The Powering Africa: Summit is scheduled to be held in Washington from 28-30 January 2015, with attendance from delegates belonging to over 12 African nations and various public/private sector companies from the US
The summit will be coordinated by EnergyNet – a forum that helps organise international power and energy conferences. Over the past 20 years, EnergyNet has helped coordinate investor meetings with companies like GE, Siemens, Copperbelt, Goldwind, Azura Power, Aldwych, Globeleq, Schneider Electric, ESBi, China State Grid and Transcorp, which have made investments in the power and sustainable energy solutions sectors.
However, the funds notwithstanding, the summit will explore the various challenges pertaining to producing renewable energy, including how investors can assume greater responsibility to ensure the speedy completion of long-standing projects.
Companies like Symbion Power, Schneider Electric, Aggreko and Norton Rose Fulbright have been investing in long-term capacity building including grassroots level training.
In addition to their own initiatives, the companies are also working with consultancies such as PwC and Deloitte, and public sector companies to support capacity development.
One of the major power initiatives is US President Barack Obama’s Power Africa, which has already mobilised more than US$20bn in commitments from more than 80 private sector partners. Power Africa has also forged strategic partnerships with the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the government of Sweden, which together have committed an additional US$9bn.
EnergyNet will help facilitate meetings between private and public sector companies in the US and ministers from various African countries, to tackle the various issues surrounding power generation in sub-Saharan Africa.
