Indigenous Knowledge adoption can take the form of integrated social and ecological knowledge, practices and beliefs, leading to untapped local insights, methods and practices. Current barriers to further development in the sector include high costs, inadequate infrastructure, as well as gaps in both policy and implementation.

Waweru sources old laptop battery packs, tests their viability and then crafts new packs from them, which are then fitted as power sources for motorbikes. These bikes can travel up to 50 kilometers on one charge, providing a cleaner, quieter and cheaper alternative to petrol-powered boda-bodas.

The San Francisco, Nairobi, and Bangalore-based company is establishing two assembly hubs and nine showrooms across the region, with Kenya being the first market to receive deliveries of the Zeno Emara electric motorcycle and a 3-mode charging infrastructure system.

Establishing commercially viable off-grid electricity projects in sub-Saharan Africa is notoriously difficult, but some mini-grid firms have managed to gain a foothold. Fiona Lambe and her colleagues in the Gridless Solutions Initiative share insights from a recent study of two firms in Kenya, as well as recommendations.

The tax would add KES 2,000 to the cost of basic solar home systems, potentially destroying 10,000 jobs and reversing years of progress in rural electrification. The off-grid solar market, which currently supports 30,000 jobs and contributes over KES 4 billion in taxes annually, could shrink by 20% within 12 months if the VAT exemption is removed.

As dusk settles over a high school in central Kenya, the hum of an electric motor powered by a discarded laptop battery signals a quiet revolution – led by physics teacher and inventor Paul Waweru.

Kenya’s energy sector has been largely dependent on foreign support, either through conditional and unconditional grants or loans: In 2023, Kenya was listed among the countries set to receive $88.9 million from USAID to fund renewable energy projects, in addition to $4.7 billion in public and private investments in renewable energy.

Among all renewable energy sources, solar energy in Uganda has the highest adoption rate, offering a viable solution to scale up energy access in rural and villages in the country, where on-grid power is still inaccessible and unreliable. A key driver of renewable energy is increasing access to financing.