The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) have proposed the establishment of a new, blended, finance facility of USD 75 million called the ‘ECOWAS Renewable Energy Facility 2030 (EREF)’ to support small and medium-sized renewable energy and energy efficiency (RE&EE) projects and businesses in rural and peri-urban areas of the organisation’s member countries.
This was one of the major issues deliberated upon during the seventh edition of the ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Forum (ESEF 2022) themed “Achieving Sustainable Energy Targets in the ECOWAS Region: Moving from Resilience to Transition” organised by ECREEE in collaboration with its partners from October 31 to November 1, 2022, in Abuja, Nigeria.
The forum convened to discuss and proffer solutions to challenges hampering the development of a regional sustainable energy market, examine policies needed to improve energy security and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) and what is needed to transition to a low-carbon energy trajectory in the region.
To address the region’s challenges in enabling access to renewable energy, the framework proposed establishing the $75m EREF fund to support businesses in ECOWAS member countries.
The ‘EREF 2030’ will build on the learnings from the previous EREF facilities – EREF-1 launched in 2011, EREF-2 launched in 2014 and EREF-3 launched in 2018.
The goal of the ‘EREF 2030’ is to support country-owned and country-led, climate-compatible development in the ECOWAS region by financing renewable energy projects that will contribute to poverty alleviation and sustainable development in the region. The overall objective of the EREF 2030 is to contribute to sustainable development in rural and peri-urban areas of the ECOWAS region through increased deployment and usage of reliable and affordable renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies and services.
The direct beneficiaries of the EREF are project developers directly involved in the execution of renewable energy projects funded by EREF. The Final Beneficiaries are the energy end-users, particularly in peri-urban and rural areas benefiting from modern, reliable and affordable energy services and, finally, the global community through the reduction of GHG emissions.
The facility is open to collaboration with potential financial and technical partners.
Any of the persons listed beneath may be contacted for more information:
Hyacinth Elayo: helayo@ecreee.org
Malle Fofana: malle.fofana@gggi.org
Vamsi Duraibabu: vamsi.duraibabu@gggi.org
