Resources

Article showcasing TEA-LP partner and founding leader of the Energy Research Centre at the National University of Lesotho, Prof. Moeketsi Mpholo, represented TEA-LP at the 2nd EU Green Power Transformation Forum in Eswatini in 2023.

This summary report brings together findings and recommendations from the study, and is intended to support donors, governments, and advocacy bodies so they can select, target, design, and implement tailored market mechanisms for those living in extreme poverty.

Blog post summarising the TEA Learning Partnership workshop that took place in Nairobi in June 2023.

What is the most efficient way to deploy a distribution grid? Is it more economical for operators to deploy reactively, following customer interest and financial commitment — which is currently the most common approach — or does a proactive deployment unlock more returns, with the expectation of attracting more customers?

A look into the future grid – a decentralized and interconnected network of generation, distribution, and storage.

This report provides insights into energy product/service customer households, distinguishing between those with and without disabilities. It also highlights the experiences of individuals with disabilities regarding the specific energy product or service. The data and insights presented here are based on phone interviews with 3,060 customers across 12 energy companies in 7 sub-sectors; improved cookstove (ICS), solar home system (SHS), solar lantern, mini-grid, off-grid refrigerator, solar water pump, and e-mobility.

Case study describing the challenges energy provider Zuwa faced during Covid and how they can be overcome if they access business support from relevant organisations is facilitated.

Research looking at how swappable battery networks would perform. Specifically looking at the ease, speed, and cost of distribution as well as the reliability and cost to the customer.

This publication on e-mobility is the first of six in the innovation spotlight series by the Global Distributors Collective (GDC), which focuses on innovation trends to watch out for in the last mile distribution (LMD) sector. The e-mobility spotlight deep dives into the emergence of electric vehicles (EVs) in low-income countries, what it would take for last mile distributors (LMDs) to adopt EVs to deliver products to rural, low-income consumers, how they can overcome obstacles to doing so, and what key factors they should consider when assessing if their company is in a position to adopt EVs. The spotlight also features stories and key learnings from trailblazers Mobile Power and Jumia.

Weakly coordinating anions (WCAs) are used throughout chemistry to minimise cation-anion interactions in the solid and solution states. The ability to suppress ion-pairing has important bearings – or impacts on the properties of materials, on single-site catalysis and on ionic conductivity. Fluorinated alkoxy aluminates (containing [Al(ORF)4]− anions) are an attractive class of WCA owing to their high thermodynamic stability, stemming from strong aluminium-oxygen bonds, and the ability to tailor their steric and electronic properties by changing the organic substituents (R). This work explores the structural and electrochemical properties of sodium tetrakis(hexafluoroisopropyloxy)aluminate, Na[Al(hfip)4] ⋅ xDME (hfip=hexafluoroisopropyloxy, OiPrF, DME=1,2-dimethoxyethane, x=3 or 1). When solvated with one DME molecule, Na[Al(hfip)4] ⋅ DME is a room-temperature solvated ionic liquid, with an activation energy of conduction of 0.4 eV. Both Na[Al(hfip)4] ⋅ 3DME and Na[Al(hfip)4] ⋅ DME have been studied as electrolyte salts for sodium-ion batteries, where sodium-ion cycling proceeds but with low capacity retention.

To help ensure a prosperous future on Earth for coming generations, academia and industry need to transform the way they plan and carry out the synthesis of novel materials to make them more environmentally sustainable. In particular, the field of reticular materials, i.e., metal-organic frameworks, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks, and covalent organic frameworks, has great potential to outperform other materials and revolutionize various fields of applications. This review highlights several key aspects from the choice of their starting materials, solvents and synthetic methodologies that fall under the umbrella of the Green Chemistry principles, and incorporates a Circular Economy perspective by providing relevant strategies such as reuse, regeneration, or recycling to maximize the value of the Earth’s available resources.

