African energy commission (AFREC)

Report of the seminar on energy information system for africa

Algiers, 23-24 April 2003

 

 

I- Introduction

  1. In the framework of the implementation of the priority work programs of the African Energy Commission (AFREC), the seminar on Energy Information System for Africa was organized by AFREC in close cooperation with Algeria, and was hosted by the Algerian Government in its capacity as host country of AFREC, in Algiers on 23 and 24 April 2003 to mark the second anniversary of the creation of AFREC.
  2. The purpose of the meeting was to consider and explore all ways and means for the elaboration of a comprehensive energy information system for Africa and the establishment of AFREC energy data base.

    3. The seminar was organized under the auspices of H.E Dr. Chakib KHELIL, Minister of Energy and Mining of Algeria, Chairman of the Conference of African Ministers of Energy (CAMEN)

II- Attendance

  1. The seminar was attended by the following member states :

Algeria-Angola-Botswana-Cameroon-Congo-Democratic Republic of Congo-Cote d’Ivoire - Egypt - Ethiopia - Gabon - Ghana - Guinea - Kenya - Lesotho -Libya-Mali-Mauritius-Mozambique-Nigeria-Niger-Rwanda-Sahraoui Arab Republic- Senegal-South Africa- Sudan- Tanzania -Tchad-Togo-Tunisia and Uganda.

  1. The following international, inter-african Organizations and Energy Departments were also represented at the seminar : African Union, African Development Bank , Arab Maghreb Union, World Bank, UNCTAD, APPA, IEA, OLADE WEC, OME, OAPEC, OPEC, Energy Department of US, SADC, ECOWAS, European Union, APERC, COMESA, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPEDEA, FAO, SINELAC.

III- Opening Ceremony

  1. The meeting was opened by the Honourable Dr. Chakib KHELIL, Minister of Energy and Miningof Algeria, Chairman of the Conference of African Ministers of Energy (CAMEN). In his opening remarks the Minister stressed that Energy Information System is the priority activity of AFREC, an incipient organization for all the national and regional institutions involved in energy sector, with the aim to enhance Africa’s regional integration. This objective will only be achieved if more African countries signs, ratify and implement the provisions of the Convention . The AFREC’s Convention established in accordance with a pertinent recommendation of 1980 Lagos Plan of Action is only signed by 11 countries (Algeria, Benin, Burundi, Liberia, Libya, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia), but so far, only two countries (Algeria and Libya) have ratified the act. He informed the seminar that the Government of Algeria had offered the headquarters secretariat and equipments and sponsored the seminar.

  2. In his introductory words, the Interim President of the African Union, Mr AMARA ESSY, expressed the African Union appreciation for Algeria’s commitment in the establishment of AFREC’s headquarters in Algiers and in the action of Minister Chakib KHELIL for the promotion of Africa’s cooperation and integration in the energy sector.
    He gave a summary of the four main initial and priority activities of the interim structure of AFREC.
    He reaffirmed Africa’s Union Commitment to support and cooperate very closely with AFREC in the implementation of its work programme for Africa’s energy development and integration.

  3. The President of the Commission of the African Union indicated that the African Union had committed to provide US $ 300.000 in addition to 75.000 US $ already given to the AFREC interim secretariat.

  4. The Secretary General of the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr Abdelaziz Djerad took also the floor to give some indications on the cooperation between NEPAD and AFREC.

  5. The Executive Deputy Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Ambassador William Ramsay and the Secretary General of the World Energy Council (WEC), Mr Gerald Doucet, stressed the importance of an integrated energy information system for Africa based on partnerships with existing systems. They indicated the pilots information systems for Africa their both institutions have developed.

IV- Inauguration Of The Headquarters Of Afrec

  1. After the opening ceremony of the seminar, the participants proceeded to the Headquarters of AFREC located at 2, Rue CHENOUA, HYDRA, Algiers in order to participate to the inaugural ceremony.

