ASAER holds new Renewable Energy Working Group

The fourth meeting of the Renewable Energy Working Group (REWG) was held on March 16th, in partnership with the National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), the Angolan Renewable Energy Association (ASAER) and the Regulatory Institute of Electricity and Water Services (IRSEA) for a joint discussion on the "Contribution of Biofuels in National Energy Diversification" and, consequently, the creation of a strategy for biofuels in the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Oil in Angola.

The session, which was held in a face-to-face and virtual format, was attended by ALER’s Executive Director, Isabel Cancela de Abreu.

During the round table, represented by Domingos Lucano from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Chivanga Barros from ISPTEC, Stefanno Saviano from Eni Natural Energy and Diógenes Orsini from the Ministry of Energy and Water, the vision of the various stakeholders was discussed.

Throughout the REWG were debated topics such as:

Launching a biofuels strategy: in which the aim was to identify the potential for production of raw materials for biofuels, assess the economic and financial viability of projects, analyse technical regulations, identify investor risk mitigation and challenges of the agricultural and industrial sector.
The opportunities identified were the potential that the agricultural sector can generate to support the production of biofuels, the promotion of social development and decarbonisation targets, the reduction of imports of oil and gas derivatives (increasing exports), the promotion of local content participation in the biofuels value chain and the development of human capital.
To achieve these opportunities, the following challenges were identified: adequacy of a robust legal framework to support national and international investment, the creation of infrastructures to support the activity, the sustainability of raw material production, the demand of the national and international market itself and the need to ensure its knowledge.

This working group has led to the conclusion that:

There needs to be an attractive regulatory instrument for national and international investors;
International experiences have shown that the creation of a biofuels market, attracting investment and contributing to the diversification of the economy, requires the Government to establish quotas for the addition of biofuels to fossil fuels;
Competition between the production of biofuels and food is a false problem since the promotion of biofuels will contribute strongly towards solving problems of hunger and underdevelopment in Angola, there being space and synergies between the food production sector and that of biofuels.

The GTER presentation is available for consultation here.