ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Forum 2018

The ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Forum (ESEF) was held in Dakar, Senegal from 13 to 15of November 2018 on the theme “Achieving Sustainable Energy Targets in the ECOWAS Region”.

ESEF 2018 was designed to foster concrete progress in the implementation of the ECOWAS region’s ambitious sustainable energy targets. This event aimed to facilitate partnerships between ECOWAS policy makers, regional and international development partners and private sector players, financial institutions, academia and research and civil society representatives.

In the opening speech, the Senegalese Minister for Petroleum and Energy, Elimane Kane, congratulated this initiative, describing as a demonstration of the ECOWAS Commission to engage the government and the people of Senegal in their efforts towards regional integration. According to the Minister, the ECOWAS energy policy integration is an effective way to engage the international community to enforce Sustainable Development Goals Agenda for 2030, adopted by the United Nations in 2015. Finally, Kane urged the Member States to work towards ensuring universal access to energy and electricity services; double the rate of energy efficiency; as well as the rate of renewable energy penetration in the energy mix by 2030.

The Commissioner for Energy and Mines at the ECOWAS Commission, Sediko Douka, pointed out that they are committed in achieving the goals contained in the Renewable Energy Policy and the Energy Efficiency Policies in a bid to increase the penetration of renewable energy in the energy mix to 10% by 2020 and 19% by 2030 in the region. Regarding Energy Efficiency, Commissioner Douka said the objective is to free 2GW of capacity of electricity and to double the energy efficiency measures in order to achieve the efficiency levels of the leading countries.

Also attended this Forum, high entities as the Minister of Energy of Sierra Leone, Alhaji Sesay, the Executive Director of ECREEE, Mahama Kappiah, the representative from the World Bank, Manuel Luego, the CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, Rachel Kyte.

The ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Forum (ESEF) was instituted in 2017 by ECREEE to bolster efforts of member states, along with local, regional and International initiatives in harnessing the region’s vast renewable energy potential by facilitating investment in the regional energy sector.