News

New report on Mozambique's off-grid energy regulation

16th March, 2023

Our CESET co-investigators Lorraine Howe and Carlos Shenga of the Centre for Research on Governance in Maputo have published a new report on the opportunities and challenges for the uptake of community energy projects in Mozambique. 

Read more

Introduction to special issue on Energy Sustainability and Society published

8th March, 2023

An editorial piece written by CESET PI Professor Vanesa Castán Broto and her colleagues Philpp Späth, Simon Bawakyillenuo and Michael Pregernig has been published as the introduction to a special issue - "The governance of energy transitions in Africa: a sketch of plural perspectives". 

Read more

New open access paper on corridors as empty signifiers

7th February, 2023

CESET Co-investigators Dr Joshua Kirshner and Idalina Baptista's new paper "Corridors as empty signifiers: The entanglement of Mozambique’s colonial past and present in its development corridors" is available via open access in Planning Perspectives. 

Read more

Introducing Dr Harshit Vallecha

6th February, 2023

We are delighted to welcome Harshit to the CESET team. Harshit is a Research Associate in Community Energy Systems (CES) at STEER centre, Loughborough University. He is working jointly on CESET project and Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme.

Read more

Mapping Community Energy Systems in Malawi

16th January, 2023

Our CESET partners at Addis Abba University in Ethiopia have been busy creating an interactive map that provides information on Malawi's community energy systems (CES) as of 2023. A total of 20 community energy systems based on hydro, solar, wind, and a hybrid of solar and wind have been identified.

Read more

Decentralised and off-grid energy solutions in Mozambique

9th January, 2023

In December 2022 CESET Co-Investigator Dr Joshua Kirshner of York University was interviewed by a journalist for the last feature article of 2022 for Zitamar news on his thoughts on decentralised and off-grid energy in Mozambique. 

 

Read more

New CESET open access journal article published

16th December, 2022

Some of the CESET team in collaboration with their colleagues, led by our Ethiopian CESET project Co-Investigator Mulualem G. Gebreslassie, have published an article on “The need to localize energy technologies for Africa's post COVID-19 recovery and growth” in Scientific African.

Read more

CESET presents a new short film on community energy in Malawi

14th November, 2022

Last week was the premiere of the new CESET short film “community energy in Malawi: on the ground experiences” as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science at The University of Sheffield. The film was directed by filmmaker Sean Lovell.

Read more

Accelerating the energy transition in Malawi

7th November, 2022

Our CESET colleague Christopher Hara has produced a new article on "Accelerating an Energy Transition from Biomass to E-Cooking and Other Clean Energy Options Through Community Energy Off-Grid Systems in Malawi". 

Read more

Fieldwork visits to four off-grid energy projects in Malawi

4th November, 2022

Josh Kirshner (University of York) and Chris Hara (Mzuzu University) made site visits to several community energy projects in central and southern Malawi in late September 2022, speaking with project directors, managers and local residents.

Read more

Community Energy in Malawi: On the ground experiences

31st October, 2022

Delivering sustainable energy is a familiar call to action here in the UK, but what might that look like for communities in the Global South? This film shares the experiences of those working on the ground to bring community energy to Malawi.

Read more

Socio-ecological systems, and histories of water infrastructure in Bengaluru

21st October, 2022

On 4th of October CESET researcher Dr. Hita Unnikrishnan was invited to deliver a seminar at the Department of Environment and Geography in the University of York. 

Read more

CESET support for Chipopoma mini hydro plant

15th October, 2022

Last month the CESET team returned to Malawi to re-visit the Chipopoma mini hydro plant to see how they could provide additional technical support to increase its sustainability. 

Read more

Sitolo Solar PV Minigrid, Malawi

6th October, 2022

During our visit to Malawi in April 2022, the CESET team heard presentations from community energy projects - one of which was deleivered by Edgar Bayani of the community energy Malawi (Sitolo Solar PV Minigrid). This was an 80KWh minigrid funded by the Scottish Government in the Malawian village of Sitolo Village in Mchinji District.

Read more

New paper on institutionalisation of urban climate adaptation

9th September, 2022

CESET PI Professor Vanesa Castán Broto and her colleague Marta Olazabal have published a new paper in Buildings and Cities that explores what tools enable the institutionalisation of adaptation practices in local governments?

Read more

New film of Chipopoma Hydro Plant

3rd September, 2022

In 2022 the CESET team had its first face to face meeting in Malawi hosted by Mzuzu University. The CESET team took a field trip to Chipopoma Hydro Mini-grid project - a 53 kW mini-grid developed by John Sailence and funded by the UNDP at the Manchewe Falls for the Livingstonia community in Northern Malawi. The grid currently supplies electricity to 85 houses, a school and a milling station, but they planned to expand once they received more funding.

Read more

Research Associate for Community Energy Systems - 12month full-time

13th August, 2022

The post holder will work in close collaboration with the CESET and MECS Co-Investigator, Dr Long Seng To, focusing on the landscape of CES in Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique and collaborating with other MECS researchers to build on new opportunities and knowledge emerging from community energy and sustainable energy transitions.

Read more

Watch the Malawi CES presentations on YouTube

12th July, 2022

Earlier this year the CESET team travelled to Malawi for its annual CESET meeting hosted by Mzuzu University. Part of this meeting was an opportunity for CESET members to meet delegates from community energy projects and we had a selection of presentations from representatives about their experiences in setting up and operationalizing mini grids in their communities.

Read more

CESET participation in the DSA conference

11th July, 2022

On 6th of July CESET PI Professor Vanesa Castán Broto, researcher Dr Hita Unnikrishnan, Co-Investigaor Getachew Bekele and Dr Lorraine Dongo of the Urban Institute particpated in the Development Studies Association Online Conference hosted by the University College London. 

Read more

2022 World Cities Report launched by UN-Habitat at the World Urban Forum

8th July, 2022

Our CESET PI and Vanesa Castán Broto, CESET researcher Hita Unnikrishnan and their colleagues at the Urban Institute have collaborated to produce Chapter 5 on Securing a Greener Urban Futures and also contributed to Chapter 6 on planning.

Read more