ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Week

The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA) and the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP), jointly organised the maiden edition of the ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Week from October 17th to 19th 2016 in Accra, Ghana. The event on the theme “Towards a Viable and Robust Energy Market in the ECOWAS Region” was supported by the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC), the Spanish Agency for international Development Cooperation (AECID), the European Union (EU), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

The ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Week was organized to promote exchange of ideas and cooperation to support the acceleration of the implementation of a regional energy market and to improve the current policy and regulatory landscape for a sustainable regional energy sector among the 15 ECOWAS countries. The conference facilitated interactions and forged partnerships between ECOWAS policy makers, the private sector and financial institutions.

The ECOWAS Commissioner said it was to assess the current status of the regional electricity market and present the region perspective of the national Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency action plans. He said the conference was to showcase available instruments by the partners and investment firms and discuss the acceleration in the implementation of grid connected renewable energy plants and the private sector involvement in rural electrification in West Africa.

Download all speakers presentations here.

3rd annual West Africa Forum for Clean Energy Financing (WAFCEF-3)

During ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Week, the Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN) launched its third annual West Africa Forum for Clean Energy Financing (WAFCEF-3) business competition. The competition is open to all businesses and entrepreneurs operating and registered in any of the ECOWAS countries as well as foreign individuals and entities with projects in those countries.

This competition is made possible through the support of Power Africa, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN), the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), and the ECOWAS Regional Centre for Renewable Energy Efficiency (ECREEE).

Only clean energy proposals requiring an initial capital investment in excess of US $1million are eligible. Shortlisted projects will attend a project development and financing workshop and will receive free individual professional mentoring to further develop their business plans. Submissions are due Monday, December 12, 2016.

During the final event that will take place in 2017, up to ten winners will present their business plans to investors, industry specialists and business executives interested in funding clean energy. These private sector judges select the top three projects to receive West African Clean Energy Financing awards.

Guidelines (English) are available for download and more information here.

WACCA launched is awareness raising campaign at the ECOWAS Energy Week under the theme #HowManyHave2Die

In the ECOWAS region, around 80% of the population still uses traditional biomass for cooking, often in an unsustainable manner and on inefficient stoves. Smoke from cooking on these stoves contributes to health problems, especially for women and children. Inefficient stoves are often unsafe and uncomfortable to use. Cooking fuel expenses keep on rising and the unsustainable wood fuel supply chains cause environmental degradation and deforestation.

In line with its objectives to promote energy access, renewable energy and energy efficiency, the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) initiated a regional Cooking Energy initiative called West African Clean Cooking Alliance (WACCA). It was officially launched during the ECOWAS High Level Energy Meeting in Accra, Ghana, on 30 October 2012.

The ECOWAS Initiative on Safe, Sustainable and Affordable Cooking aims to insure that by 2030, the entire ECOWAS population has access to efficient, sustainable and modern cooking fuels and devices.

The overall objective of the initiative is to provide access to efficient, sustainable and affordable cooking energy in the entire ECOWAS region. The specific objectives are to:

Promote the implementation of policies and regulatory framework on clean cooking initiatives in the ECOWAS region.
Enhance capacity building in clean cooking initiatives in the region.
Support and harmonise standards and labeling practices in the region.
Promote networking and knowledge sharing in terms of technologies and innovations.