The first weeks of my intership at AFREPREN

by
Marko Förstel
March 2004

With the intention of contributing to the establishment of a cooperation between German and Kenyan experts to develop an energy model for Eastern Africa, I was fortunate to have been accepted as an intern at Afrepren (African Energy Policy Research Network). For further information on Afrepren visit: www.afrepren.org. My internship was so far spread over 7 days. In this first period, Afrepren introduced all its different theme groups, partners and departments to me. These were namely:

The theme groups:

Energy Sector Reform Theme Group* & GNESD (Global Network on Energy for Sustainable Development)
Special Studies for Strategic Significance
Energy Services for the Urban Poor* & ESMAP/SME
Renewables and Energy for Rural Development*
Gender and Energy* & REEEP (Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership)
Global Development Network (GDN)
RETs & HBF (Renewable Energy Technologies & Heinrich Böll Foundation)
(* main theme groups)

The departments:

Joint Data Base
Library and RETSCAP
Accounts
Information Systems
Administration
Logistics
Publications
Engineering

I met at least one representative from each group or each department. This took much time and therefore I am very grateful that each representative answered my questions patiently. Thank you Catherine, Ezekiel, Grace, Irene, Jack, Jennifer, John, Jordan, Lugard, Michael, Oscar, Patience, Peter, Steven, Susan, and Waeni. We discussed not only the main objectives of each theme group but also what each group is expecting from an energy model as well as which data and expertise is available from the different researchers of these groups.

It turned out, that almost every group is expecting “hard data”, that is, answers to questions like: How many vacancies are coming out of one MW (i.e. Jobs/MW) installed capacity from a small hydro plant? For how many KSh (Kenya Schilling) would the price of energy be lowered by installing a 100MW co-generation power-plant? How much would subsidies lower the price for electricity?

I hope that in the next part of my internship we can specify all these expectations in form of “numbers”. What I now need to do here is also to identify the researchers who are able and interested in developing the invisaged energy model as well as trying to determine what they need and expect from German researchers.

To the best of my knowledge, an energy model for Africa has not been developed so far. There were some attempts in applying well-working models for Europe to Africa. Unfortunately, these models did not work very well because they were very data-sensitive and thus not applicable to the African power sector for which not much data is available. A complete new model is needed. It should be simple and should work with only a small amount of input/parameters. I also learned that there is a big effort by Afrepren to resolve the lack of data. There is, for example, a great effort in collecting data about co-generation potential and co-generation technologies. One speciality of Afrepren is the collection of energy-relevant data. Afrepren is therefore one of the best institutions in Africa, which has the data needed for an energy model. Because there is so far not one working energy model for Africa, I think, it should be easy to find interested German researchers who are willing to train or work together with African researchers. I want to emphasise again that there is no better partner for developing an energy model for Africa than Afrepren. Afrepren can not only provide the much needed data and African expertise but is also very much interested in the results of such an energy model.

I think it is time to search for potential German experts. These experts should have experience in developing energy models and should be interested in developing a completely new model, tailor-made for Africa's needs. All the needed data for such a model are not obtainable in Germany but through the office and from the members of Afrepren.

The potential results of such an energy model are of very high interest not only to Afrepren but also to a lot of other research companies and policy-makers. It should be easy to secure financial support from various organisations as soon as the project reaches a stage, where the researchers are actively collaborating.

If one reads through the “Merkblatt für Antragsteller” (preliminary information) from the Volkswagen Foundation, one will find, that our project fulfills almost perfectly their application requirements: A cooperation between German and African researchers in order to strengthen and widen research networks within Africa, sustainable development of African economies and sciences, emphasising the future development of the African society, using local expertise, etc.. Our project could also influence future research work and thus African policy, society and economy. I was surprised how well our project would fit into the Volkswagen Foundation's new programme. However, there is one exception: The Volkswagen Foundation wants to support also young African scientists. It is important form them to create well trained scientists which would work within the above-mentioned African networks. So far, we did not take this into consideration and therefore it must be discussed how best to support young African scientists as part of our project.     

I would be very thankful if my German colleagues, who are working on establishing a cooperation, could begin to search for and make contact with possible partners. I am always open for any questions about my internship at Afrepren. For the three new Berlin physics students who will be studying at the University of Nairobi under the Berlin Nairobi Physics Student Exchange Programme, I hope, that at least one will continue the work with Afrepren.

                                                                                                                                                                               Thank you,

Marko Förstel
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