The UN should leverage its considerable purchasing power to support new clean-energy projects and sustainable peace in Somalia.
Somalia has faced a daunting set of challenges since the collapse of the state more than 30 years ago. Efforts to gradually reestablish state authority and a ruling government have evolved through fits and starts since the late 2000s, with climate change and the emergence of the al-Shabab insurgency playing an increasingly visible role in the last 15 years and adding to insecurity. This report examines the evolution of the energy sector in Somalia, one of the least electrified countries in the world, and its role in the country’s political, economic, and conflict dynamics. The study reviews the energy practices of the missions deployed by the UN and the African Union. Collectively, these missions, which represent the principal points of engagement by the international community in Somalia, are responsible for enormous energy supply and demand throughout the country. The research highlights the recent power purchase agreement signed between the UN Support Office in Somalia and a commercial renewable-energy developer in Baidoa. This approach, innovative for the UN, provides a replicable and scalable model to meet UN climate targets, while increasing local energy access that could offer a range of peace and development benefits in Somalia.
Somalia faces challenges that are among the most complex of any country in the world. More than 30 years after the state collapsed, efforts aimed at rebuilding a functioning government system, improving security, and expanding the economy continue to inch ahead in the face of a serious ongoing Al-Shabab insurgency and the growing impacts of climate change. Much of the international community’s support for these efforts comes through a joint effort by the United Nations (UN) peace and support missions (UNSOM and UNSOS, respectively), and an African Union (AU) peace operation (AMISOM). Yet there is an opportunity to accelerate one aspect of sustainable peace: expanding access to renewable energy. This report looks specifically at the major role energy plays in consolidating peace in Somalia. Somalia is among the least electrified countries in the world. According to the World Bank, the share of the population that has access to electricity is only 36 percent, and only 11 percent in rural areas. The country has a completely decentralized energy sector that has largely evolved in the absence of government and regulations, and is made up of dozens of mostly small, hyperlocal, privately owned energy companies, each operating mini-grids to electrify their communities. These are overwhelmingly powered by generators run on imported fossil fuel (diesel) despite the many negative consequences of this approach, including environmental (burning dirty, low-quality diesel); economic (one of the highest electricity costs in the world); and insecurity (al-Shabab controls and taxes nearly all diesel supply chains throughout the country, forming an important revenue source for the insurgency). Renewable energy offers an attractive option to expand new energy access to electricity in the country, and has growing support from both private sector and government backers. While a handful of successful renewable-energy projects have emerged, access to traditional financing poses a significant challenge for the sector and for ambitions around a larger transition to clean energy. The UN and AU missions play important roles in supporting governance, providing security, and helping move toward a transition to peace and sustainable development. While the specific institutional arrangements are unique to Somalia, the energy practices of the UN are similar to those in other international peace operations in fragile contexts; they are overwhelmingly dependent on diesel generators for power, and represent sizable energy footprints in the areas where they are deployed. Indeed, the UN alone has approximately 65 megawatts (MW) of generator capacity, while Somalia’s official energy figures show only 125 MW of total installed electricity generation capacity in the entire country. The UN’s dependence on diesel is expensive and detrimental to the environment, and it creates security vulnerabilities for both the UN and the AU. The UN is taking a proactive role toward climate change in Somalia, having introduced the first-ever role of climate security advisor to the UN mission. In addition, the UN system has set ambitious internal renewable-energy and climate targets through two separate initiatives, the UN Secretariat Climate Action Plan (UNSCAP) and Phase 2 of the UN Department of Operational Support (DOS) Environment Strategy for Peace Operations. However, much remains to be done to make progress toward achieving those goals. Building on these existing policy frameworks and ambitious climate goals, the UN Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) has entered into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a commercial renewable-energy company in the town of Baidoa. Although PPAs are common in the private sector, this is the first instance of a UN peace operation entering into this type of arrangement. The PPA allows UNSOS to buy clean energy at a contracted term and price from a solar plant that will be financed and built by a private-sector entity. This commitment from the UN, along with a similar commitment from the local government of Southwest State, provides a way to leverage the UN’s considerable purchasing power to support new clean-energy projects coming online while avoiding the challenges associated with the attempt to finance, build, and manage such a project under the UN’s existing budget and procurement policies and practices. The PPA being tested in Baidoa offers a model for consideration in other sites in Somalia, as well as in other UN peace operations. The PPA model presents several notable benefits. First, it offers a way to rapidly scale the UN’s use of renewables, offering a viable pathway to meet its ambitious climate goals, including the UNSCAP goal of reaching 80 percent renewable-energy use by 2030. Second, the use of PPAs to leverage new private-sector investment can be scaled for renewable-energy projects across Somalia, helping to overcome a key capacity challenge for the national electrification strategy. Third, by extending the benefits of new energy access from UN missions to local communities, this strategy can support broader peace and development goals: it will reduce diesel tax revenue flowing to Al-Shabab, while supporting the numerous socioeconomic benefits associated with expanded energy access that are aligned with Somali federal and regional development plans.