Dr Chakib KHELIL, Minister of Energy and Mining of Algeria, Chairman of CAMEN and Mr Amara ESSY, Interim President of the Commission of the African Union undertook the official inauguration of the Headquarters of AFREC in the presence of African Ambassadors, Algerian high officials and the heads of delegation of the African member states, international and inter-african organizations participating in the seminar.

V- Election of the Bureau

  1. The seminar elected its Bureau as follows :

VI- Adoption of the Agenda

  1. The seminar adopted the following agenda.

1- Opening ceremony

pening statements delivered by :

2- Election of the Bureau and workshops chairmen

3- Plenary Session I : Experience and achievement in Energy Information System of international and regional organizations.

4- Plenary Session II : Experience and Achievement in Energy Information System of some African countries and some inter-african organizations.

5- Overall presentations of the objectives and guidelines of what is to be achieved from the seminar

6- Parallel Workshops

7- Presentation of recommendations of the workshops

Discussion and adoption of the recommendations

8- Closing ceremony

VII-  Consideration of Agenda Items

  1. The plenary sessions were devoted to presentations of several international and inter-african organizations, as well as African countries experience in energy information system as well as the proposals for AFREC cooperation with these international and Inter-African Organizations.
  2. AFREC : African Energy Commission: by Mr Libère Buzingo, Responsible for AFREC :

Objectives, Programme of work, cooperation with international and inter-african organizations.

The plenary session started with a discussion of AFREC current status and objectives. First, it was noted that in order for AFREC, which is still in its inception, to become effective, African countries needed to follow through on their commitments : more countries should sign and ratify the protocol establishing AFREC, and make financial contributions to the organization.
AFREC has been assigned an important and ambitions set of objectives, which ultimately should help Africa to develop its immense energy resources, and more of its population to have access to modern forms of energy. Concretely, the initial programme of work of AFREC consists of :

  1. Design and develop a database on Africa energy ;
  2. Develop human resources and capacity building ;
  3. Promote large regional energy projects;
  4. Develop renewable energy sources.
  1. Among AFREC’s functions will be the elaboration of policies, strategies and development plans for the energy sector, and make recommendations on how these can be implemented. It also is to create and maintain an Africa-wide energy information system, and facilitate the exchange of information between member states and regional organizations.

To support energy development, it is to develop capacity-building programmes ; It has a role in mobilizing financial resources for energy sector development ; in this respect, it expects to work with NEPAD and the African Development Bank on regional energy projects.

AFREC will actively seek to cooperate with other inter-african and international organizations dealing with energy programmes development .

NEPAD- African Development Bank (ADB) : by Nait Tighilt, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Algeria § by B. Fikru, Chief Power Engineer, ADB

  1. NEPAD underlined that its objectives, in particular in the area of energy infrastructure (where NEPAD has a programme to develop electricity interconnections), coincided with those of AFREC.

    As was stressed by the representative of the African Development Bank (ADB), AFREC should benefit of NEPAD’s support to obtain a legal standing as a body that can sign bilateral and multilateral agreements ; and AFREC and NEPAD may cooperate in institution and capacity building programmes.

    ADB had itself managed an African Energy Program, which, although US $ 7 Million has been spent, did not reach its final stages when it was ended in 1997. The results of ADB’s work, however, will be transferred to AFREC in accordance with the decision taken by the OAU Summit to build on these. ADB will also, in consultation with NEPAD secretariat, assess the resource requirements for implementation of its initial activities.

    To this end, the ADB advised AFREC to submit an official request for the assistance.

IEA- International Energy Agency : by Mr Jean Yves Garnier, Head, Energy Statistics Division

  1. IEA has learned several important lessons from its work on energy information system
  1. IEA is ready to share its experiences with AFREC, through providing it with its questionnaires and its databases, if relevant ; by training its statisticians and by helping it to disseminate its information . In effect, IEA has been engaged in a major initiative with the World Energy Council to improve data collection in Africa, which is available for AFREC to take over, should it so desire.

