The International Conference on Renewable Energies in Africa continued on Thursday, 17 April, with two plenary sessions in the morning and two sets of parallel sessions in the afternoon.

The first plenary session addressed the theme “renewable energy technology transfer and development.” Participants heard presentations on: criteria for the successful dissemination of renewable energy in Africa; South-South cooperation for solar technology transfer; biogas technology development under the Biogas for Africa Project and a national programme in Uganda; renewable energy technologies for industrial applications; and lessons in technology development and innovation and implications for scaling up renewable energies.

The second plenary session addressed the theme “capacity building and research and development for renewable energy markets in Africa.” Participants heard presentations on: criteria for successful capacity development in Africa; capacity-building activities by the African Energy Commission, the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership, and the African Rural Energy Enterprise Development Initiative; the importance of capacity building for scaling up renewable energy development; and e-learning.

In the afternoon participants convened in four parallel sessions on the theme “technologies,” namely: biomass and biofuel technologies in Africa; solar energy and wind; hydropower and geothermal; and strategies for scaling up energy efficiency in industry, including in small- and medium-sized enterprises.  These sessions were followed by two further parallel sessions under the theme “investment and financing for scaling up renewable energy in Africa,” namely: mobilizing international finance; and financing of small- and medium- scale renewable energy services and rural electrification.

International Conference on Renewable Energy in Africa resources
Official conference web site
Proposed schedule
Side events
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

IISD RS resources
IISD RS coverage of the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference 2008, WIREC 2008 Ministerial Meeting - Washington, DC, United States of America, 4-6 March 2008 - (English: HTML - PDF)
IISD RS coverage of the Seventh Meeting of the Global Forum on Sustainable Energy (GFSE-7) “Energy Efficiency for Developing Countries”, 21-23 November 2007, Vienna, Austria - (English: HTML - PDF)
IISD RS coverage of the First High-Level Biofuels Seminar in Africa, 30 July-1 August 2007, Addis Ababa, Ethiopía - (English: HTML - PDF)
IISD RS coverage of the Eighth African Union Summit, 22-30 January 2007, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - (Briefing Note 1: HTML - PDF) - (Briefing Note 2: HTML - PDF)
IISD RS coverage of the Sixth Meeting of the Global Forum on Sustainable Energy (GFSE-6), "Africa is energizing itself", 29 November - 1 December 2006, Vienna, Austria - (English: HTML- PDF)
IISD RS coverage of the UNFCCC African Regional Workshop on Adaptation, 21-23 September 2006, Accra, Ghana - (English: HTML- PDF)
IISD RS coverage of the Renewables 2004 - International Conference for Renewable Energies, 1-4 June 2004, Bonn, Germany - (English: HTML- PDF)
IISD RS climate change and energy page
Energy-l - A mailing list for news on biodiversity and wildlife policy
Linkages Update - Bi-weekly international environment and sustainable development news
MEA Bulletin - Newsletter on key MEAs and their secretariats
African Regional Coverage
Linkages Africa - Fortnightly newsletter reporting on sustainable development events in Africa