Mulualem Gebreslassie and colleagues from the CESET project have published a new open access journal article

Members of the CESET project have published an article entitled “Developing community energy systems to facilitate Ethiopia's transition to sustainable energy” in the Journal of Energy Research and Social Science, Vol. 117, 2024.

Community energy systems, where communities are central in off-grid energy solutions, present alternative ways to address Ethiopia's energy access challenges. Despite this, community energy systems are not well-established in Ethiopia. It is essential to explore the potential and challenges of community energy in Ethiopia, as well as their significance in the country's energy transition.

This paper uses experiments to explore various aspects of community energy projects in Ethiopia and how they are created, sustained, and lived. By comparing three qualitative case studies, it shows that the main challenge to developing community energy in Ethiopia is the political environment, despite the clear advantages of these projects. The analysis shows that community energy projects involve communities in all stages of development. After completion, communities take over project management. However, these projects face challenges in funding, supply chain management, and developing skills among community members to ensure long-term operation.

You can access the article at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103713