Harvesting the sun and wind is key for African development
Submitted by Anne Reis on 29 June, 2010 - 13:34
Seminal Pan-African workshop about policies to support renewable energies.
Accra, June 23, 2010. “The solar radiation Africa receives could make this continent the Saudi-Arabia of the future”. With this bold statement, Hafsat Abiola, daughter of Nigeria’s late President Elect Moshood Abiola, summarized the results of “Power Kick for Africa”, a two-day strategy workshop on renewable energy policies. The gathering was organised by the World Future Council Foundation, based in Hamburg, Germany, in cooperation with the Energy Commission of Ghana. It brought together representatives from utilities, regulators, industry and civil society from ten African countries who are determined to expand their cooperation under the umbrella of the African Renewable Energy Alliance (AREA). Their main point of discussion was how policy-makers can support the harvesting of abundant renewable energy and thus open the door for sustainable African development.
“If we repeat the mistakes of the developed world by realising African development mainly on the burning of fossil fuels, climate change will have a disastrous effect on our countries”, said the Executive Director of the Regional Centre for Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency of ECOWAS, Mahama Kappiah, at a press briefing in the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel, Accra. On the other hand, decentralised energy production through solar systems and wind farms could bring power to many remote regions, thus allowing development, creating jobs and benefitting health. Kappiah: “Solar power is reliable and can be installed easily and without the need to connect to the national electricity grid.”
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