WEC-IEA : by Jan Murray, Deputy Secretary General, WEC ; Jean Yves Garnier, Head, Energy statistics Division, IEA ; André Van Heerden, International Consultant, South Africa and Maher Tadros, Information Systems Consultant, Ministry of Electricity and Energy, Egypt.

  1. WEC and IEA gave a number of presentations on their efforts to fill the gaps in energy information in Africa ; These presentations are summarized here together.

Since 1998, the World Energy Council (WEC) and its African Member Committees have been involved in putting together the "AEIS-Africa Energy Information System" with the aim that the system would serve AFREC, once it is established and functioning. This is not the only work done by WEC . As example, WEC is finalizing a report on Africa energy integration, which will be available shortly 1.

  1. AEIS has been hosted by the Egyptian national committee of the WEC since 1999. AEIS was based on WEC’s energy profiles and energy resources data, but can be expanded to include power plant capacity equipment, energy efficiency technologies and equipment, rural energy, energy projects, and African energy institutions; WEC learned fast that it was facing two major challenges : the need to build up a committed network (sending questionnaires does not work); and a shortage of skills and training which make it difficult for people to provide the information needed. As it recognized the size of these challenges, it approached IEA to develop a joint approach, to bring together African and International.

good basis for AFREC, and WEC and IEA would welcome it if AFREC takes over the initiative – AFREC is ideally placed to keep the momentum up.
Organizations to increase political and technical awareness . The result was that national governments in many African countries appointed and empowered focal points, and that many of these responded to an agreed questionnaire. Several meetings were held to support the activities, and a user-friendly website was designed to enable easier data collection. Still, data coverage is far from perfect (20 African countries responded to the questionnaire), data quality is only fair, and timeliness has been a problem. Nevertheless, this should provide a

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  1. A short presentation of the report’s findings was given during the meeting. While North Africa had a history of cooperation, with interconnected electricity grids and several cross-country gas pipelines, the situation in other regions was less well-developed. Nevertheless, there are several large ongoing or planned projects, such as the West African Power Pool, the West African Gas Pipeline, The Nile Basin Initiative, and plans to strengthen the Southern African Power Pool. Energy integration was negatively affected by several factors, including security and environmental concerns. A large number of regional and international organizations are actively involved in the domain, and could prove valuable partners to AFREC.

 

UNCTAD : by Lamon Rutten, Chief Finance and Energy

  1. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) suggested that AFREC should provide its public not only with statistics and information, but also, intelligence – giving the tools to its public to interpret information and determine how to act on it. AFREC’s objective of implementing an "integrated regional system of information concerning energy data" is most appropriate as current difficulties in obtaining reliable information act as disincentives to investors, and lead to wrong policy decisions. But in elaborating its action plan, AFREC, rather than trying to work on its own, should develop a network which ties together existing public and private initiatives in this domain ; and in turn, AFREC should supplement current efforts of others (e.g . , the Joint Oil Data Exercise). One should also keep in mind the purpose of AFREC’s activities : if it is to stimulate the development of Africa’s energy sector, it has to fully serve decision-making by public officials as well as private sector operators – in other words, it has to provide the kind of information and intelligence that they need, which may include not only "hard" data (statistics), but also "soft" information, e.g. , experiences with certain projects or policies, or investment opportunities. AFREC will be engaging on a difficult road, but the trip may be just as valuable as getting to the destination ; UNCTAD stands ready to provide its technical assistance on the implementation of information intelligence related to Africa hydrocarbon sector.

    2.  

UNESCO : by Osman Benchikh, Responsible for Renewable Energy, Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences.

  1. UNESCO described its activities and programmes in the field of renewable energy.UNESCO suggests that AFREC should prioritise the identification of the needs for renewable energy and the related issues such as information, education, policy, programmes, project implementation, etc… To allow the identification of these needs, AFREC might consult with national relevant institutions in Africa. AFREC should build on existing activities and programmes, and avoid duplications. UNESCO has a world solar program and the Global Renewable Energy Education and Training (GREET), both withoperations in Africa, and which may provide room for partnership with AFREC. In this respect, UNESCO stands ready to assist AFREC with its experience and resources (both human and financial) in identifying and implementing in the field, concrete activities related to renewable energy.