First, Somalia is one of the least electrified countries in the world, a challenge that inhibits the country’s economic potential and sustainable growth. However, the government has the opportunity to expand access to energy, particularly through renewable energy, to support a range of development, security, economic, and climate goals in the country. This is a matter of importance to the UN, including member states and the Secretariat, the Somali government, and the people of Somalia. Second, Somalia’s energy sector is extremely decentralized, and distributed mini-grids offer the most feasible way to rapidly expand energy access. The energy sector comprises mostly small and localized private-sector electricity service providers, who have evolved in the absence of a functioning government or government structures. Diesel-powered, localized mini-grids dominate, with al-Shabab earning revenue from the taxation of diesel supply chains, among other things, all across the country. Third, renewable energy is feasible, offers numerous benefits to communities, and is drawing increasing interest from electricity service providers. Yet financing challenges are hindering growth, and the ability of the Federal Government and federal member states to help in this regard is limited. Somalia’s vibrant private sector has filled many of the gaps in services traditionally provided by government, but the country’s still low levels of electrification demonstrate the daunting challenges. Electricity service providers are increasingly interested in transitioning to renewable energy for both economic and environmental reasons, but the lack of a functioning banking sector makes the up-front financing requirements of renewable energy difficult to overcome. While a few promising examples have emerged, these are the exception rather than the rule. Fourth, the UN/UNSOS can play a role an important role in supporting Somalia’s energy transition, but faces institutional challenges of its own. The UN’s transition to renewable energy has started and is driven by a number of factors – from practical considerations, such as the need to cut costs and mitigate the security impacts of its current dependence on diesel, to the institutional commitments reflected in the UNSCAP and the DOS Environment Strategy. The UN faces a number of hurdles in implementing this transition in Somalia; while some are unique to Somalia, others are rooted in the organizational culture of the UN. In addition to gaps in resources and expertise, at both the field and headquarters levels, a major challenge is the disconnect between high-level objectives and the work of individuals on the ground. The responsibilities and expected contributions of units and individuals toward these organizational objectives remain undefined, and most of the progress made to date has been the result of efforts by individuals who proactively acted within the scope of their existing responsibilities to reduce the environmental impact of mission operations. If it can find ways to overcome these challenges, the UN can be an important partner and catalyst for new renewable-energy projects across Somalia and in other field missions, an outcome that would advance UN objectives on climate, environment, and peace and security. Fifth, successful models exist. The Baidoa PPA presents an exciting new model for UN peace operations to partner with private-sector companies to launch new renewable-energy projects, offering a way to benefit UN missions and local communities. The Baidoa PPA between UNSOS and Kube Energy, and separately the memorandum of understanding between Kube Energy and the government of Southwest State, is breaking important new ground for UN peace operations. By engaging as an energy consumer and outsourcing its energy generation to the private sector, UNSOS can mitigate many internal challenges that hinder renewable-energy transitions at scale in field missions. At the same time, this model leverages the considerable purchasing power of UNSOS to make project financing viable for the private-sector partner. The partnership of Kube Energy with the government of Southwest State creates the conditions for the project and expands its benefits well beyond UNSOS to local government and, ultimately, to local communities. This model could be scaled elsewhere in Somalia, and beyond, and the UN should immediately look to expand this model to other locations.
