For Samuel Kiio Kyalo, curiosity is something of a permanent condition. He describes himself as “an incurably curious soul” who cannot walk past a problem without wanting to take it apart and understand how it works. That curiosity shows up everywhere in his life. He reads voraciously, runs, hikes, cycles and spends time in the gym, where he is often competing against a slightly faster version of himself.

It also shaped his career. With an engineering background and experience in plastics manufacturing, Samuel saw firsthand how energy costs could determine whether a factory remained competitive or quietly closed its doors. Then, while setting up an energy monitoring system at work, he saw something that changed how he thought about energy.

For the first time, he could watch real consumption data coming through and see exactly where energy was being used. What had previously looked like a fixed cost suddenly became something measurable and manageable. A simple intervention reduced energy consumption by 27.5 per cent. The lesson stayed with him.

“Energy is not weather, to be endured, but a resource to be managed.”

That realisation eventually led Samuel to the Master of Science in Sustainable Energy Transitions (MSET) at Strathmore University. Samuel entered the programme with an engineer’s instinct: find the technical problem and build a better solution.

The programme challenged that instinct. He began to see energy transitions as a combination of engineering, economics, human behaviour and policy. Technology could provide the solution, but people, incentives and regulation often determined whether that solution would actually work.

One of the courses that challenged him most was Ethics and Governance. It forced him to confront questions that technical disciplines can sometimes overlook: Who benefits? Who pays? And who gets left behind when an energy system changes?

An international internship offered another perspective, taking his learning beyond the classroom and allowing him to see how another country approached similar energy challenges. By the time he reached the end of the programme, Samuel was looking at energy differently.

The principle that had first emerged from his work experience had become central to his thinking. You cannot manage what you do not measure. That principle became particularly relevant to his MSET research. Samuel’s project explored how institutions such as Strathmore University could get more value from the solar energy they already generate.

The campus produces clean energy during the day, but solar generation does not always coincide with energy demand. When there is more solar power than the campus can immediately use, the excess can be exported to the grid rather than being consumed on-site.

Samuel saw an opportunity in electric vehicles. Instead of allowing surplus solar energy to go elsewhere, what if electric vehicles could be charged when solar generation was at its highest?

His research developed a smart-charging approach that uses real institutional energy data and forecasts the following day’s solar generation. The system then schedules vehicle charging around periods of high solar availability while ensuring the vehicles are fully charged when needed. The results were significant.

By aligning electric vehicle charging with solar generation, on-site solar utilisation increased from 84.3 per cent to 92.2 per cent. The financial implications were equally striking. Electrifying and smart-charging just two campus buses could save approximately KSh 2.4 million in energy costs every year.

And the most surprising part? No new solar panels were required, no expensive battery system was added and the difference came from better timing.

“I expected some improvement, but I did not expect timing alone to do so much of the heavy lifting,” Samuel says. “No new panels, no expensive batteries, just charging at the right moments.”

For him, the finding reinforced a broader principle proving that sometimes intelligence is more valuable than simply adding more hardware. Samuel believes this approach has applications well beyond a university campus.

Hospitals, factories, universities and other institutions that already have solar infrastructure and are beginning to electrify their fleets could use similar systems to make better use of the resources they already have.

The opportunity is becoming more important as electric vehicles become increasingly common.

If vehicles are charged without considering the availability of clean energy, they can add pressure to an already stretched grid. But if charging is coordinated with renewable generation, those same vehicles can become part of the solution.

For Samuel, this is one of the most exciting opportunities in the energy transition: flexibility.

Electric vehicles, smart appliances and intelligent energy management can allow demand to move towards periods when clean energy is available, turning what was once a burden on the grid into an asset.

His research sits squarely within that idea.

“The world is racing to add solar power and electric vehicles, often treating them as separate problems,” he says. “My work shows they are better viewed as two halves of the same solution.”

The research may have produced encouraging results, but getting there was not easy.

Samuel was balancing full-time work, evening classes, assignments and his dissertation. Family time and friendships sometimes had to take a back seat.

He describes the experience honestly: it was less a matter of balance and more an exercise in integration.

Work problems became research questions. Lessons from class found their way back into his professional work. And his family became unwilling but enthusiastic listeners to his latest academic discoveries.

The dissertation was the steepest climb.

At one point, perfectionism threatened to slow everything down. Then came a piece of advice that stayed with him:

“Done is better than perfect.”

It was exactly what he needed to hear.

Completing the programme became an achievement in itself, not simply because he earned the degree, but because meeting the academic standards forced him to push beyond what he had previously considered good enough.

Samuel is in no hurry to pretend he has the next decade completely figured out. His immediate plan is “First rest.”

After balancing work and postgraduate study, he wants to catch his breath, spend time with his family and remember what a normal Saturday feels like.

There is, however, more research on the horizon. Samuel is considering a PhD and is pursuing opportunities for a research fellowship, particularly around the intersection of energy and data. His long-term ambition is not simply to develop new energy technologies, but to help institutions ask better questions about the resources they already have.

How much energy are we generating?

How much are we actually using?

And perhaps most importantly: Are we using it well?

For Samuel, the sustainable energy transition is not only about building more. Sometimes, it is about learning to use what we already have, better, smarter and at exactly the right time.

Article written by David Kimathi