Praia, February 23rd, 2017 – The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency is holding for the next two days, its 7th Technical Committee Meeting (23rd) and the 12th Executive Board Meeting (24th). The agenda addressed many crucial topics, such as the post 2016 strategic plan of the ECREEE, as well as the status of implementation and main achievements of the 2016 work plan.
The Technical Committee Meeting was opened by Dr. Alfred Braimah, ECOWAS Director of Finance, followed by a brief welcome address by Mr. Mahama Kappiah, Executive Director of ECREEE and Mr. Óscar Borges, Energy director of Cabo Verde.
Mr. Bah Saho, Renewable Energy Expert of ECREEE, presented the 2016 programs and projects carried out by ECREEE, by which the activities and accomplishments of the said programmes and projects were highlighted. Mr. Saho highlighted some of the results achieved which included the training of journalist from the region on renewable energy related issues and the establishment of a network between ECREEE and the journalists trained. Another achievement stressed, was related to the identification and evaluation report of the energy performance calculating tools in buildings for ECOWAS region which was developed successfully.
Mr. Jansénio Delgado, Renewable Energy Expert, presented the 2017 ECREEE Work Programme and budget. The discussions that followed were very important as it allowed the staff involved to receive feedbacks that would enable improvement of the work plan and consequently the results to be achieved on the ground.
Another crucial moment of the meeting was the presentation of the ECREEE post 2016 strategic plan. This strategic document was presented to give the Technical Committee a clear of what ECREEE is planning to achieve and the steps to be taken to achieve the results desired.
Another presentation was related to some selected key projects to be implemented by ECREEE in 2017 and beyond was made by Mr. Nicola Bugatti, Sustainable Energy Expert of ECREEE. He specifically mentioned such selected projects as the ECOWAS Program on Access to Sustainable Electricity Services (EPASES), the Regional Off-grid Electrification Project in collaboration with World Bank and the fruitful collaboration with USAID. As Mr. Bugatti stated, among other things, “the collaboration with USAID will allow the launch of the ECOWAS Renewable Energy Facility 3 (EREF) to support the exploration of the commercial viability of clean-energy mini-grids.”
Ms. Adeola Adebiyi, Project Officer of ECREEE, presented the draft of the ECREEE Environmental and Social management Policy for comments and inputs aiming its improvement. The policy comes against the backdrop of ECREEEs plan to be accredited to the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The policy is a basic requirement and shows how an institution intends to identify, assess, evaluate, manage and monitor all Environmental and social risks and impacts created by its activities and projects.
