Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic Technologies for Kenya

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 612 million people currently have no access to electricity, 80% of them in rural areas, severely hampering socio-economic development. Situation is going to worsen as the population reaches 2 billion by 2050 with the electrification rate remaining dramatically low. A decentralized energy infrastructure is key to address this challenge for which strategically important multidisciplinary solar energy research by UK and African scientists, equitably contributing towards this goal, is needed.

In this context, this seminaraims to initiate a dialogue among academic scientists, industry professionals, NGOs and policy makers to identify barriers and opportunities for innovative solar energy technology uptake in Kenya. Through the seminar, intention would be to map energy deficit end-users (buildings, industries) in rural and/or urban areas and understand energy demand and its characteristics for at least one major end user. Solar technologies able to match this energy demand profile and their economics will be discussed and an assessment of the expected socio-enviro-economic impacts performed assuming realistic deployment scenarios.