ECREEE and POWERCHINA to boost sustainable energy in West Africa

January 10^th, 2018 – The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) and the Power Construction Corporation of China (POWERCHINA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cooperate in the field of sustainable energy development in the ECOWAS region.

Represented by Mrs. Liu Xiaomin, POWERCHINA’s Vice president for West and Central Africa, the MoU between ECREEE and one of China´s biggest multinationals specifically establishes the framework for the two organizations to combine efforts to accelerate the implementation of the West Africa Clean Energy Corridor, which aims to, amongst others, implement 2GW of solar generation capacity in the ECOWAS region by 2020 and 10GW by 2030. In addition, the partnership will support the implementation of the Regional Clean Energy Mini-grid Programme, which aims to develop and implement 4000 mini-grids in the ECOWAS region by 2025.

The Executive Director of the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), Mr. Mahama Kappiah, welcomed the partnership, noting that the collaboration marks a significant milestone in the ECOWAS region’s sustainable energy agenda. ECREEE is a specialized Centre of Excellence of the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), with a public mandate to promote a regional sustainable energy market. ECREEE’s main activities include policy development, capacity building, awareness raising, knowledge management as well as business and investment promotion.

Responsible for the construction of the famous Three Gorges hydropower project and other power projects in China, “POWERCHINA is the recognized authority in China in terms of the management of technologies in hydropower, wind power and solar power and an authoritative institution for technologies in thermal power and power transmission and transformation, with more than 20,000 professionals working in the fields of planning, investigation, design, consultation and research of hydropower, water resource, thermal power, and power transformation and transmission projects”. More information about POWERCHINA can be found at: http://en.powerchina.cn/