ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ERC)
- © by: Martin Lugmayr
Wind wheels
In December 2009 the preparatory phase of the regional ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ERC) was launched. The Center will be established as specialized ECOWAS Agency and will be located in Cape Verde, Praia. In cooperation with national institutions the ERC supports West African countries to make use of their alternative energy potential. So far, existing resources were not used due to various financial, economic, technical, institutional, legal and capacity related barriers. The Center is predominantly active in the field of capacity development and strengthening of framework conditions (institution building, private sector development, regional legislation, financial support mechanisms, regional information and data exchange). The activities of the ERC are harmonized with a comprehensive West African energy program which is financed through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and is coordinated by UNIDO. The ERC intends to cooperate with other donors (such as the Spanish Development Cooperation) and the newly founded International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
ADC: Technical assistance and know-how transfer
The Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) is supporting the first phase of the ERC with technical assistance and around 1.8 million EUR. The ERC project is implemented by ECOWAS in cooperation with UNIDO and the Austrian Development Agency (ADA). Around half of the project costs will be financed by ECOWAS. Already in June 2009 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between ECOWAS and the Austrian Ministry for European and International Affairs. Already since 2006 ADC is supporting ECOWAS by implementing the white paper on access to energy services in rural and peri-urban areas. Several transnational transmission and generation projects of the West African Power Pool are supported through the EU-Africa Trust Fund on Infrastructure. ADC supports also a bundled wind farm project (28 MW) on the islands of Cape Verde in cooperation with the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG).
The benefits of renewable energies
The current energy crisis in West Africa is interrelated with various social, economic and environmental problems in urban and rural areas. Renewable energy can play an important role to address the challenges of energy access, energy security and climate change mitigation and adaptation in an integrated way. Decentralized renewable energy systems can satisfy the demand for modern, reliable and affordable energy services of poor rural population groups which do not have the perspective to reach access to the electricity grid in the forthcoming decades. Large-scale renewable energy facilities are crucial to ensure energy security particularly for growing urban centers and industry. The use of renewable energy technologies protects the local environment and mitigates global climate change simultaneously. The West African region has still a considerable technical feasible potential of small and large hydropower (only 16% of around 23.000 MW are exploited). Moreover, there is a comprehensive potential of solar energy (PV, solar thermal, CSP), sustainable bioenergy and wind energy in coastal and island areas.