OLADE : by Gabriel Hernandez, Director of Energy Information

  1. The Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE) reflected on its experiences in developing an energy-economic information system for Latin America and the Caribbean-many of its experiences are likely to be most relevant to Africa.
    First, it designed its information system around the needs of those requiring the information ; statistics should not be gathered just for the sake of gathering them. It then made sure that the information gathered indeed met the intended users, such as the identification of energy-saving potentials, the identification of new programmes and projects, and the drawing up of energy balances – the information should be presented in such a way that its users can be future-oriented. On this basis, it was possible to identify which data were to be gathered, and how (in what format, and with what frequency). OLADE found it crucial to develop a network, with a national coordinator and working group ineach country ; these national groups required training.
    The development of standardized procedures and methodologies, to deal for example with missing and inadequate information, has also proven of key importance.
    Dissemination of information has to be well-designed it is of little use if the information exists in an international organization, but does not reach all relevant levels in the countries. OLADE has an effective programme of dissemination, using publications, CD-ROMs and its website.

APEC : by Shiguri Kimura, Deputy General Manager

  1. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) launched an energy information system in 1991. Despite the variety of its member economies, APEC has developed a standardized data collection and data check systems. It provides assistance to those of its members in needs of assistance in providing the information requested by APEC. In order to ensure a wide dissemination of information, APEC uses proven it technology . APEC recommends that AFREC strengthens high-level political support for the concept on improving energy statistics in Africa. AFREC should also emphasize the quality of the data collected, and should make sure that it is able to maintain its data properly.

Workshops would help as a tool for getting best practices on data collection spread among countries.

Institute for Energy Studies South Africa : by C.J. Cooper, Director

  1. In defining its plan of action, AFREC should consider the interlink between the three dimensions (time, space and fuel) identified by the institute, as well as the specifics of the sectors considered. Drawing on IEA definitions and specification standards, AFREC should capture African commercial energy data and focus at the macro levels. A common time frame and enhanced communication tools were also key factors to consider.

    2. Deploring the poor number of institutions specialized in energy statistics processing and management in Africa, the Institute recommended special efforts in training (and retaining) of such experts in Africa. Ultimately, the ability of AFREC to achieve its objectives will also be measured by the efforts it puts on training .

Presentation of the experience of some African countries and inter-african institutions

  1. The experience and achievements in Energy Information System of some African countries and inter-african Organizations such as Algeria, South Africa, Tunisia, Egypt, UPEDEA, UMA, ECOWAS, COMESA.... was highlighted in the various workshops where their proposals have been presented and taken into account.

VIII- Presentation of thr conclusions and recommendations of the workshops

  1. The Chairmen of the three workshops presented the conclusions and recommendations of their respective workshops, these conclusions and recommendations were discussed by the plenary meeting and some amendments were made to the texts.

    2. The AFREC Secretariat has been requested to finalize the general report, the conclusions and recommendations of the various workshops and to send the final document to the member states and international organizations.

IX – Adoption of the recommendations of the seminar

  1. The recommendations of the workshops have been finalized and adopted They constitute annexes 1-2 and 3 to the main report.

X – Closing Ceremony And Vote of Thanks

He added that all the participants were very glad to contribute in the inauguration of the AFREC Headquarters in Algiers to which they wish all success and flourishment.

He concluded by expressing gratitude to Algeria for its hospitality which made the stay of the delegations very pleasant.

He declared the meeting closed.

ANNEXE 1

Workshop N°1 : Designing An Energy Information System

I- Introduction

Workshop n°1 was assigned the task of considering the ways and means of designing an "Energy Information System".

