A huge welcome to Barcelona and 2024’s Africa Energy Forum. Thank you to all our delegates, speakers and sponsors. As we welcome familiar and new faces from all over the world, we wish you a highly engaging, rewarding and insightful week of discussion, debate and networking as we address the key issues and trends facing the energy sector - and look forward to returning to the African continent in 2025.
KENYA HANDS OVER BATON TO SOUTH AFRICA AS CAPE TOWN CONFIRMED AS 2025 HOST CITY
OPTIMISM FOR THE FUTURE
“It is with great honour and excitement that we receive the handover. This represents a strengthening of our partnership which seeks to provide a platform for dialogue, sharing of ideas and a means to create actionable ideas.
“I am filled with optimism… South Africa is diversifying its energy mix and embracing renewable energy sources – it is about securing our energy security for future generations.”
Africa is a continent with vast potential, a young population and abundant energy resources… the question we face today is how to balance Africa’s development needs with the challenges of climate change. Energy access must be prioritised for Africa to achieve its development goals. This requires innovative solutions and collaborative efforts… and expanding energy access while reducing reliance on traditional resources will require massive investment. We’re on the precipice of sea change, and our time is now.
Adam Cortese, CEO, Sun Africa
Thabo Kekana, Deputy Director General of South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources & Energy (DMRE).
Together, we can build a brighter and more sustainable energy future.
Honourable Alex Wachira CBS, Principal Secretary, State Department for Energy - Ministry of Energy & Petroleum, Kenya, Thabo Kekana, Deputy Director General, Department of Mineral Resources & Energy (DMRE), South Africa
WINNERS
AEF PHOTO OF THE YEAR COMPETITION
2024 winners
ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY
Owned by Edwin Ndeke
eBee is a pan-African e-mobility company which locally designs, assembles and services electric bicycles and operates a fleet of more than 350 last mile delivery riders in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.
Through its fleet services eBee provides unemployed youth the opportunity to be a last mile delivery rider meanwhile transforms last mile logistics into a sustainable industry.
Our photo shows one of our young delivery riders doing last mile deliveries during the rain season in Nairobi, Kenya (April 2024, photo by Edwin Ndeke).
ENERGY AND YOUTH
Solar Solutions! A student from Kakamega, Kenya is delighted by the light from an LED bulb lighting up her classroom with a newly installed We Share Solar Suitcase
ENERGY IN ACTION
Owned by Power Africa
Power Africa is bridging the gap between young energy enthusiasts and clean technology careers. In Nigeria, women are gaining practical skills and knowledge on solar installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting through Power Africa’s Elevate: Women’s Solar Installation Certification Course - accelerating them to become technical experts in clean energy.
ENERGY IN LANDSCAPE
Owned
by Humanitarian Energy PLC
The photo shows the Sheder 253kWp solar mini-grid’s solar field with the sunset and mountain in the background. The Sheder 253kWp solar mini-grid is the first licensed private mini-grid constructed in Ethiopia.
Owned by Brian Emmanuel Inganga –We Share Solar
A VISION FOR TOMORROW, TODAY
Longstanding partners Power Africa and Globeleq, plus new partner Pele Green Energy, were represented by Richard Nelson, the new Coordinator for Power Africa, Jonathan Hoffman, Interim CEO, Globeleq, and Adhila Mayet, Head of Project Development, Pele Green Energy, as part of the opening ceremony.
“Welcome to a sunny Barcelona,” said Richard as he led the way explaining his vision as a leader of today. He emphasised Power Africa’s role in facilitating private and public collaboration and explained the importance of Power Africa’s work through the lens of societal necessity – health, education, economic upliftment.
Jonathan looked back to 2010, comparing progress while emphasising the challenges still present. However, he noted there are also huge opportunities if companies are brave.
“Another 14 years from now, when someone looks back, they’ll think how much Africa has evolved and how important it’s been to work together to realise a dynamic marketplace, and to meet customers’ needs - not only the utility off-takers, but the intensive energy users across the continent.”
Adhila agreed, citing renewable energy as a key example of how the vision for Africa is bright: “It gives us an opportunity to innovate, to form new structures, and to break away from the norm. Pele epitomises this harnessing of opportunity, in an emerging industry, to catalyse change and overcome socioeconomic exclusion.”
Get Connected!
Download the Africa Energy Forum app to connect directly with your fellow attendees, book meetings and personalise your aef experience!
On the first day of the Africa Energy Forum (aef), the African Trade & Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI) and Globeleq Africa Limited, jointly announced the former’s support for the 35 MW Globeleq Menengai Geothermal Project with liquidity cover via the Regional Liquidity Support Facility (RLSF). RLSF, a joint initiative of ATIDI, the KfW Development Bank and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), is a credit enhancement instrument available to renewable energy Independent Power Producers (IPPs) that sell the electricity generated by their projects to state-owned power utilities. RLSF is offered in ATIDI member countries that sign the RLSF Memorandum of Understanding.
