Message from the President of ALER, Miquelina Menezes
ALER General Assembly was held on December 17 where the 2022 Action Plan and Budget was approved. It is expected that 2022 will be the best year of ALER, after the year of its constitution.
We will have an intense and diverse activity plan, the most important being the organization of activities of which we already have experience, such as the publication of another national status report, this time from Angola, and organization of small events and 3 large international conferences, but also others that will be a first for ALER, such as the Women Sustainable Energy Program and an entrepreneurship workshop. In addition, the team will be reinforced, creating conditions for sustained and long-term growth.
This optimism follows the development of the markets we cover. Just to mention some of the important milestones expected for 2022:
- Mozambique : Entry into force of the already publishedregulation for energy access in off-grid areas, along with the publication of the new Energy Law, announcement of the winners of the first PROLER tender and launch of the second, completion and start of construction of the Metoro and Cuamba solar power plants, respectively, new call for proposals of the various support programs for off-grid projects and start of the implementation of projects already selected in previous calls;
- Angola: Entry into operation of the first of the 7 solar power plants with a total of 370 MWp of the Sun Africa/MCA consortium, signing of PPA and start of construction of the country's first renewable IPP by Solenova (consortium between ENI and Sonangol), followed by a second solar IPP project from TOTAL EREN, Greentech and Sonangol;
- Cape Verde: resumption of the program of new renewable power plants, after the signing of the contracts of the solar power plant of Ervadão, which can be followed by the 10 MW wind power plant in Achada Mustarda and the 10 MW solar power plant in Calheta, as well as smaller ones on the other islands. Furthermore, strengthening decentralised generation at microgeneration level and projects exploiting the energy-water nexus;
- Sao Tome and Principe: Publication of the National Renewable Energy Action Plan, implementation of the first phase of solar hybridization of the Santo Amaro plant and follow-up of the more advanced projects identified in the Council of Ministers Resolution of September 2019, under the special and transitional regime for the acquisition of energy from renewable sources;
- Guinea-Bissau: rehabilitation of Bambadinca and Bissorã mini-grids, beginning of the construction of mini-grids in Gabu and Canchungo and advances in the studies of the mini-grids of Bolama and Bubaque to prepare for the launch of the tender.
But the good news are not only to come. According to all indications, ALER will end 2021 with better results than budgeted, having managed to reverse the impact caused by covid-19 faster than expected. We have gone further, with the organization of 7 events dedicated to various geographies and market segments, and 2 publications that summarize the state of the situation of our main markets in Angola and Mozambique. We have also reached more people, with a total of 1,600 registered participants in our events and, through our newsletters, we communicate monthly with around 7,000 people from more than 10 countries.
Seven years after the creation of ALER we continue to grow - slowly but solidly - to learn, and to share our experience with our new partners in this journey, the National Associations of Mozambique and Angola - AMER and ASAER - which will soon be joined by those of São Tomé and Príncipe.
It will be with great pleasure that we will follow in 2022 the implementation of long-announced and expected projects, which materialize the potential that we have been proclaiming for 7 years. And this is still just the beginning, stay with us or join us to keep up with what's yet to come!
May 2022 be as promising to all of you as it is for us, and that you end 2021 with happy holidays and health, are the wishes of ALER.