Two important milestones for ALER

As shown in our Annual Reports and Accounts, 2022 was a remarkable year for ALER in which we were able to increase our team, our activities and our financial sustainability, elect a new Governing Structure, and develop and approve the Strategic Plan that will guide ALER until 2026. ALER's new positioning is already reflected in our new presentation and website, which I invite you to consult.

Taking advantage of our strengthened structure, we were able to reach two important milestones during the Countries' Week in early July.

First, it was an opportunity to pass to our Members not only the information we have, but also the information we have access through our contacts network.

On the other hand, we presented our new Market Overviews for the five countries where we operate, in which we were able to summarise all our knowledge about the renewable markets in each country, presenting it in a graphically appealing way for easy reading. We invite you to consult the main highlights of each Market Overview, where you can get a preview of the content available in this document. In the extensive and exclusive version, our Members can quickly consult the data for each country, helping them to identify opportunities and make business decisions.

In addition, all the information can be complemented by personalised support from our project managers. We also offered an exclusive debate with the National Energy Directors, where we talked about the expected developments in the sector and had access to recent news.

Secondly, the fact that the Countries’ Week had an extra day dedicated to Brazil reflects the new level that ALER reached, which is now in a position to expand its geographical scope of action, initially focused only on Portuguese-speaking African countries, and promote close relations with Brazil.

As was made clear in the interventions of the representatives of the various Brazilian renewable energy associations, there is a huge potential for learning and cooperation with Brazil, given the country's leading position in the energy transition and in the world top rankings for renewable generation and installed power, as well as other technologies such as green hydrogen production. ALER, together with Brazilian institutions, will now identify concrete actions to promote this collaboration, so that it can be enhanced and we can take advantage of the fact that COP 30 will take place for the first time in Portuguese-speaking territory, in Belém do Pará in Brazil.

With the Countries’ Week, ALER took advantage of its position as renewable energy experts in Lusophone African countries to add value to its Members and to promote co-operation between Lusophone countries, thus fulfilling the main objectives listed in our Strategic Plan.

We continue to work to create a Lusophone renewable energy cooperation network, supported by strong and active National Renewable Energy Associations, interacting with ambitious and committed Governments, to contribute together to Lusophone countries achieving sustainable development goals and progressing towards a just and inclusive energy transition.

We thank all our Members and Partners who are already part of our network for their trust and contribution to Our growth (not only of ALER but all of us together). We invite others with the same goal to join us, and we promise to all good news in the 2nd half of 2023!

Isabel Cancela de Abreu

ALER's Executive Director