Going to Scale, The Case of Kenya - Panel Session Report Bonn 2013

Wednesday June, 26th 2013

►	Panel Session: Going to Scale - The Case of Kenya
►	Moderator: Sarah Butler-Sloss, Ashden
►	Rapporteur: Andrea Reikat, GIZ/EnDev

Introduction

• Presenter: Laura Clough (GVEP)

General presentation of Kenya and its household energy situation (demographics, staple foods, cooking habits, fuel used in rural and urban areas, actors in the ICS sector)

Main points:

• In rural areas, wood is used at 88,2 % whereas it holds only for 10,3 % in urban areas
• Charcoal is only used for 7,7 % in rural areas whereas it stands for 30,2 % in towns
• Access to ICS is rather high, but quality is a problem
• 50-50 % of charcoal stoves are already “improved” (more or less), but only 4 % of the wood stoves
• Current challenges: increasing wood ICS in rural areas, LPG in urban ones
  

Panelists

Peter Scott (BurnDesignLab)

Anna Ingwe (GIZ/EnDev Kenya)

Michael Kelly (World LPF Association)

Peter Odhengo (Office of the Deputy President, Kenya)

Topic of question round 1 and key areas discussed

Presentation of each project represented

1. Anna Ingwe
   

• Change of approaches between the 1980s and today: away from government driven approaches to business models based on the producers
• Quality is still a big issueEnDev is mainly acting in
  
• Awareness rising
• Teach commercialization to producers
• Create access to (micro-) finance

1. Peter Scott
   

• Has worked in the last years in modernizing the manufacturing of stoves
• Concentrated on charcoal ICS as most people in towns are cooking with charcoal
• Raising up additional production capacities in Kenya until the end of the year (4 additional manufacturing units)
• Production in China is needed as intermediary solution
• Price of the stoves is not to high as it pays back within 6 months
  
• Michael Kelly
• ICS and LPG are not in opposition to each other but are complementary

Challenge:

• fight against fear (prejudices) for LPG
• infrastructure (bring LPG to the people)
• LPG in Kenya is still considerably low (in comparison even with other African countries)

1. Peter Odhengo

• Government knows that energy is a driver of economic growth
• In addition danger of environment degradation

Government role

• Remove barriers
• Interest the private sector
• Set standards (bureau of standards)
  

Topic of question round 2 and key areas discussed

How to make grow the sector

Question to Anna Ingwe: what do the small scale producers need to increase production?

Small scale producers already have considerably high production figures

No subsidies / no gifts (this kills the market mechanisms)

Public sector must help: why sensitation against HIV was possible, but not for ICS?

Standards

Question to Peter Scott: challenges?

• Loans are too expensive
• To bring investors in (especially from outside Africa)
• Strengthening the distribution chain
• Expand sustainable fuel

Question to Michael Kelly: main challenge for LPG

• Infrastructure (bring LPG to the people)
• This can go together with ICS distribution channels
• This needs public and private initiative
• National association of LPG actors to better communicate with government

Question to Peter Odhengo: reactions to requests to government?

• Government is facilitator for all these requests
• But most states in Africa have budget deficits
• Private sector has to come up with concrete projects
  

Q & A session with the public

• What about improved charcoal production?

This is an option, but will be discussed in other panels

Even in this, small scale entrepreneurship is to promote

• Do stove types really meet users’ requirements?

Constant feed-back is crucial and is integrated in all (serious) project’s approaches

• When will Peter Scott come to Nepal?

For the moment SSA is in the focus (fuel more expansive, stove production costs lower)

Moderator’s wrap up

• Not one single receipt for all circumstances
• Different approaches are needed

Problems:

• Finance
• Infrastructure (distribution)

Solution: collaboration of organizations + governments + GACC

In general: more hope than ever!!!!