ECREEE UNDERTAKES STOCKTAKING MISSION TO GUINEA-BISSAU

Within the framework of the imple­mentation of the SEEA-WA pro­ject, a team of experts, led by Mr Martin Lugmayr and Mr Jansenio Delgado from ECREEE, and accompanied by Mr Pe­ter Cattelaens, an expert from the EU Energy Initiative, Partnership Dialogue Facility (EUEI PDF) conducted a stocktaking mission to Guinea Bissau to observe the current status of renewable energy and energy efficiency in the country. The delegation was received by Mr Biabe Siga, Head of the Energy Division at the Ministry of Energy, Guinea-Bissau, who also serves as the ECREEE National Focal Point.

During the stocktaking mission, which was held from 22–26 January 2012, the expert group met with officials from the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Statistics, and the Na­tional Electricity Utility, as well as representa­tives of the World Bank and UN organizations stationed in Guinea-Bissau. The mission highlighted the critical state of the energy situation as well as the under-utilization of ample renewable energy resources. Moreo­ver, the visit to two proposed sites for small hydro power projects, Saltinho (18 MW) and Cusselinta (30 MW), also revealed that the projects possessed good technical and eco­nomic potential which, if implemented, could contribute significantly to the country’s en­ergy situation.

At the end of the mission, it was agreed that ECREEE would work collaboratively with the Government of Guinea-Bissau to develop a national renewable energy policy, build ca­pacity on the use of renewable energy project analysis tools, such as RETScreen, and con­duct feasibility studies on small hydro sites.

Similar stocktaking and diagnostic mis­sions were undertaken for all 15 ECOWAS Member States by a team of technical ex­perts from ECREEE and its partners – AERE of France and the Austrian Energy Agency (AEA) – to assess the current status of en­ergy efficiency and renewable energy in the region and identify key actions to ensure im­provements.