It was chaired by Mr Sherif Aboulnasr of Egypt who is also the Vice-Chairman for Africa of the World Energy Council (WEC).

II- Scope of Discussion

Workshop n°1 discussed thoroughly the following important issues :

III- Comments and Observations
  1. The meeting underlined that the Energy Information System that AFREC is to develop should support its stated objectives – that is, the information should support African energy integration, the spread of commercial energy to a larger part of the African population, and the formulation of capacity-building programmes.
  2. In developing the energy information system, AFREC should use all potential resources to feed the information system. Although the system in the beginning may not be complete, ultimately, information should cover, to the extent possible, all the domains of information relevant to decision-makers. AFREC should not limit itself to officially available data ; it should network with all relevant institutions, and make efforts to ensure that energy issues are incorporated into existing, more general data-gathering exercises (e.g., business surveys, health surveys) – this is useful not just to obtain more information, but also, widen the understanding of the importance of energy issues for economic development, competitiveness and poverty alleviation.
  3. In designing the system, AFREC should build on existing experiences in Africa and in other regions. It should stress partnerships, with public and private bodies. Rather than trying to reinvent reporting procedures or data formats, or duplicate the date already provided by existing information systems, it should leverage its own resources by creative partnerships, with the aim of having real outputs to deliver in the shortest possible time. In this respect, the meeting took note not only of the considerable work already done by IEA and WEC, but also, of the socio-economic information database developed by Mbendi, a South-Africa website ; and of the project of the African Union of Producers, Transporters and Distributors of Electrical Energy (UPEDEA) to create an information exchange among most of the African Electricity Companies. It took also note of the willingness of other organizations, including APPA,OAPEC,SADC and OPEC, to make their information available to AFREC. By making use of this willingness of other organizations to collaborate, AFREC can show concrete results fast, which hopefully will bring it the resources for a more elaborated work programme.

IV- Agreed Recommendations

  1. The meeting concluded that AFREC has to move fast, in order not to loose its momentum and with that, the support of African countries. It proposed that AFREC should, as soon as possible, form a small working group, with the AFREC secretariat taking the lead in identifying and co-opting a small number of experts from African countries and other international organizations.
  2. This working group should determine the information needs of decision-makers (in the Government and private sector, and including investors), identify existing energy information systems relevant for Africa, and determine how to learn from and build on these.
  3. The working group should have its first meeting, if feasible, before the end of May 2003. Before that, AFREC staff should evaluate the WEC/IEA energy information system, as developed in Egypt, in order to determine how to make best use of these organizations’offer to transfer this system, at no cost, to AFREC. The work plan of the working group should be set in such a way that it can formulate concrete proposals and, to the extent possible, initiate concrete partnerships (which have the potential to show fast results) already before the planned December 2003 meeting between African and Latin American Energy Ministers.
  4. The working group should also consider how to implement a network for gathering and distributing information. In doing so, it should draw inspiration from the networks created by other international organizations, keeping in mind that AFREC should not duplicate work done by others, or cause an unnecessary reporting burden on African Governments . The network will have to contain firstly, official focal points in each of the African countries, responsible for providing officially approved data and information ; and secondly, a more informal group of industry entities (private or public) which can provide other information (including more timely, unofficial data) which can be of use for decision-makers . The working group should also make a start in identifying the structural weaknesses in governments that hinder information gathering and distribution, and formulate (in cooperation with regional organizations an approach to build the required institutional capacity.

ANNEXE 2

Workshop N°2 : Required Resources To Build An Afrec Energy Information System

I- Introduction

Workshop n°2 had the responsibility of proposing the required resources to build an AFREC Energy Information System.

It was chaired by Mrs Yvette Kouame of Cote d’Ivoire

II- Scope of Discussion

The workshop discussed the issues related to technological, financial and human resources required to put in place and run an "AFREC Energy Information System"

III- Recommendations

  1. AFREC will proceed to recruit a high-level expert and assistant, to be part and to be based in the AFREC Secretariat in Algiers, to take charge of the day- to-day implementation of an African Energy Information System (AEIS).

