Headline:
Workshop: Developing a Sustainable Energy Supply for Africa
At COP 21 in Paris, African leaders launched the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative aimed at boosting renewable energy development to improve energy access and power economic expansion on the continent. With backing from the G7 and the international donor community, the initiative seeks to deliver 10GW of new renewable energy capacity by 2020 and mobilize Africa’s potential to generate at least 300GW of capacity by 2030.
This proposal can build on a number of promising trends. Average economic growth has been at 5 percent since the turn of the century, and renewable energy investments have begun to take off in recent years. Framework conditions for private sector engagement in the energy sector have improved markedly in a number of countries. Market-driven expansion of off-grid energy services has been particularly dynamic, enabled by local entrepreneurship and innovation in the digital economy. At the same time, the overall expansion of renewables in Africa remains moderate and mainly concentrated in a selected number of countries. Despite a large number of international initiatives, harnessing large-scale investment in the energy sector in general and the field of renewables in particular remains a critical challenge.
The workshop Developing a Sustainable Energy Supply for Africa: Opportunities for Investment and Economic Transformation will take stock of these trends and how to build on these developments to unlock investment and entrepreneurship in Africa’s low-carbon economy. The workshop will focus particular attention on innovative models to enable investments in renewable energy and the potential of off-grid renewable energy systems for driving local value creation and access to modern energy services. On this basis, options for international cooperation and opportunities for engagement by European businesses will be explored.
When? 28 September 2016, 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Where? IASS Potsdam
For more information please contact Rainer Quitzow.