The optimism that the world will be heading for 100% renewable energy has recently heightened within academia and policymakers. This paper interrogates the prevailing energy patterns in Lesotho, where households depend on multiple energy sources, combining renewables and non-renewables. While there is increased access to grid electricity and solar technologies, the data reveals a persistent reliance on biomass, paraffin, coal, and liquefied petroleum gas. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork, the study demonstrates that the current trend is not merely transitional but is shaped by distinct socio-economic and infrastructural realities. Three key factors underpin the continued preference for energy combinations. First, renewable energy penetration in rural areas remains limited. Second, affordability concerns, particularly the cost of connection and usage, severely constrain households. Third, precautionary behaviours in response to unreliable electricity supply and the perceived inefficiency of some renewable technologies push households to keep alternative sources on standby. Efforts to abandon fossil-based energy use will remain aspirational unless energy transitions account for these patterns and the reasons behind them. Meaningful progress towards sustainable energy in Lesotho requires a deliberate shift in how communities are engaged. Strategies must move beyond top-down electrification, but instead emphasise local knowledge and user priorities, which are key.

The agricultural sector in Lesotho grapples with significant challenges regarding post-harvest losses. Given that 40% of all agricultural products require cold storage, food quality is compromised due to lack of cold storage to extract the heat from exposure to high field temperatures after harvest. This research proposes a solar thermal cooling system tailored to the specific needs of preserving fresh agricultural produce, leveraging Lesotho’s abundant solar energy resources. Through TRNSYS simulation and MATLAB economic analysis, optimal system parameters are determined, ensuring both technical efficiency and financial viability. The outcomes indicate that the proposed absorption solar thermal cooling system, incorporating evacuated tube collectors and an auxiliary boiler, effectively manages a cooling load of 7.318 kW, preserving fresh vegetables at 6.1°C. The optimized design features a chiller with a Coefficient of Performance of 0.8, a collector area of 12 m², and a hot storage volume of 0.2 m³, maximizing solar energy utilization. Importantly, economic metrics such as Levelized Cost of Energy ($0.085/kWh), Net Present Value ($9,200), Discounted Payback Period (12 years), and Savings to Investment Ratio (achieving 1 in year 13) demonstrate the financial feasibility and profitability of the system. These findings underscore the potential of solar thermal cooling as a promising investment option for addressing refrigeration needs in Lesotho, offering a sustainable solution to mitigate post-harvest losses and enhance economic performance in the agricultural sector.

Community participation could contribute to sustaining energy projects, however some projects underestimate the value of meaningful project host communities’ involvement in decision-making. Rural community energy development projects in Lesotho often assume a top-down development-driven approach void of communities’ perspectives and desires. This study investigates opportunities Lesotho’s renewable energy projects, either led by communities or the government, provide. The authors draw from qualitative research to examine two cases, Semonkong and Motete’s participatory approaches. This study determined the magnitude of community participation in the two projects, from their initiation to the level of community participation in decision-making and implementation. The findings posit that community participation in both projects differs from minimal to no participation. They further revealed a blurry picture of community acceptance of the project where participation was relatively lower, thus bringing project sustainability into question. The Lesotho Electric Company deprived the Semonkong community the opportunity to participate in the decisions of the Semonkong mini-grid. In contrast, the Motete project consortium allowed a modicum of community participation hence higher social acceptance prospects. The study revealed that tensions, conflicts, and protests are implications associated with lack of community participation in the project of Semonkong. The sustainability of projects is dependent on the extent of the host communities’ involvement, acceptance, and trust. This study recommends community engagement for hammering and forging project acceptability and sustainability.

Based on a survey of two Lesotho communities, this study assessed the type of governance of energy that favours the emergence of energy democracy or community energy. It established that the centralized energy governance of Semonkong seems less effective in solving conflicts compared to the decentralized energy governance of Ha-Makebe. Poor communication and lack of will to respond to community needs caused dissatisfaction and misunderstanding towards the centralized energy project. The study found that the decentralized energy project was more likely to be sustainable because it was characterized by community participation and engagement. The findings also revealed that the satisfaction of energy consumers results from a consistent supply of energy accompanied by responsiveness to community needs as opposed to a cheap inconsistent electricity supply. The implications are that the Semonkong plant's sustainability is at risk, and the project may collapse unless the Government of Lesotho, in the short term, engages with the community regarding its concerns.

When projects are exclusionary, they are bound to fail because they are void of a collective sense of belonging and ownership. The government of Lesotho has been stridently pursuing renewable energy initiatives to augment the hamstrung monopoly provider and increasing user demand in energy provision. Based on content analysis, this study revealed that the government’s troubles in managing grid and off-grid energy provision in the country result from its exclusionary technical-economic strategy that subverts citizen participation in decision-making. This study contends that power without a people is not a realistic option. This calls for an energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy in Lesotho. It proposes that operationalising energy democracy is not only transformative but also a sustainable future. Widening civic space in the energy sector and adopting a participatory approach will likely transform the status quo by creating jobs and ensuring environmental justice.