Knowledge Management and Transfer for Microenergy Systems – Crossing Borders Worldwide

The Solar Transitions Project

The Solar Transitions Project was also introduced as part of the session. The project was led by the University of Oslo and funded by the Research Council of Norway, but included nine other global participants.

Human Diversity as a Success Factor

A successful aspect of this project was the “human diversity” as represented by the presence of researchers and practitioners, social scientists and technology implementers in a wide range of disciplines; from countries including India, Kenya, Austria, Norway and the USA.

Sub-Factors

Four sub-categorial factors investigated in this project included

1. Practical details and social organization of village scale power supply
   
2. Socio-economic impacts and people’s interests and demands
   
3. Implementation and management strategies
   
4. Relevant support mechanisms and barriers at state and national levels.
   

The last two preceding factors were found to me most important in researching how mini grids actually work, and how to effectively transfer a the successful concept of the mini grid from India to Kenya. Mini grids were specifically chosen as capital investments for implementation have already been completed. Additional research objectives included contributions to the improvement of solar systems currently on market, and a socio-technical assessment to determine how to implement the most appropriate micro energy system in Kenyan markets.

Knowledge management findings form the project were how to learn new systems, and then effectively adapt the system to new locations selected according to criterion that did not prioritize technology.