Fighting energy poverty
All consumers of EKOenergy-labelled energy contribute to EKOenergy’s Climate Fund. Through our Climate Fund, we finance renewable energy projects in developing countries. This way, EKOenergy helps tackle energy poverty and contributes to the realisation of multiple Sustainable Development Goals.
Earlier this year, we organised an open call for projects and with the help of an independent jury, we selected the projects that we believed would be the most impactful. We are happy to announce one more project to be financed, the 9th of this year. More will follow in the weeks to come.
Solar energy project in Nairobi, Kenya
EKOenergy will grant 20,000 euros to Amani, the Italian development NGO which will be implementing this solar energy project in Nairobi.
Since 1995, Amani has built and supported shelters, schools and training centres in Kenya, Zambia and Sudan – offering concrete opportunities to children forced to live on the streets. For the Kenyan projects, Amani cooperates with Koinonia Community, a local non-profit organisation which manages the projects directly.
In Kenya, Amani and Koinonia Community are running two rehabilitation centres for street children in the slums of Nairobi.
- Kivuli Centre sets out to provide a safe place for kids previously living on the streets to find affection, the right to education and a group of friends with whom to play and grow.
- Anita’s Home is Amani’s only shelter specifically for girls and young women fleeing from child marriages, or from vulnerable families.
Electricity to ensure steady services for the neighbourhood
Both centres are points of reference for the surrounding neighbourhood: Students come to study in the libraries and many people come to buy water at the wells operated by an electric pump. Kivuli Centre also has a carpentry lab, a dentist lab, a medical dispensary that serves the surrounding area on a daily basis, hosts carving workshops and has a local radio broadcast studio (Mtaani Radio) that works 24 hours per day. Unfortunately, the access to grid electricity here is not straightforward. All services often rely on diesel generators to assure 24/7 service.
Solar energy to replace an unreliable grid and diesel generators
With our support, Amani will install 2 PV systems, one of 30 kW with 22 kWh lithium storage and one of 10 kW with 6,6 kWh lithium; 2 solar water heaters (200 liters each) together with other energy efficiency options, including time shifting of services (water pump) to better use PV electricity.
The project will assure a 100% switch to renewable energy together with a reduction of 30% on current electricity usage. In addition, the newly implemented systems will be able to exchange electricity with the grid and will be used as a pilot project to facilitate the introduction of net metering regulation in Kenya. The project will be implemented by Amani with the technical assistance of Ecorisoluzioni and the support of Politecnico of Milano.
We’re looking forward to seeing the results!
Published on 30 June 2020
