Shared energy parks as a solution to energy challenges for Dadaab Refugee Camps in Kenya

Abstract

The dire need for new cutting-edge approaches for humanitarian support especially in refugee camps is vividly indisputable today. Efficient, economic, and reliable techniques perfectly deployed and amalgamated should minimize most of the potentially dissenting social impacts of necessitous refugee camp infrastructure engineering. This paper examines the current energy situation in Daadab Refugee Camps (DRCs), it identifies the main energy usages in the refugee camp.

A long-term vision to support effective growth in renewable energy is paramount to safeguard the effective use of available energy resources by refugees. A hybrid energy approach such as LPG and solar can be applied successfully in DRCs where grid connections are unreliable, not available, or considered uneconomical. The paper's concentration on cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of the intervention and the key factors affecting the energy consumption in the camps. The intervention focuses on enhancing energy access in DRC. The analysis of the shared energy parks indicates that the energy park will have a net benefit of US$6,662,608 at a 5% discounted rate with a benefit-cost ratio of 3.256 an indication that the intervention is economically feasible. The paper concludes with a discussion of the shared energy parks by looking at the scalability of the intervention.