Urban Power

The Challenge

With urban areas expected to grow by an estimated two billion residents by 2050, cities must act now to close gaps in energy access. With cities accounting for 70% of global emissions, ensuring access to clean and reliable power for urban residents is a vital component of helping cities and their residents become more resilient.

Around the world, over 55% of city-dwellers experience regular electricity outages or lack electricity altogether. Without access to electricity, these residents have limited access to health and municipal services, to education or employment opportunities and are forced to rely on highly emitting alternatives to meet their day-to-day fuel needs.

Program Objective

Many cities today lack the knowledge, data, tools and partnerships needed to identify, assess and develop projects that have the potential to reduce carbon emissions and ensure the resilience and equity of urban energy systems. We believe that helping cities enhance their capacity to respond to shocks and stresses while managing the shift to an inclusive, low-carbon economy will be a powerful driver in creating green jobs, promoting social justice, and eradicating poverty.

Program Approach

Urban Power relies on a three-pronged approach to help enhance urban energy resilience:

1. Empowering cities through the PowerXChange series to encourage knowledge exchange and identify best practices in urban energy resilience.
2. Implementing tools that can help cities apply a resilience and equity lens including the City Energy Resilience Framework and Resilient Infrastructure Diversity and Equity (RIDE) Scorecard.
3. Mobilizing investment for energy resilience projects through phased programming with four of our network cities.

Participating Cities

In partnership with our four anchor cities across Latin America & the Caribbean and Africa we will design city-specific renewable energy solutions that can help enhance energy resilience across urban systems. The phased programming includes:

• Data gathering and analysis to identify key challenges and opportunities in the urban energy systems;
• Design Sprints with critical stakeholders to facilitate dialogue and expose bottlenecks to energy capacity and provision expansion; and
• Renewable Energy Project Acceleration to develop projects identified in the Design Sprint phase and link projects with suitable Project Preparation Facilities to leverage the maximum funding potential for project financing.

We will be working with additional network cities to further develop and review programmatic tools and strengthen thematic knowledge.

For more info on Urban Power please contact info@resilientcitiesnetwork.org

Partners

Program Resources

Program Background | Urban Power Profiles

Urban Power Program Brochure

Cities currently lack the knowledge, data, tools, and partnerships needed to identify, assess, and develop projects that have the potential to reduce carbon emissions and ensure the resilience and equity of urban energy systems.

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Distributed Renewable Energy: A pathway for resilient recovery in cities

Published in 2021, our report co-written with ARUP, ‘Distributed renewable energy: A pathway for resilient recovery in cities’ focuses on the ways cities can use Distribute Renewable Energy (DRE) opportunities to create resilient urban infrastructure and harness a wide range of resilience co-benefits.

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Urban Power Profiles

Urban Power Profiles: Early Lessons from Cali, Cape Town, Lagos and Rio de Janeiro on the pivotal role of energy systems in building urban resilience

Cities face significant challenges in fortifying their power systems against acute shocks and chronic stresses and in shaping energy projects that can effectively build urban resilience. This executive summary of the Urban Power Profiles outlines learnings from the first phase of the program’s work with Cali, Cape Town, Lagos and Rio de Janeiro regarding existing barriers to building urban energy resilience, and the innovative ways network cities are working to overcome them.

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Cali Urban Power Profile: Power System and Urban Resilience

Published in 2023, Cali’s Urban Power Profile provides an overview of the city’s power system context and challenges, key shocks and stresses impacting energy resilience projects and case studies on energy resilience projects including the SCADA smart control center for energy monitoring and innovative prepaid tarrif programs that work to expand energy access.

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Cape Town Urban Power Profile: Power System, Energy Poverty Alleviation and Urban Resilience

Published in 2023, Cape Town’s Urban Power Profile provides an overview of the city’s power system context and challenges, key shocks and stresses impacting energy resilience and case studies on energy resilience projects including an innovative alternative public lighting project and maypole electrification in informal settlements.

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Lagos Urban Power Profile: Power System and Urban Resilience

Published in 2023, Lagos’ Urban Power Profile provides an overview of the city’s power system context and challenges, key shocks and stresses impacting energy resilience projects and case studies on energy resilience projects including a state-led hackathon to create a smart metering system and expand energy access, as well as solar installation trainings that work to empower vulnerable communities.

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Rio de Janeiro Urban Power Profile: Power System and Urban Resilience

Published in 2023, Rio de Janeiro’s Urban Power Profile provides an overview of the city’s power system context and challenges, key shocks and stresses impacting energy resilience projects and case studies on energy resilience projects including a state-led hackathon to create a smart metering system and expand energy access, as well as solar installation trainings that work to empower vulnerable communities.

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