Living Inside a Wind Park - Exploring Energy Justice Concerns in Large-Scale Renewable Energy Projects Among Rural Communities, March, 2025

The JUCAN team congratulates Lucía Fajardo Ligero and Susann Heidecke on the successful defence of their master thesis. The research was conducted between September and October 2024 in the Kipeto Wind Farm, Kajiado, Kenya. The JUCAN research project has supported the two Global Development students from the University of Copenhagen during their fieldwork and writing process. Their thesis explored how expanding renewable energy infrastructure can address the needs and justice concerns of local rural communities that host them. Environmental justice is a critical concern because the impacts of the global push for renewable energy (RE) to mitigate climate change are often felt most strongly in rural and Indigenous communities through land dispossession, loss of livelihoods, and social marginalization.