One of our most recent SEPS projects aims to demonstrate the viability and benefits of mobile solar powered cold storage systems. The People, Energy and Environment Development Association (PEEDA) will implement the first system of its kind in Nepal in the rural municipality of Baiteshwor.

During the first project phase, PEEDA has reached an agreement with local government authorities regarding the establishment of a solar cold storage system in the Baiteshwor municipality. They have also carefully selected a provider of electro-mechanical equipment.

The project team has discussed operational and maintenance tasks as well as financial management aspects with the beneficiaries and decided to conduct training after the completion of installation and commissioning of the cold storage system.

The beneficiaries are willing to contribute free labour during the civil construction and installation phase, which will enhance a participatory environment. Additionally, the local government has assured to provide support during installation, commissioning and post installation activities.

Updates on this project will be posted in our news blog. More general information is available on our SEPS project page: Improving Agricultural Profitability for Smallholder Farms by introducing Solar Powered Mobile Cold Storage

Biodigesters are best known for cooking and several national programmes have successfully promoted it for this purpose. But biodigesters are more than that. They can help to improve the livelihoods of rural households in the Global South by treating organic waste, improving management of soil nutrients, providing clean energy and organic fertilizer, to name just a few of their advantages.

In this webinar, we discussed how biodigesters and biogas can support farmers to increase the efficiency of their farm and improve their wellbeing. Are the benefits of biogas and biodigesters being deployed by farmers? If so, where is this happening? Which gaps/missing links can hinder the uptake of this technology? Lastly, how can family farmers be better supported to take advantage of biogas and biodigesters?

Speakers
Alex Eaton, Founder of SistemaBio 
Lylian Rodriguez, RedBioCOL
Willington Ortiz, WISIONS / Wuppertal Institute
Kevin Kinusu, Kenya Biogas Program

Moderator
Molly Hurley Depret

Watch the recording:

Download all individual slides from the presentations here: WISIONS Webinar Beyond Cooking All Slides 

Read more on our webinar series: WISIONS Webinar Series

The Forum was organized around opening plenaries each morning, featuring a scene-setting keynote address and "Wake-Up Call", followed by high-level dialogues focusing on "Knowledge into Action" and "Disruptive Voices".Parallel "Deep Dive" discussions focused on critical energy sectors and emerging themes, such as energy in humanitarian settings, access to cooling, and interlinkages between energy and health.

Participants also met in 18 Partner Working Sessions, designed and organized by SEforALL partners, to catalyze action on specific issues that will enable progress on SDG7. A range of stakeholders addressed specific energy access issues and scalable innovations needed to achieve the three SEforALL objectives: ensuring universal access to modern energy services; doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix; and doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency.

The first day focused on overcoming challenges. A highlight of the opening day was the presentation of the publication "Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report", which benchmarks annual progress toward achieving the SDG 7 targets that directly relate to the SEforALL objectives. Despite encouraging progress in some countries and energy sectors, the 2018 report finds that overall progress toward the SDG 7 targets remains off track. In particular, the study reveals that one billion people – or 13% of the world’s population – still live without electricity, and an estimated 674 million people, mostly living in sub-Saharan Africa, will likely not have access to electricity by 2030. The slow uptake of clean cooking technologies is also highlighted, as is the less-than-hoped for increase in energy efficiency and renewables. Discussions throughout the day focused on the implications of these data on the ground and addressed remaining challenges and unmet needs.

The second day of the Forum focused on innovative solutions that can help deliver change at the speed and scale required to achieve SDG 7. Various commitments and new partnerships were announced under the campaign, "Shine: Investing in Energy Access for All", in which 35 philanthropists, faith leaders and private capital organizations have committed to advancing clean energy access.

Carmen Dienst from the WISIONS team participated in a panel discussion entitled Last Mile First: Maximizing the Impacts of Energy Access on the SDGs