[Replay] RENdez-vous Africa — Taking charge : Mobilizing African money to accelerate renewable energy uptake on the continent

Credits : depositphoto

Africa is at a defining moment of her history: the continent has an urgent need to deliver on economic development and climate commitments, both of which require sustainable renewable energy to succeed.

Substantial investment is also needed. According to IRENA, Africa requires an annual investment of about 70 billion USD in renewable energy projects until 2030 for the energy transformation to happen. However, over the last 20 years, only 2% of the 3 trillion USD invested globally in renewables has been in Africa. Most of the investment comes from outside the continent, making it a “hostage” to unmet commitments.

But Africa has huge untapped potential : its people, its local capital markets and the growing African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) that supports the movement of capital and people.

During this RENdez-vous Africa we answered the following questions :

• How can we collectively mobilise African money to accelerate renewable energy uptake on the continent ?
• How can local capital markets be mobilized to fast-track investments ?
• How can the industry tackle the challenge of accessing and utilizing capital in local currency to support needed investments ?

Did you miss the discussion or want a quick recap ?

Watch the video below.

Panellists

• Dr. Henrietta Onwuegbuzie, Entrepreneurship Innovation Centre at Lagos Business School ;
• Patrick Kahasha, PKM Business Solutions ;
• Jibril Omar, OFGEN ;
• Olola Vieyra-Mifsud, Global Green Growth Institute.

RENdez-vous Africa: Dialogue Series | Strategic discussions around renewables in Africa

Competing priorities—economic recovery, stabilizing health crisis — exacerbated by COVID-19 are reducing the space for a public discourse for the uptake of renewables and the broader energy transition.

This clearly threatens the momentum renewables have generated over the last decade, and even risks reversing some of the hard-fought gains. The weak links in the sector, i.e. scattered voices, disconnected priorities, limited scale and resources need to be strengthened, particularly in critical hot-spots and in vulnerable countries. We need to work together more strategically, to bring renewables to the centre of attention and planning to drive economic growth, social equity, and innovation.

Doing this requires integrating renewables across all sectors and creating societal support. It is also about building and bringing the community together more strategically, to increase its collective influence in the global energy debate, linking global and local voices.

Making renewable energy mainstream also requires forging bridges outside of the renewable energy bubble well beyond the “usual suspects”. We need to identify, build on and collaborate with players to collectively widen and amplify the renewable energy voice. This means broadening the renewable energy community regionally and into new sectors. It also involves bringing the right information to this community so it can be more effective, strategic and influential.

The strategies and narratives to make renewable energy mainstream differ regionally. We need to understand the underlying drivers and drags to renewables uptake in each region and develop strategies to address or enhance them. In Africa, strategies to move to renewable energy need to be situated in the context of green recovery, energy growth and sustainable development. This is critical to create societal support for renewables, support economic development and innovation and develop a renewable narrative beyond the climate topic.

What is a RENdez-vous ?

REN21 hosts these events to inspire and to offer opportunities to learn and share across sectors. While each event is unique, one thing remains consistent: at every RENdez-vous there is time to meet and network with people from the greater renewables community, inclusive of many different sectors. Learn more and join the next event…

Replay published on REN21.

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