Integrating Clean Energy Regulation into Evolving Energy Markets

ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), the Cape Verdian Agência de Regulação Económica (ARE), and the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA) are jointly hosting a technical workshop on regulation and policy of clean energy, under a West Africa Regional Partnership funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The workshop is scheduled for May 21 – 23, 2013 in Praia, Cape Verde.

The workshop agenda originates from a collaborative effort under the West Africa Partnership to identify the capacity building needs of regulators in the ECOWAS region. Regional regulators and national regulators from the focal group identified priority topics to be addressed in the workshop as contemporary and emerging issues for the region.

Representatives from each of the regional and focal regulators listed above will attend the workshop together with local clean energy stakeholders including the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Energy, other relevant government offices and utilities from Cape Verde. National regulators from the regional will also be invited to participate. Participation is capped at 40 people.

The purpose of this workshop is to provide advanced training on the regulatory aspects  of clean energy and to facilitate dialogue to launch the creation of the document on principles of clean energy regulation in the ECOWAS region. Trainings will target priority and emerging topics to help provide regulators with the skills and knowledge needed to advance dialogue on clean energy issues and regulatory frameworks to encourage investment in renewable energy in their respective jurisdictions.

The outcomes of the workshops will constitute important components for the redaction of the principles of regulation document. A drafted document framework will be discussed during the workshop and all inputs by participants will feed into the principle document. A second workshop will follow in Accra, Ghana later in 2013 where issues and questions that emerged during or following Praia workshop will be discussed and elaborated by the working group and the principles document will be further developed, to approach its final version.