Friday, 24 May 2024
News — Promoting sustainable and affordable electricity for rural communities
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As issues of sustainable electricity access, decarbonization, climate change, and economic growth continue to take precedence in the global environment matrix renewable energy stakeholders, governments, international investors, and alternate energy players continue to intensify efforts to strike the much-needed balance for energy efficiency through sustainable solutions. As such these stakeholders continue to leverage on strategic energy platforms such as the Energy Access Investment Forum (EAIF) to foster business and investor partnerships in the fight against climate change. The EAIF conference is a global flagship event organized by the Alliance for Rural Electrification, ECOWAS, and supported by GET. Invest, a European program that mobilises investment in renewable energy. EAIF 2024 is the 9th edition of the event whose premier conference was held in 2015.
The Africa Minigrids Program (AMP), which works with countries across Africa to scale up solar-battery minigrids and provide access to sustainable, affordable electricity to some of the world’s poorest communities attended the conference which ran in Lagos Nigeria from 21 to 23 May 2024. AMP Eswatini also participated in the event which was attended by public financiers, development finance institutions, and international funding partners, amongst a plethora of strategic energy stakeholders. Speaking on the sidelines of the event in Nigeria, the AMP Eswatini Program manager Saneliso Makhanya said, the EAIF Conference was an opportunity for in-depth exchanges, lessons sharing, and networking outlining how it was also an ideal platform for the adoption of industry best practices.
The AMP also leveraged on the conference to bring its Community of Practice (CoP) together who are its practitioners overseeing its national projects in the jurisdictions where the various AMPs are being implemented. This was done to accelerate the development of skills and know-how related to mini grid adoption. Moreover, it was done to help build a network of peers to strategize on best practice channels for the successful implementation of the program across the various jurisdictions where it is being implemented. This will help fulfill one of the AMP’s overarching goals which is to promote the development benefits of energy access to a wide array of communities across the continent by supporting productive energy uses.
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The conference which had hundreds of in-person and virtual delegates also had panel discussions on Climate-resilient grids interconnecting Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) and main grids for climate resilience and Energy Efficiency. Discussions on political framework conditions for investments in the Decentralised Renewable Energy sector needed to scale up rural electrification were also held as well as broader discussions on energy investments and climate change amongst other sessions.
A 250 Mega Watts deal was also sealed between the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and Husk Energy which is a global leader in decentralized energy systems, to deliver 250 MW of sustainable energy to millions of underserved rural communities in Nigeria. The 9th edition of the EAIF conference was held at a time when energy stakeholders the world over are stepping up strides to meet the UN SDG7 goals by 2030.
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