The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and RES4Africa Foundation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to increase cooperation through joint initiatives and activities to support sustainable development for resilient economies and energy systems in Africa.
GWEC and RES4Africa share a common vision that sustainable energy development is a crucial catalyst to empower and transform African economies through local job creation and stimulating investment. As the voice of the global wind industry, GWEC acts as a bridge between the wind industry, policymakers and other stakeholders in emerging markets in order to build new thriving wind markets and reach the world’s decarbonisation goals. Sustainability is at the core of RES4Africa Foundation’s mission, as it supports the deployment of renewable energy solutions in Africa, both large-scale and decentralised, to satisfy local energy needs so that growth can take place in a sustainable way.
“Africa’s energy system needs more renewable energy to support a growing population, increasing urbanisation rates and sky-rocketing power demand and to enable economic growth and investment in key social activities such as education” explains Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC, “We are thrilled to strengthen our cooperation with RES4Africa through the agreement signed today, and are convinced that through the joint efforts of both organisations, we will be able to get closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 7, providing clean and affordable energy for all in Africa”.
“Six months ago RES4Africa was among the founding organisations that launched the GWEC Africa Task Force that, promoting the development of wind and renewables in Africa, aims to end energy poverty and dependence on fossil fuels” concludes Roberto Vigotti, Secretary General of RES4Africa Foundation, “As RES4Africa Foundation and GWEC share a common vision for sustainable energy development, we now look forward to collaborating with GWEC on a number of projects that will play a part in empowering and transforming Africa”.
Given the common interests and shared objectives of the two organisations, this MoU paves the way for cooperation on various kinds of initiatives focusing on renewable energy and climate change in Africa, and in particular on training programs (courses, seminars, summer schools), thematic publications (technical studies, analyses, reports) and outreach activities (conferences, events, workshops).
GWEC and RES4Africa have worked together on GWEC’s new Africa Wind Energy Handbook, which was published during the recent Windaba 2019 event in Cape Town. The Handbook presents policy makers with a step by step guide to building dynamic and sustainable wind energy industries’ in their countries. Find out more about the Handbook here.
Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) is a member-based organisation that represents the entire wind energy sector. The members of GWEC represent over 1,500 companies, organisations and institutions in more than 80 countries, including manufacturers, developers, component suppliers, research institutes, national wind and renewables associations, electricity providers, finance and insurance companies.
Renewable Energy Solutions for Africa (RES4Africa) Foundation promotes the deployment of large scale and decentralized renewable energy in African markets to meet local energy needs for growth. RES4Africa gathers a member network from across the clean energy value chain and supports the creation of an enabling environment for renewable energy investments and strategic partnerships
