The International Conference on Renewable Energies in Africa opened on Wednesday, 16 April, at Le Meridien President Hotel, Dakar, Senegal. During the Opening Ceremony, participants heard keynote speeches from: Samuel Amete Sarr, Minister of Energy, Senegal; Regina Ecker, German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ); Bernard Zoba, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, African Union; and Kandeh Yumkella, Director-General, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
Abdoulaye Wade, President of Senegal, then addressed participants, stressing the need for a concrete definition of poverty and outlining action in Senegal, particularly with regards to renewable energy.
In the afternoon, participants attended an plenary session. They heard speeches on scaling up renewable energy development, making renewable energy markets work, the implications of global renewable energy developments for Africa and financing for renewable energy. Ngagne Dieye, Director of Renewable Energies, on behalf of Christian Diatta, Minister of Biofuels, Renewable Energy and Scientific Research, Senegal, presented “best practices” for the support of renewable energies in Senegal.
Following the plenary session, participants broke into two consecutive sets of parallel sessions. The first set of three parallel sessions addressed the theme “policy and regulatory frameworks for scaling up renewable energies,” and covered: policies and regulatory issues for grid-connected renewable energy; policies and regulatory issues for stand-alone renewable energy systems, especially rural electrification; and bioenergy in Africa. The second set of three parallel sessions addressed the theme “investment and financing for scaling up renewable energy in Africa.” The session on making carbon finance work for Africa was held in the early evening, while the other two sessions under this theme were postponed until Thursday.