The project, the first to be considered for RLSF cover in Kenya, is valued at USD117 million with financing being provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Eastern and Southern African Development Bank (TDB), the Finish Fund for Industrial Cooperation (Finnfund), and equity from the project owners, Globeleq.
We are proud to collaborate with Globeleq, KPLC, GDC, and the Government of Kenya on this transformative project. This partnership, coming so soon after the signing of the RLSF MoU in February 2024, underscores our commitment to fostering sustainable development and promoting renewable energy solutions across Kenya and the region. Together, we are driving positive change and advancing Kenya’s energy transition. Given Globeleq’s huge and growing portfolio of renewable energy projects across the continent, we look forward to building on this partnership.
The Regional Liquidity Support Facility is a critically important product that gives companies the comfort around payment from customers that they need in order to invest in major renewable power projects in Africa such as our Menengai geothermal project in Kenya. This imaginative product from ATIDI, KfW and Norad provides critical liquidity support against payment default allowing companies like Globeleq to invest with confidence. I congratulate ATIDI on today’s signing ceremony at aef and look forward to continuing to work with them and their partners on future energy projects.
Manuel Moses, CEO, ATIDI
Jonathan Hoffman, Interim CEO, Globeleq
DUNCAN ABEL, HEAD OF COMMERCIAL AT ENVUSA ENERGY, TALKS ABOUT MINING AND DECARBONISATION AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR AFRICA
How did the idea for Envusa Energy come about?
Envusa Energy came about as a result of the Anglo American group’s objective to decarbonise its global operations. In the Southern African context these include mines, smelters and processing plants across South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. A significant step in achieving this decarbonisation objective is through the replacement of electricity generated from fossil fuels with electricity from more sustainable renewable energy. Through a focussed and robust process EDF Renewables were selected as the joint venture partner of choice to bring deep industry knowledge and expertise, together with a pipeline of renewable energy projects under development that could generate the required electricity. This joint venture has now been formalised with the establishment of Envusa Energy. A further process is currently underway to bring a Black Economic Empowerment partner into Envusa Energy to further complement the existing Anglo and EDFR shareholder base
You have established a unique commercial structure to reduce risk - could you tell us a bit about that?
The structure reduces risk through the development of portfolios of complementary renewable energy projects, the aggregation of this energy by Envusa Energy and then the onsale to a portfolio of offtakers. By managing the generation portfolios and the allocation of energy to consumptions points centrally through Envusa Energy we reduce the impact of underperformance from individual generators, manage variable demand from offtakers and minimise the risk of excess energy.
You’ve been described as an energy aggregator– which is a new term for many. How does an aggregator work?
In its simplest form Envusa Energy aggregates energy from a diverse portfolio of renewable energy assets, primarily wind and solar and then on sells that energy to a portfolio of offtakers based on their demand. This allows us to move away from the restrictions of generation profiles and to better develop product offerings that deliver increased value to clients who use electricity based on their business requirements and not only when it is available from an individual solar or wind project.
What impact do you expect Envusa to have on the mining sector? We expect to have a meaningful impact on the mining sector and its shift to renewable energy through offering industry leading energy products that allow mines to achieve their decarbonisation objectives at a price that leads to significant savings for the mines.
Do you think this is an idea that could be replicated in other countries in the continent, and maybe for other industries?
We are already looking at other industries as the model is easily replicable and similarly, we should be replicated in other countries. Current offtakers have operations in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, we are a closely watching developments in the Southern African Power Pool and in country and how we can combine wheeled and embedded projects across borders to better serve our customers
You’ve already closed on three renewable projects and have ambitious plans for 2030 – tell us more!
With our current offtakers we have a target of between 3-5GW of renewable energy by 2030. We are obviously keen to add new clients and to grow this ambitious target further.
What are you most looking forward to at aef?
aef is a wonderful opportunity to meet up with a wide variety of people in the industry over a very short period of time to understand new developments and trends and identify new opportunities for Envusa.
One
We are one group with a single mission.
We get infrastructure finance moving and multiplying – accelerating climate action and sustainable development where most urgently needed.
CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION SET TO BOLSTER ENERGY DEVELOPMENT
EnergyNet is proud to announce two new events that will advance knowledge sharing, investment opportunities, and project delivery across East and West Africa.
LIGHTING UP AFRICA’S ECONOMY AND FUTURE
The opening session of this year’s African Energy Forum came to a close with an exciting look to what can be achieved on the continent, courtesy of Kevin Kariuki, Vice President Power, Energy Climate Change & Green Growth, African Development Bank.
“We put our money where our mouth is,” he said, evidencing this through the lauded Desert to Power Project stretching across the Sahel region and positively impacting as many as 250 million people.
“No economy can grow in the dark” Kevin stated, urging this week’s conversations to focus on solutions, on navigating key challenges, and on altering the dimensions of Africa’s energy sector for the better.