    Appropriate Terms of Reference are needed for this recruitments.

  2. The ADB invited AFREC to use the NEPAD forum to access financial resources in particular for the recruitment of the two EIS experts and for the other important members of AFREC secretariat. UNDP is specifically invited to support AFREC secretariat by providing to it technical and financial contributions in order to assist in the implementation of its programmes.

  3. AFREC must work closely with the 5 RECs and take part in a coordination meeting with them as soon as as possible. This meeting could be hosted by ECOWAS or the Arab Maghreb Union.

This AFREC-REC’s meeting could also merge with the small working group proposed by workshop N°1 to make concrete and pratical recommendations for putting in place and running an AFREC EIS .

Donors should be invited to the meeting only if AFREC has a clear plan of action.

  1. African countries must respect the Decision AHG/Déc-167 (XXXVII) of the OAU Heads of State and Government (Lusaka, July 2001) and make voluntary contributions to enable AFREC to fulfil its objectives.

In this connection, it should be recalled that the Commission of the African Union has committed to provide US$ 300.000 in addition to the 75 000 US $ already given to the interim AFREC secretariat.

  1. Human resources development in energy through adapted concrete and practical programmes of education and training is essential and a key component for setting up an AFREC Energy Information System.

In this context, AFREC is encouraged to use existing training facilities present in some african member states.

  1. The US DOE/EIA, AMU, UNESCO, IEPF, CSIR§EDRC offered technological and technical knowledge and expertise to AFREC in the field of energy training . IEPF undertook to provide scholarships in energy planning and related topics. IEPF would like that its work in individual African countries are in ccordination and harmonised with AFRECs continental aims for the African energy information systems.

  2. AFREC is encouraged to, in the short-term, begin working on an AFREC EIS without waiting for the ratification of its Convention by the required 15 countries. In the short-term AFREC should coordinate with the other initiatives currently ongoing such as WEC-IEA, SADC, REPN§AMU.

  3. African countries must identify Focal Point in their respective countries and send them to AFREC secretariat. The Focal Point must remain in permanent contact with AFREC for current and future work.

  4. African countries are each called upon to make an annual contribution in between 10 000 and $ 250 000 to AFREC to allow it to fulfil its objectives. It is only when African countries themselves support their Institution that international donors will want to assist AFREC. This contribution will constitute a nucleous of an "African Energy Fund" to create.

  5. In the light of the provisions of Art.11 of the Convention of AFREC, International organizations such as UNEP,UNESCO,UNIDO,FAO, UNDESA, OPEC, WEC, IEA… are requested to give to AFREC financial and technical contributions to enable the latter to fulfil its mandate.
    In this connection, it was felt that the international organizations of the UN system intervene in support of African energy projects in a loose and dispersed manner without any decisive impact on African energy development, cooperation and integration.
    These organizations have now the best channel to contribute to Africa’s energy development and integration through their interaction and partnership with AFREC.

  1. The Economic Commission for Africa (E.C.A) is invited to join the work being implemented within AFREC for Africa’s energy development and integration.

ANNEXE 3

Workshop N°3 : Cooperation In The Harmonization Of Statistics Data

I- Introduction

workshop n°3 was invited to formulate proposals and recommendations related to the cooperation in harmonization of energy statistics data.
It was chaired by Mr Pascal KUNDA PAKA of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

II- Recommendations

AFREC, REC’s and African member states are invited to undertake the following.

  1. Setting up an efficient network to collect energy data from AFREC perspective.

  2. The harmonization by AFREC of an energy accounting framework based on a system of reference suggested by African countries during the second African Energy Information Forum held in Johannesburg in 2002.

  3. AFREC to set up a realistic training program capable to meet AFREC needs which will enable it to develop a concise specifications that aims to select the institution that will handle this particular training.

  4. AFREC to create an African Internet network to commucate, to collect and to exchange energy information.

  5. Create an AFREC Web site.