Page 10 - AfrElec Week 02

AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec
IRENA formalises support for green energy in East Africa
EAST AFRICA
THE International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is to support renewable development in East Africa by supporting individual govern- ments’ efforts to meet their climate change goals.
IRENA has signed a memorandum of under- standing (MoU) with the East African Centre of ExcellenceforRenewableEnergyandEfficiency (EACREEE), a regional multi-lateral body, to find ways to support energy transition and to help local governments meet their UN Sustaina- ble Development (SDG7) and Paris Agreement on Climate Change goals.
The MoU was signed by IRENA director-gen- eral Francesco La Camera and EACREEE interim executive director Mackay Okure at IRE- NA’s recent 10th Assembly in the UAE.
Ugandan Deputy Prime Minister Ali Kirunda Kivejinja said that EACREEE was a very crucial institution for promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency in the region.
The agreement is part of IRENA’s strategy of signing partnerships with regional organisa- tions across the globe to improve collaboration between states.
“IRENA has been working closely with these organisations and had found it befitting to for- malise and enhance the collaboration through signing MoUs,” said La Camera.
Okure said that the MoU marked a major milestone towards strengthening the global
partnerships that are required to support EACREEE in implementing its Strategic Plan (2019-2023).
“It demonstrates the high level of trust endowed upon us and the potential that can be harnessed in advancing the energy sector devel- opmentintheEACregion,”hesaid.
The deal covers a number of areas: data collection; developing the joint Africa Clean Energy Corridor (ACEC) project; harnessing decentralised technology to achieve universal energy access and improving access to sustain- able finance.
IRENA’s main project to date in East Africa has been ACEC, which aims to expand renew- ables and facilitate cross-border trading in the emerging Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) and the more established Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).
ACEC aims to attract investment to create a larger regional electricity market that could meet 40–50% of power needs in the EAPP and SAPP regions by 2030. This would require up to $25bn per year of investment in generation until 2030, together with an additional $15bn per year in grid infrastructure.
EACREEE aims to provide more advisory and consultancy services to governments and investors to support energy transformation and green growth in East Africa.™
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w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 02 16•January•2020