4th Regional Committee Meeting of ISA underway in Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa, August 29, 2022 (FBC) – The Fourth Regional Committee Meeting for the Africa Region of the International Solar Alliance is being hosted at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 29-31 August 2022.

This is ISA’s first physical meeting in the region and is being organised in partnership with the Ministry of Water and Energy of Ethiopia.  

Ministers from Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Guinea, Ghana, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Comoros, and Somalia are participating in the meeting along with Ajay Mathur, Director General of ISA.

The ISA has 107 member countries with 38 engaging as Member Countries and 6 as signatories from the African continent.  

The Meeting proceedings will feature detailed discussions on the progress and achievements thus far and future plans: including ISA’s five-year strategic plan, private sector engagement strategy, capacity-building STAR-C initiative.

The meeting will also discuss on the roadmap for mobilising USD 1 trillion in solar investments by 2030.

Blended finance risk management strategy, international grids development and implementation of the ISA’s green hydrogen program will also be discussed.

Ajay Mathur, Director General, ISA said that the African continent is blessed with unlimited potential for renewable energy, including abundant solar energy to the capacity of 10 TW.

Accelerating solarisation requires investments, capacity building, and policy support, he said adding that ISA is facilitating diverse solutions including solar water pump, solar park, and creating mechanisms for blended finance.

“We are looking forward to detailed discussions with leaders of African continent at the Regional Committee Meeting. It will help bring long-term, cost effective and impactful solutions.”

The director further highlighted that despite high technical potential in Africa, and the pressing need for accelerated adoption of solar systems, there hasn’t been a uniform deployment.

“We are working towards mobilising USD 1 trillion of investment for a massive deployment of solar energy technologies and for expanding solar markets. With the right interventions, planned approach and support of the leadership, Africa can move towards providing electricity to all the 600 million people, while supporting economic growth, jobs, and a safe and healthy environment in the region.”

State Minister of Water and Energy, Sultan Wali said for his part that Ethiopia is endowed with renewable energy resources potential that can be tapped to impact the welfare of the nation.

According to the state minister, the country has ample potential to generate hydropower (45,000MW), geo-thermal (10,000MW), wind energy (100GW) and a huge potential for solar energy.

“Although we have tremendous potential from a variety of energy sources, we only generate 5,000MW mainly from hydropower (92 percent). The government is, therefore, giving priority to extensive and diverse renewable power generation.”

The Meeting will also feature discussions with the private sector focusing on manufacturing, electric mobility based on solar, mini-grids, solar pumps and other productive use applications, according to ENA.    

ISA is steering energy transition across the globe by extending technical and financial support, implementing demonstration solar projects across agriculture and public health sectors.

In Africa, ISA has projects in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Gambia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Seychelles, Sudan, Togo, and Uganda.   

In Ethiopia, ISA is working on the development of 410 MW Solar park, providing 2,250 solar pumps for irrigation and 1,400 solar water pumps for drinking water purposes.