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November 14, 2018
Ingenuity of Corled
For the past 10 years Community Energy Scotland has supported community groups to extract maximum benefit from the twists and turns of the UK Government’s energy policy and the vagaries of its subsidy regime. In amongst this work, CES helped to establish Community Energy Malawi. While the energy systems in both countries could not be more different, the principle of helping communities take control of their energy needs is identical. They have met some inspiring and ingenious people on their travels and none more so than a man called Corled Nkosi.
Malawi pitches in for Climate Justice – meet Corled here (short video)
CES continues to maintain its links with Community Energy Malawi, which we helped found in 2014. Having invited CEM to join the PITCHES project, the collaborations continue, aided by parallel work for the Climate Justice & Innovation Fund.
In August, CES was on the ground in Malawi to see the innovative approaches people are adopting. It was a chance to see just how transformational access to reliable, round the clock electricity can be. While most of us take that for granted, it’s worth remembering some of our more remote members in Scotland face similar situations.
Rona Mackay, CES Head of Operations and Governance, said one of the highlights was meeting individuals who’ve really made a difference. That included Corled Nkosi who used his electrical skills to create the Kasangazi Hydro-Electrical Power Plant that helps 2,000 people. Corled’s achievements have been recognised with a Commonwealth Points of Light Award.
In parallel, work with CEM for the United Nations Development Programme saw the CES team provide training to people in Sitholo who are eagerly awaiting the commissioning of their local microgrid system in 2019.