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Within the framework of the implementation of the SEEA-WA project, a team of experts, led by Mr Martin Lugmayr and Mr Jansenio Delgado from ECREEE, and accompanied by Mr Peter Cattelaens, an expert from the EU Energy Initiative, Partnership Dialogue Facility (EUEI PDF) conducted a stocktaking mission to Guinea Bissau to observe the current status of renewable energy and energy efficiency in the country. The delegation was received by Mr Biabe Siga, Head of the Energy Division at the Ministry of Energy, Guinea-Bissau, who also serves as the ECREEE National Focal Point.
During the stocktaking mission, which was held from 22–26 January 2012, the expert group met with officials from the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Statistics, and the National Electricity Utility, as well as representatives of the World Bank and UN organizations stationed in Guinea-Bissau. The mission highlighted the critical state of the energy situation as well as the under-utilization of ample renewable energy resources. Moreover, the visit to two proposed sites for small hydro power projects, Saltinho (18 MW) and Cusselinta (30 MW), also revealed that the projects possessed good technical and economic potential which, if implemented, could contribute significantly to the country’s energy situation.
At the end of the mission, it was agreed that ECREEE would work collaboratively with the Government of Guinea-Bissau to develop a national renewable energy policy, build capacity on the use of renewable energy project analysis tools, such as RETScreen, and conduct feasibility studies on small hydro sites.
Similar stocktaking and diagnostic missions were undertaken for all 15 ECOWAS Member States by a team of technical experts from ECREEE and its partners – AERE of France and the Austrian Energy Agency (AEA) – to assess the current status of energy efficiency and renewable energy in the region and identify key actions to ensure improvements.