This video provides an overview f what clean cooking is, the different types of clean cooking technologies. It also provides an overview of the chllenges of cooking with unclean and inefficient cooking technologies, including the cost of inaction. It also gives some insights into what the ENACT project is doing to address these challenges

Hard carbons are the most suitable anode materials for practical sodium-ion batteries (NIBs). Despite various studies, there is still significant scope for improvement in the understanding of the (de)sodiation mechanisms. Here, we study Sn incorporation in waste derived commercial and model sucrose derived hard carbons and its effect on the electrochemical performance. Sn incorporation leads to improved first cycle coulombic efficiency and capacity, specifically increase in the plateau capacity. An improvement from 220 mAh/g to 285 mAh/g and 325 mAh/g is respectively obtained for 7 % and 15 % Sn in hard carbon-Sn composites (HC/Sn). Sn incorporation in both hard carbons has been shown to improve the electrochemical performance, notably achieving a synergy with capacities in excess of that expected from simple addition. For example, 7 % Sn additions tend to increase capacity by 25 %, twice that predicted from simple addition. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies show that the number of graphene layers in nano-graphitic domains is reduced after Sn incorporation with no change in interlayer spacing. Full cells with commercial benchmark cathodes are also presented along with cost analysis of the Sn doping routes in this study to demonstrate the commercial viability of the strategy.

Study on Powering Livelihoods, a $3m initiative designed to mainstream clean energy-based solutions in India’s rural economy, providing capital, technical and sectoral growth support to help social enterprises deploy clean energy-based livelihood solutions in a gender-inclusive manner.

The ENACT Project, funded by the UK Government’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) through the Carbon Trust, is implemented by ICLEI Africa in partnership with Energy4Impact (E4I) as part of the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) programme. This project aims to enhance energy security in urban Africa, focusing on the urban poor living in informal settlements by introducing market-led interventions for improved energy access. The project targets Kampala, Uganda, and Freetown, Sierra Leone, with the latter’s Susan’s Bay being the focal point for this feasibility study on access to clean cooking solutions. Susan’s Bay, a deprived slum in Freetown, faces a growing gap in access to modern cooking energy services due to population growth, necessitating this assessment.

ILEM-Africa, one of the three service providers and a partner in this project, is tasked with the technical assessment. Unlike the private sector companies, ILEM-Africa’s role includes evaluating current cooking cultures and suggesting transitional solutions. ILEM is an Africa-centric think tank that offers technical assistance in policy formulation, programming, and capacity building. Their work in the energy space, particularly in sustainable clean cooking solutions, is highlighted on their website, www.ilem-africa.org.

The feasibility study conducted by PayGas, as part of the Enabling African Cities for Transformative Energy Access (ENACT) project, explores the viability of introducing affordable cooking gas solutions in Susan’s Bay, Freetown, Sierra Leone. PayGas is a French-South African startup that has innovated the distribution of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) through a patented, cashless micro-refilling station system. This system allows customers to purchase cooking gas in small, affordable increments using cashless payments or airtime vouchers.

Insights and learnings from S4S’s work in the renewable energy space to support women entrepreneurs convert farm losses to food ingredients via solar dryers, currently processing 25,000 tonnes of food annually and realising a GHG emission saving of around 68,750 tonnes.

This innovation insight published by CrossBoundary, delves into capex per connection cost outcome when proactively installing a distribution network through Grid Densification in a mini-grid community.

The iron-based polyanionic fluoro-oxalate material, KFe(C2O4)F (KFCF), has been synthesized by hydrothermal methods. This compound shows promising reversible lithium and sodium insertion properties as a cathode material. The material delivered a first-cycle discharge capacity of 120 mAh g−1 at ∼3.3 V (Li+/Li) and 97.4 mAh g−1 at ∼3.0 V (Na+/Na) in LIB and NIB, respectively. Stable cycling performance was observed in both cases. The involvement of reversible Fe2+/Fe3+ redox was confirmed by ex-situ Mössbauer spectroscopy supported by first-principles calculations. This study reveals promising performance from a mixed oxalate-fluoride based polyanionic material thereby opening up further possibilities for materials discovery in the design of new electrode materials.

Article showcasing the participation of the University of Port Harcourt (a TEA-LP partner University) in the 2023 Efficiency for Access Design Challenge. The University of Port Harcourt had two participating teams from their Masters in MSc in Energy Access and Renewable Energy Technology.

Analysis to understand if and how electric pressure cookers (EPCs) could help to reduce the burden on women in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, freeing up their time to pursue more fruitful activities in order that they might achieve their full potential.