Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, 03 March 2020: The African Energy Commission (AFREC) in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AFDB) and the Africa – EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) organised an inception workshop to improve and modernise the African Energy Information System (AEIS). The three day workshop takes place from 3-5 March 2020. The AEIS is the first ever continental energy database for Africa built and housed by the African Energy Commission (AFREC) since 2012. The AEIS is designed and created to facilitate the collection, validation and rapid dissemination of energy statistics and information among the AU Member States, Regional Economic Communities, Pan – African institutions and other key stakeholders such as regional Power Pools, investors, academia etc. in Africa.
The improvement of the AEIS is a result of a comprehensive assessment done through benchmarking with other institutions and merging trends necessary for efficiently and effectively collecting data, validation and energy data dissemination, with the aim to meet the international standards for improving energy data quality and coverage.
The improved AEIS will increase coverage for energy indicators, so AFREC is able to report on energy balance, energy efficiency indicator for various sectors such as: residential, industrial, transport and service sector, including energy prices and taxes, CO2 emission, tracking of the SDG 7 indicators and online data collection system amongst others.
In his opening statement, Mr Rashid Ali Abdallah, Executive Director of AFREC applauded AFDB and AEEP for supporting the implementation of the AEIS as it will contribute to capacity building at national level while strengthening energy development aspects meant for the benefit and growth of the continent.
Mr Crispen Zana, Principal Energy Advisor of the AEEP highlighted that the energy data collection in Africa has improved a lot. Hence, the digitalisation process of the system will enhance the effective deliverance of data processing, contributing to address SDG7- Affordable and Clean Energy, with the ambition to provide access to modern clean energy in every household by 2030 in pursuit of the “Africa We Want’’.
Mr Callixte Kambanda, Head for Energy, Policy, Regulation and Statistics at the AfDB sees the need to harmonise information systems in Africa. Capacity building of regional focal points and their involvement in the modernisation of the AEIS is critical to increase the coverage of the energy sector and represent the entire continent.
The Workshop brought together 34 high level energy experts from across Africa including National Focal Point for energy statistics and efficiency from West Africa AU Member states.
For further media inquiries, please contact:

Ms. Ndahafa Nakwafila| Communication and Information Officer| African Energy Commission (AFREC) | African Union Commission| email: NakwafilaN@africa-union.org| Tel: +213 23 45 9198| www.afrec-energy.org

Mr. Gamal Ahmed A. Karrar | Senior Communication Officer| Directorate of Information and Communication, African Union Commission | E-mail: GamalK@africa-union.org

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