First Meeting of ALER Working Group for Cape Verde

On July 21, 2016 ALER's Working Group for Cape Verde met for the first time.

After the election of the new Government, Cape Verde has undertaken several initiatives to promote the national market for renewable energy. Since then national and international workshops were conducted and several projects funded by partners or donors, or even promoted by the Energy Directorate are underway . In this context, coordination between the various stakeholders is increasingly essential.

ALER carried out the mapping of all these initiatives, identifying the responsible authority and the status, and will seek to contribute to that they are the most effective possible.

In order to share information, discuss ideas and prepare a set of comments and recommendations to the documents that are being prepared by consultants, ALER Members have organized a Working Group that had its first meeting.

ARE - the Agency for Economic Regulation of Cape Verde, which regulates the electricity sector, also participated as an external guest, making a major contribution to the discussions. In addition to ARE, ALER will also work with other institutional entities involved in these processes.

During the meeting, particpants stressed the important role of ALER as platform for dialogue to put all actors in direct contact and allowing the sharing of information in a structured way, concertation of opinions, and ensuring a joint and permanent work not limited to the few occasions offered by public consultations.

We invite all companies active in the renewable energy sector in Cape Verde, or interested in entering this market, to join ALER to be able to participate in the Working Group and therefore have access to inside information and make their voices heard regarding the direction that the sector should take and how to achieve the ambitious targets for renewable energy in the country. All information to join ALER is available here.

We also welcome all contributions or recommendations that you may want to share with us so we can consider their integration in our joint opinion that will be sent to decision-makers. These should be sent to the email geral@aler-renovaveis.org.

In terms of activities in Cape Verde, ALER already held late last year a survey to identify the main barriers to the development of renewables in Cape Verde (PT version only), which was presented at the workshop "The involvement of the private sector of renewable energy in Cape Verde : Opportunities and challenges" also organized by the Association.