Restio
Energy in Cape Town

Energy access is essential to achieving sustainable development. Our focus has been on understanding energy poverty and developing sustainable solutions to address these realities. While our experience base is diverse, there are certain areas of specialization that emerge through the portfolio of completed work. Design, Implementation & Evaluation of Energy access projects. We have substantial experience in all phases of energy access programme development from design to implementation to monitoring and evaluation. Energy access has moved beyond the Research & Development phase and Restio has tracked these movements, having been involved in numerous technology implementation environments in various capacities. We understand the importance of developing supportive policy and regulatory frameworks to promote access to modern energy services and realise the associated developmental dividends. Restio has been involved in developing policy and regulatory frameworks that encourage standardisation, best practice and compliance while ensuring these frameworks are light-handed, supportive and accommodating of innovation. Planning is integral to developing effective policy, ensuring opportunities are perceived within clear geographic and time-based determinants. SMEs and micro enterprises have a role to play in underpinning improved access to modern energy services. SMEs provide the commercial platform for distributing, supporting and servicing renewable energy technologies as well as stimulating the local economy. New technologies, products and services are important but an understanding of the market is arguably even more so. Restio Energy has a long professional history understanding the socio-economic realities of energy consumers at the household level. We have undertaken extensive socio-economic and energy consumption surveys which have assisted with product, business and policy development. Restio Energy is working in partnership with University College London (UCL) to develop toolkits and field guides for delivering thermal energy services in rural areas. The lack of access to modern energy sources in sub-Saharan Africa is a major obstacle to development. Currently 77% of people living in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity, instead having to rely on primary fuels such as wood and charcoal. Lack of access to modern energy stifles business activities and access to basic services which collectively undermine economic growth. In addition, current energy use patterns are responsible for killing more than 400 000 African women and children every year through indoor air pollution, and are wiping out the continent’s forests at a rate that is 4 times higher than anywhere else in the world. Established in 2001, Restio Energy has been involved in a range of programmes designed to improve access to modern energy services. We have worked in most East and Southern African countries as well as having established a nascent profile in South East Asia with professional assignments to Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines. Restio Energy works with different energy technologies, in different countries and policy environments, with different people, communities and organisations to develop appropriate solutions for improved access to modern energy services.