Driving Circular Energy Solutions: What Can a Partnership Between CEPREC and Knights Energy Achieve?

According to Statistics from the World Bank, an estimated 733 million people, or about 9.1 per cent of the world’s population, lack access to electricity (World Bank, 2020a). However, this substantially increases when looking at sub-Saharan Africa alone. Over 600 million people, or approximately 53 per cent of the region’s population, live without access to electricity, according to UNCTAD. How can hundreds of millions or more have only limited or unreliable electricity in the 21^st century?[1]

The statistics above are shocking, as more than half of Sub-Saharan Africa is without electricity. Sub-Saharan Africa cannot continue to live and conduct business as usual. This calls for speedy thinking and innovative solutions that not only disrupt how the distribution of electricity happens but also how power is generated. With vast potential for renewable energy, sub-Saharan Africa has an opportunity to substantially transform its industries and inhabitants’ lives. However, this requires collaborative, innovative and scalable solutions that substantially reduce the cost of electricity.

When Francis Romano, founder and CEO, began Knights and Apps, “one of Kenya’s most versatile, locally owned, ICT and Renewable Energy Solutions firms with a wide coverage in East Africa,” he did not comprehend its role in bridging the gap in the wider energy sector across Africa. What started as a desire to design Africa-led solutions has become a transformative force, enabling access to renewable and affordable energy to many East African communities. This gave birth to a locally driven desire to create reliable and affordable access to e-mobility strategies, through DriveElectric, a transformative and sustainable e-mobility solution. This is a game-changer for Kenya and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Circular Economy Powered Renewable Energy Centre (CEPREC) (read more here) from Strathmore University, led by the Country lead and Co-investigator, Dr William Murithi, Sheila Chepkorir, a Project Assistant and Andrew Adwera, a PhD Student, together with  Brenda Kanana from Strathmore Africa Case Centre visited Knights Energy, a leader in designing renewable energy solutions for homes, businesses, and industries. This was a big step toward a collaborative effort in speeding up Kenya’s shift to a circular energy economy.

The visit formed part of CEPREC’s efforts to build scalable partnerships that connect academic research and industry, leading to local innovation and community-driven energy solutions. The founder of Knights Energy and DriveElectric, Mr Romano, held a practical demonstration of the whole second-life battery repurposing process. This is an elaborate process that includes battery removal from electric vehicles, disassembly and diagnostics, module-level testing, and repurposing of cells into viable storage applications.

The team observed how Knights Energy and Apps is developing a 3.4kWh second-life battery unit (The Green Cell) and piloting its use in small businesses and schools. DriveElectric also showcased progress on a larger 64kWh battery remanufacturing project, intending to locally source and assemble key components. These efforts showed a grounded, field-based approach to battery circularity that holds great potential for off-grid electrification and affordable storage solutions in Kenya.

The visit demonstrated how CEPREC’s research and technical expertise, combined with Knights Energy’s practical innovations, would foster powerful collaborations in scaling EV battery repurposing. During the visit, the teams identified key opportunities for collaboration. This included the co-development of training manuals and curricula for technical institutions on circular economy principles and electric mobility, piloting circular microgrids using repurposed batteries, and the development of a business case study on circular innovation. The partners also discussed knowledge-sharing forums and shared infrastructure to support diagnostics, testing, and technician upskilling to develop capacity for the budding industry.

Both organisations share a vision of creating scalable, African-led solutions for energy access through applied research, practical training, and commercial innovation. The collaboration is expected to contribute toward CEPREC’s broader goal of building a robust circular economy ecosystem, one that integrates research and innovation, youth skilling, sustainable enterprise development, and inclusive clean energy access. These efforts would go a long way to bridge the gap in energy access for Africa’s underserved and unreached communities, where over half of its inhabitants do not have access to reliable electricity, which gets worse with some rural areas having less than 2% access. This cannot be allowed to continue in the 21^st century, where access to information is critical for inclusive and sustainable development, where electricity is a key enabler.

Strathmore University, led by the Strathmore Business School and Strathmore Energy Resource Centre (SERC), through interdisciplinary and collaborative initiatives like CEPREC, remains committed to advancing research-to-action pathways that connect academia, industry, and government — a true reflection of the Triple Helix in action.

Article written by William Murithi and Sheila Chepkorir.

[1] https://unctad.org/publication/commodities-glance-special-issue-access-energy-sub-saharan-africa