Investing in African Energy Roundtable Heads to London

Oil rig

London, UK, October 10, 2018//-The DLO Africa Power Roundtable Summit, which seeks to grow investment in Africa’s growing power sector, is heading to London this month.

 On 30 and 31 October, the event brings together 200 stakeholders, from African energy ministers, policymakers, and analysts to business leaders and private sector investors, to examine the challenges, opportunities, and funding options in terms of Africa’s power landscape.

“Delegates will hear first-hand from South African energy minister Jeff Radebe and acting energy minister from Ghana, John Peter Amewu, what these opportunities are in their countries and how to exploit those,” said Linda Mabhena-Olagunju, founder and managing director of DLO Energy Resources Group. “They will also discuss their governments’ plans to deal with the various investment bottlenecks.”

Whilst African countries like Mozambique, Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Côte d’Ivoire have been an area of interest for energy investors for a while, Mabhena-Olagunju notes that widespread regulatory unclarity and a lack of policy stability are significant investment obstacles.

Some countries are doing better than others, she says, highlighting South Africa. “President Cyril Ramaphosa wants to attract over $100 billion worth of investments in total, of which $25 billion will come from the energy sector, energy minister Jeff Radebe, one of our speakers, pledged.”

The need for local content and local investment is another important agenda topic. “We would like to see more African-owned Independent Power Producers (IPP) investing in the continent’s energy sector, not just companies from Europe and the US,” Mabhena-Olagunju said. “There are a few African developers who are doing this already, but it would be great to see more.”

Other key sessions of the summit, which has been sponsored by ACWA Power International, Globeleq and other global energy players, include a panel discussion around gas-to-power as part of Africa’s future energy mix, a debate on innovative funding solutions for African power projects, and sessions on scaling solar energy. “The aim is to identify projects that not only improve the region’s energy security but also help create jobs and stimulate overall economic growth,” she says.

“We have been organising these events for the past six years. Our drive as DLO is to see more power projects coming online in Africa to improve the continent’s energy security and to help bridge the gap between local and regional energy policy and investors’ objectives.”

African Eye Report

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