Discuss pan-African capacity building for sustainable energy access in Africa

ANSOLE (African Network for Solar Energy)  in collaboration with the Riga Photonics Centre (RPC) has organized the session "Pan-African Initiative for Research and Innovation Capacity Building to Achieve SDG7 for Africa" scheduled for 14:00 – 17:00 New York time (EDT). The session is built around ANSOLE’s Energy Compact with the UN Energy Compact program to mobilize the world community to address gaps in access to sustainable and affordable modern energy. Access to energy is key to meeting other sustainable development goals. At present nearly 600 million people in Africa have no access to electricity. This is mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa with 560 million people with access to electricity. Under present trends the International Energy Agency forecasts that 600 million people will still not have access to electricity in part due to population growth. The UN Energy Program addresses this challenge through energy compacts with states, regions, municipalities, businesses and NGOs. ANSOLE’s analysis shows that the energy access deficit problem stems from insufficient energy research and specialist training capacity in access deficit countries. ANSOLE as a pan-African network that links institutions and NGOs across Africa with partners in Europe and beyond has a strategy outlined in the to build much needed capacity that is stated in the Energy Compact. More info in the press release.