Praia, Cape Verde — A regional centre that will help West Africa harness its vast renewable energy resources in order to meet the region's energy needs was on Tuesday, 6th July 2010 formally opened at an elaborate ceremony in Praia, Cape Verde that also included the signing of the headquarters agreement between ECOWAS and the Government of Cape Verde.
The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), a specialized agency of ECOWAS, was established in November 2009 with support from the ECOWAS Commission, the Governments of Austria, Cape Verde and Spain with the technical support of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Brazil has already indicated it would also support the Centre. "ECREEE will contribute towards increasing access to modern energy services and improved energy security in ECOWAS Member States, thereby supporting the region's economic and social development in an environmentally benign but sustainable manner", the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Ambassador James Victor Gbeho, said at the opening. He said the Centre will help the region, which ranks among the lowest in access to modern electricity services, tap into its vast renewable energy resources to meet its development objectives, including using it as a driver for economic growth, the provision of basic services and the fight against pervasive poverty. It will also help the region meet the Millennium Development Goals under which developing countries are expected to significantly improve, and ensure energy access to, at least, half of the population, using it to stimulate economic development and reduce poverty. "The ECOWAS region has a hydro electric potential of 23,000 MW of which only 16 per cent has been exploited, a situation that shows the untapped energy resources of the region, including its vast solar, wind and bio energy potentials that could equally be tapped to meet the increasing needs of citizens for modern, clean and sustainable energy", the President added. Traditional biomass is the main source of energy for the poor majority in the region and accounts for 80 per cent of the domestic energy consumption while the region has considerable untapped wind, tidal, ocean thermal and wave energy in some Member States.
Among the attractions of renewal energy, the President said, are its capacity to penetrate rural and remote areas, its potential to contribute to the reduction in fuel import bills thereby enhancing balance of payment, its capacity to contribute to job creation, increase rural incomes, enhance food security as well as the delivery of such services as health, education and water. "Overall, renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and services have the potential to unlock the economic potential of the ECOWAS region and effectively contribute towards poverty reduction", he further said. ECREEE will focus on fund mobilization, policy and quality assurance, capacity building, knowledge management and promoting investment in the sector. It will also become the main implementing agency for the $150 million dollar programme that is partly financed by the Global Environment Facility and will focus on energy access and efficiency in key sectors of the regional economy. Cape Verde's Prime Minister, Mr. Jose Maria Neves, said the Centre will help boost the country's energy access programme in which the government has invested substantial resources and the sustainable social, economic and environmental development of the region. The headquarters agreement was signed by Prime Minister Neves and Ambassador Gbeho, the President of the ECOWAS Commission.
