An inaugural energy conference taking place in Cape Town next week is expected to demonstrate the drivers behind Africa remaining a preferred business destination for the renewables-energy sector and is being touted as a common platform through which government, the private sector and civil society leaders will be able to engage over the advancement of renewable energy in the country.

The South African International Renewable Energy Conference had already seen high-level political support from the likes of Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, Cape Town executive mayor Patricia De Lille, German Ambassador Walter Lindner and President Jacob Zuma, who would officially open the event on October 4.

The event would follow previous conferences in Abu Dhabi, in 2013; India, in 2010; the US, in 2008; China, in 2005; and Germany, in 2004.

As the initiator of the first conference in Bonn, Germany was a key funder of the Cape Town-based event, pledging 2-million and committing to sending a delegation spearheaded by Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy state secretary Rainer Baake.

“Renewable energy is now Germany's most important energy source for electricity. Given Africa’s dynamic development and its wealth in renewable-energy sources, it can be a leader in global energy transition.

“This conference is a significant opportunity to engage in an international discourse, exchange best practices and offer support to each other in energy transformation,” Lindner commented in the run-up to the event.

The German embassy in Pretoria had also organised several events to be held on the sidelines of the conference, the first of which, on October 4, would discuss how decentralised renewable-energy producers could be considered drivers towards energy transition.

A discussion on policies that could foster decentralised renewable-energy production, initiated by the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, would follow on October 5.

A third event, held on October 6, would discuss how long-term energy policy planning, aimed at a low-carbon economy, could be conducted.