A three-day training workshop on National Renewable Energy Policy and Incentive Schemes & Global Energy Transformation Pathways and Policy Tools, held from the 9th to the 11th of April, 2012, was successfully conducted in Praia (Cape Verde),as part of the reinforcement of capacities amongst the ECOWAS Member States concerning energy planning and policy to promote renewable energies at the national level. The training workshop was organized by the ECOWAS Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) in collaboration with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the Spanish Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).
After the opening speeches from ECREEE, IDAE and IRENA, the first two days of the workshop provided training on Renewable Energy (RE) Policies and Incentive Schemes with a specific focus on countries within the ECOWAS region. Experts from Spain, Austria and France, as well as from the ECOWAS region, trained the participants on RE planning and the different types of incentive schemes to promote the deployment of RE, not only at the national grid level but also for commercial buildings and households, as well as for rural electrification.
The third day of the workshop provided a global and a regional (sub-Saharan African) approach, on developing, using decision support tools, transformational scenarios or pathways for achieving, simultaneously, multiple sustainable energy objectives (security of energy supply, climate change mitigation and air-pollution reduction), as well as building policy scenarios that achieve universal energy access objectives by 2030.
More than 60 participants attended the workshop; the participants were drawn from the Member States, specifically from the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Finance, National Regulators and the main utilities in the region. These different stakeholders will play a leading role, in their respective countries, in the development of tailored policies to promote RE.
Furthermore, the workshop provided an opportunity for Member States representatives to contribute towards the drafting of the regional ECOWAS Renewable Energy Policy. It is expected that the discussions and contributions made will pave the way towards the creation or consolidation of national RE Policies for all Member States.
The workshop is a contribution, from ECOWAS, to the 2012 International Year of Sustainable Energy For All and the UN Goal on Universal Access to Sustainable Energy Services by 2030.
More information for the media is available at http://seminar.ecreee.org .Contact:Salett NogueiraECREEE Communication OfficerTel: +238 2604630
