International Conference on Renewable Energy in Africa

A joint activity of the African Union, the Government of Senegal, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Preamble

As Africa continues to register consistent and positive economic growth rates, there are serious concerns that energy supply and access challenges are already encumbering the continent's overall growth prospects. It should, however, be noted that Africa has vast renewable and non-renewable energy resources that largely go unexploited. For example, it is estimated that only 7% of hydroelectricity and less than 1% of geothermal potentials on the continent have been exploited.

The exploitation of the available renewable energy resources in Africa is viewed as part of the solution to the continent's energy challenges and there have been various initiatives aimed at developing renewable energy markets in Africa. Experiences so far suggest that renewable energies in Africa have been developed with principally two main orientations. Large-scale renewable energy like geothermal and cogeneration projects have been developed with a view to increase security of supply through diversification and reducing exposure to external shocks (e.g. from high oil prices and droughts). On the other hand small and medium scale renewables seem to have been developed to expanding access to modern energy services, especially in remote areas.

Despite of experiences gained and lessons learnt in developing renewable energy in Africa and other regions so far and the potential contribution of renewable energy to addressing Africa's energy challenges, renewable energy markets in Africa have remained largely underdeveloped. To identify why this is the case and how renewable energy markets in Africa could be operationalized, the following attendant questions are discernible:

• What are the emerging renewable energy market challenges in Africa and how can they be addressed?
  
• From projects implemented so far, have cost effective renewable energy technologies been fronted and are they costs effective compared to existing alternatives? In addition, have renewable energy projects been appropriately targeted?
  
• With renewable energy markets always hinging on the existence of conducive policies and regulatory frameworks, which policies have been developed so far and why have they not sufficiently supported market based scaling up?
  
• Why has access to appropriate renewable energy technologies continued to be such a challenge? How can industry in Africa acquire mastery in design, assembly, manufacture and operation and maintenance of these technologies?
  
• Renewable energy projects require high capital upfront. Why does access to finance for such projects continue to be problematic? What innovative strategies can Africa adopt to mobilize funding from existing sources, and new and additional sources?
• Evidence seem to suggest that emerging renewable energy markets in Africa seem to be hampered by lack of capacity by key facilitators/enablers and players such as regulators, policy makers, professionals, technicians, developers, financiers etc. Therefore, what capacities need to be developed at individual, institutional and systemic levels that will support the emerging renewables markets and even transform them?

Objectives

Making use of lessons learnt and experience gained with renewable energy projects in Africa and elsewhere, the conference will examine how bottlenecks to renewable energy market related to policies, technologies, financing and capacity can be addressed so as to increase access to energy in Africa. The conference will bring together high-level decision makers to provide visible leadership and commitment to a common strategy for market-based scaling up of renewable energies that is informed by lessons learnt from concrete case studies and the energy situation that obtains in Africa. Specifically, the conference will have the following key objectives:

• Assess the significance of the potential role renewable energy to Africa's energy challenges and policy options under which renewables can contribute to Africa’s energy needs;
• Identify most promising policy and regulatory options and new policy actions required to stimulate broader and accelerated market-based dissemination of renewable energy;
• Assess renewable energy technologies related challenges and discuss how they can be addressed;
• Identify capacity needs for renewable energy markets enablers/facilitators and players; and
• Engage stakeholders in issue-oriented discussions, share experiences and develop ( replace with -aimed at developing) a common plan of action for market-based scaling up renewable energy.