Southern African Bioenergy Investment Symposium

Energy security is a key component for economic sustainability in a modern functioning society. Africa is a major provider of fossil fuels however the global move to adopt carbon neutral fuels to assist climate change actions also provides Southern Africa with the opportunity to leverage its large scale biomass feedstocks and industrial production capacity to develop and deploy bioenergy technologies in the key biofuels, bio-power and renewable sectors. This should be an opportunity for Africa as a whole to compete favourably with more advanced economic regions and in doing so, create new technologies, employment and incomes.

The “Southern African Bioenergy Investment Symposium” is designed as a benchmark event, formulated to enable NEPAD (The New Partnership for Africa's Development) to bring together leading experts and developers in biofuels, biopower, waste to energy and renewable sectors to debate and discover new ways to facilitate investment across a broader category of bioenergy enterprises in Southern Africa. The Symposium is sponsored by the ACP Business Climate Facility (BizClim), which provides technical assistance for improving the business climate in Africa, the Pacific and the Caribbean.

The objective of the symposium is to explore how an African Bioenergy Industry can be developed to utilise and manage its national resources to deliver improved energy and food security and retain commercial value in Africa. The Symposium will also examine national and international collaborations and partnering opportunities in bioenergy and consider methods to bridge the current “risk investment gap” to allow African energy projects to compete for investment in the medium term. In support of these objectives ,delegates to the Symposium will examine current market and development conditions in Southern Africa and facilitate analysis from regional and international experts, private sector business, local industries, policy makers, technology providers, financial institutions and to come up with recommendations on the way forward to meet the challenges delaying the development of the bioenergy industry in Southern Africa.

Delegates to the Bioenergy Investment Symposium will also review ways in which projects in Southern Africa may be partnered with international bioenergy projects or co-located with industries, which may foster early commercialisation of 1st and 2nd generation biofuels and associated bio-power outputs.

For more information on the symposium go to: http://www.bioenergy-symposium-sadc.net/index.cfm [1] 

 

Presentations:

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Bioenergy in Africa and NEPAD Programme - Prof. M. Elmissiry   Click here>>> [2]

Land use change, feedstock and spatial planning tools - Alexandre Strapasson   Click here>>> [3]

Financing Liquid Biofuels - Standard Bank   Click here>>> [4]

Global Energy Sector Trends - Brian A Statham   Click here>>> [5]

The Sugarcane Industry : a sustainable source of renewable energy – Dr.  Marilyn  Govender   Click here>>> [6]

Forging the Path Forward - Meghan Sapp   Click here>>> [7]

Key policy and certification drivers to prioritise and aid bioenergy investment - Nick Goodall   Click here>>> [8]

DBSA outlook for partnering and funding bioenergy projects - Nomfundo Mthembu   Click here>>> [9]

 

News:

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NEPAD CEO speaks to SABC on Bioenergy - Click here>>> [10]

NEPAD to host SADC symposium on investment in Bioenergy - Click here>>> [11]