promote a series of activities of capacity building to eventually train at least 300 students a year by 2019, future professionals in the sector, and to positively affect all the areas involved in the sustainable development of local rural communities. The Future in 10 Days From 4 to 14 April 2018, the Micro-Grid Academy held its second training course, hosting 40 students from East Africa and Europe. “The participants in MGA’s second edition included 20 women selected by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as part of the Africa Women Energy Entrepreneurs Framework (AWEEF), a platform that empowers female entrepreneurs as main stakeholders through the energy value chain.” MGA participants worked in direct contact with technicians and experts from various sponsors of the Academy, like KPLC, the AVSI Foundation, St. Kizito VTI, Strathmore University, the Enel Foundation, SIGORA and Sapienza University in Rome MGA’s training activities will be supported by a real 30-kW hybrid mini-grid installed with the contribution of the members of RES4Africa. Full Immersion to the World of Micro-grids The lessons of the second edition of MGA focused on entrepreneurial skills and access to clean energy, both of central importance for the sustainable development of rural communities. Over the ten days of the course, in collaboration with the Enel Foundation and the non-profit Tecnologie Solidali, the participants were able to work at the laboratories of St. Kizito VTI and Strathmore Energy Research Center (SERC), where technical training and practical tests were carried out. “The students directly experienced the many aspects of mini-grid implementation: from planning and development to operation and maintenance of plants.” Prof. Andrea Micangeli, Academic coordinator - Micro-Grid Academy The April course’s programme also included a visit to the headquarters of the United Nations, to understand the role of renewable energy in UNEP, UNIDO and UN Habitat programmes, and a visit to the Talek Town mini-grid, in a village near the Maasai Mara National Park, about 250 km from Nairobi, built by GIZ, a German agency for development cooperation.

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Kenya: Women in Africa Go to Micro-grid School

Kenya: Women in Africa Go to Micro-grid School