South Africa’s uYilo eMobility Programme has been awarded funding within the Smart Energy Solutions for Africa (SESA) project that falls under the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for “Building a low-carbon, climate resilient future: Research and innovation in support of the European Green Deal”. The European Union-funded SESA project was created to improve access to sustainable energy under affordable, reliable conditions – while mitigating climate change.
SESA – a project under Horizon 2020
SESA, which runs from October 2021 to September 2025, is a collaborative project under Horizon 2020 – the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme created to achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and jobs, with an emphasis on science, industrial leadership and tackling societal challenges.
Global technology advancements can contribute and leapfrog developing markets. Under the SESA project, the outputs aim to be affordable and sustainable energy access solutions while contributing to low carbon development and climate change mitigation that can be refined for deployment throughout Africa,” says Hiten Parmar, Director of uYilo. “We have already been working on many of these advancing technologies, as demonstrated within our facilities which extend across electric mobility solutions, microgrids with solar photovoltaic energy generation and repurposed batteries from electric vehicles utilized for grid energy storage.”
The SESA project is the result of a strong partnerships between leading European and African organizations, industry actors, local governments, knowledge and implementation organizations and networks.
Energy access technologies and business models
SESA aims to provide energy access technologies and business models that can be replicated and create local opportunities for economic development and social cohesion across the continent. To this end five validation sites across Africa will test, validate and replicate solutions like decentralised renewables, innovative energy storage systems, smart microgrids, waste-to-energy systems, climate-proofing, resilience and adaptation, and rural internet access.
The activities within the SESA project show great promise for a sustainable future,” says Edem Foli, uYilo Programme Manager. “Achieving these aims will improve energy access in developing communities that are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.”
The first SESA meeting was attended by more than 70 representatives from 30 consortium members, with the results of the project and collaboration used to inform policy dialogues and recommendations to create a favourable regulatory environment to ensure long-term impacts of the solutions developed.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101037141