With the exciting news that South Africa has rapidly become a world player in renewable energy and is well on its way to achieving government’s goal of 30% clean energy by 2025, there are exciting programme developments confirmed for Africa’s energy event of the year - the Africa Energy Indaba, held annually at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg in February.

South Africa has a significant role to play in the energy sector globally and the Indaba provides a platform for focused discussions of the energy sector, especially in Africa. The conference will be complemented by an exhibition as well as a number of new and exciting side events that have brought on new partnerships and sponsorships for the 2016 event.

Africa Energy Indaba 2016 is attracting energy experts and enthusiasts from across the continent at a time when energy issues are at the forefront of discussions on Africa reaching and maximising its growth potential.

The 2016 event has expanded its week-long programme, with a smorgasbord offering for energy players across all energy sectors on the continent. With strategic partnerships with the World Energy Council (WEC), NEPAD’s Planning & Coordinating Agency (NPCA) and the South African National Energy Association (SANEA), the event is the only energy event where all the energy sectors are represented in a tailor-made programme determined by leading industry representatives, energy officials and government stakeholders.

Running from the week of the 15th February, Africa’s premier energy event kicks off with the 2nd annual Women in Energy (WiE) conference, which is designed to recognise the increase in leadership and development of women involved in the African energy space. This one day conference will provide a platform for women to network, share their knowledge, discuss achievements and encourage the advancement of women across all sectors of the energy industry.

The World Energy Council’s Africa regional meeting and the Africa Gas Forum will also run concurrently on the Monday. The WEC regional meeting is a governance forum exclusively for WEC members. This is where WEC is discussed in relation to the African context and where WEC’s African work programmes are formulated and discussed, all aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of the WEC member committees across Africa.

The main Africa Energy Indaba programme kicks off on Tuesday, with specific speaker details and exciting VIP attendances to be released in due time.

The Energy Ministerial Dialogue and the Indaba Energy Leader’s Dialogue (IELD) as well as the Nuclear Forum also take place on Tuesday. The IELD brings together global and regional energy leaders to exchange views on critical issues facing the energy industry in informal, off-the-record
discussions. These high-level invitation-only events provide an intimate platform for participants to discuss topics and are co-hosted by energy luminaries from Africa and the world.

The IFC’s Esco Conference, with the aim of developing the energy service company model in Africa, and the important World Bank Global Tracking Framework Report Launch, will take place on Wednesday.

The popular IPP & PPA conference, sponsored by Macfarlanes, and growing exponentially every year, will once again bring IPPs and investors together with government stakeholders to hear from South Africa and Africa’s IPP role players. For the first time, the Indaba will host the East Africa Energy Forum, which will focus on energy projects and opportunities in the East African Community (EAC) region. This has been bourne from constant requests from global energy companies wanting access to the East African Energy market.

The official Africa Energy Indaba conference and exhibition programme ends on Thursday and on Friday SANEA will host its Open Industry Dialogue. Pre-arranged site visits will also take place.

The conference, which will mark its eighth anniversary in 2016, continues to grow and has become the foremost forum for debating and exchanging solutions to Africa's energy challenges. Topics on the main programme for 2016 include African power suppliers; alternative and renewable energies; oil and gas; skills development and localisation in energy projects, energy efficiency for the future, project bankability and investment opportunities in African energy projects, to name a few.

Siyenza