Energy ministers and delegates from 19 countries committed to the creation of an ambitious initiative, the Africa Clean Energy Corridor, at a meeting in Abu Dhabi, convened by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The Corridor will boost the deployment of renewable energy and help to meet the rising African energy demand with clean, indigenous, cost-effective power from sources including hydro, geothermal, biomass, wind and solar. The ministers and delegates endorsed the Action Agenda on the eve of IRENA’s Fourth Assembly, set to begin on January 18 in Abu Dhabi.

“The Africa Clean Energy Corridor will provide the continent with the opportunity to leapfrog into a sustainable energy future,” Adnan Z. Amin, IRENA’s Director-General said at the meeting. “The dynamic development that Africa will see in the next decades needs to extend to the energy sector, and Africa’s abundant renewable energy resources are a perfect match to meet rising demand in a sustainable and cost-effective way – from Cairo to Cape Town.”

Electricity demand is expected to triple in Southern Africa, and quadruple in Eastern Africa over the next quarter-century. As power demand multiplies, the region’s current dependence on fossil fuels becomes increasingly economically and environmentally unsustainable. A regional approach to developing the vast renewable energy resources will help optimize the energy mix and attract more investment. The Africa Clean Energy Corridor builds on, and adds to, the transmission network laid out in existing programmes for infrastructure development in Africa.

“The Africa Clean Energy Corridor helps leverage the tremendous opportunity that renewable energy presents, for the best of the African states and the entire continent,” H.E. Alemayehu Tegenu, Ethiopia Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, said. “The fact that IRENA, with its resources and know-how, is able to facilitate this large-scale, trans-border initiative demonstates the importance of the organisation for Africa and the deployment of renewables.”

The Action Agenda includes the identification of renewable power development zones to cluster renewable plants in areas high with renewable resource potential; integrated resource planning to include greater shares of renewable energy in the energy mix; new financing models and investment frameworks; knowledge and capacity building by IRENA; and public information campaigns.

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About the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is mandated as the global hub for renewable energy cooperation and information exchange by 124 Members (123 States and the European Union). Over 43 additional countries are in the accession process and actively engaged. Formally established in 2011, IRENA is the first global intergovernmental organisation to be headquartered in the Middle East.

IRENA supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future, and serves as the principal platform for international cooperation, a centre of excellence, and a repository of policy, technology, resource and financial knowledge on renewable energy. IRENA promotes the widespread adoption and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy, including bioenergy, geothermal, hydropower, ocean, solar and wind energy in the pursuit of sustainable development, energy access, energy security and low-carbon economic growth and prosperity.