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AIX: Energy in Transition

RSA House, London and online, 27-28 April 2022

Africa Investment Exchange: Energy in Transition

27-28 April 2022, RSA House, London and online

Held under the Chatham House Rule, the meeting examined energy transition strategies and realities across Africa, including the availability of public and private sector climate finance, the future of gas and the prospects for hydrogen, carbon-capture, storage and alternative baseloads.

Africa’s passage to achieving sustained economic development, driven by clean energy and larger public and private financial flows, will blend the ever increasing use of renewable energies with new technologies. The intelligent use of resources is also under scrutiny. Many African leaders and analysts believe the energy transition must include a central role for natural gas for several decades to come.

Download the latest agenda

More than 40 confirmed panellists
See them all here or read their biogs below.

Meeting format

AIX: Energy in Transition is held under the Chatham House Rule which allows participants to break down the barriers by holding frank and open panel-led discussion without their identity or affiliation, nor that of any other participant, being revealed.

It is intended as a truly hybrid meeting, bringing delegates together at RSA House in London and via video links, but also by connecting gas professionals and investors with cleantech energy players, to discuss policy, projects and the most appropriate technologies and financing structures to accelerate Africa’s development and a just energy transition.

The Africa Investment Exchange is co-organised by Cross-border Information (CbI), and CbI’s African Energy, a consultancy that has been involved at the heart of the debate surrounding the development of the energy sector in Africa for more than 20 years.

Jurie Swart
CEO, Gigajoule
Adam Terry
Technical Director, Harmattan Renewables
Sadio Wade
Principal, Energy Infrastructure, Actis
Duncan Wallace
Technical Director, Chariot Energy

Day 1 – AIX Energy in Transition

Panellists in the opening session are invited to discuss economic and energy ambitions – including international COP26 pledges, government led industrialisation programmes and ‘just transition’ strategies.

  • What does a just transition look like in Africa?
  • Gauging investors’ appetite for cleantech investment across the continent – is it a zero-sum (zero carbon) game?
  • Do bans on financing gas risk putting the development of resource-rich, infrastructure-poor African countries at a disadvantage?
  • Can a switch to 100% green energy generate the hoped-for economic growth and job creation?
  • How to reduce emissions without jeopardising access as well as meeting significant baseload power demand.
  • How to integrate new technologies into the existing energy mix. Is it a hydrogen-driven future for Africa? What are the potentials/limits for storage
  • How are E&P companies diversifying their operations?

Chair: James Doree, Managing Director, Lion's Head Global Partners
The price of power is critical for locating hydrogen production, but what other factors are important? Many African countries are vying to attract investment into huge green hydrogen projects. This panel will discuss what they need to do to ensure they are at the front of the queue.
  • Solar and wind are widely seen as the most prospective technologies to power ‘green hydrogen’ (GH2) production, but in what combination? What about hydropower?
  • What infrastructure is needed and which countries are in the best position to put it in place?
  • How important is domestic and regional demand for siting a green hydrogen project, and what are the prospects for blue hydrogen in gas rich economies?
  • What regulation, policy, and legislation are required for large-scale hydrogen production and what is the starting position in frontrunner African countries?

Chair: Jon Marks, Chairman, CbI and Head of Consultancy, African Energy
  • Public and private sector strategies for financing upstream development, baseload and other sustainable projects that bridge the transition.
  • Who is financing hydrogen and other new green technology in Africa? What are their conditions, restrictions and main concerns?
  • How long will development finance be available for gas infrastructure developments, including LNG projects and GTP schemes?
  • Will local finance, Chinese loans and other sources of funding replace shrinking support from international lenders and DFIs in gas projects?

Chair: Laura Kiwelu, Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright
How are power developers adapting to new energy realities in Africa?
  • How to integrate new technologies into existing infrastructure
  • The future development of hydrogen-ready gas-to-power (GTP) projects
  • Prospects of gas replacing coal, HFO and diesel-powered generation?
  • Role of storage and flexible capacity to balance electricity networks.
  • Acceleration in carbon capture and storage (CCS) project activity. What are the realities for gas IPPs?

Day 2 – AIX Energy in Transition

The role of gas, hydrogen, carbon-capture, storage and alternative baseloads in the region’s just energy transition.

  • Updates on Namibia’s natural gas, hydrogen and utility-scale storage developments
  • The interface between gas and renewables
  • Opportunities for GTP from Mozambique and LNG imports
  • South African policy and supply issues
  • Strategies to tackle a just transition away from coal
  • Regional potential

Chair: Steve Husbands, Head of Commercial, Oil & Gas Advisory, SLR
Examining the development of domestic gas markets
  • Upstream perspectives on the barriers to commercialising Africa’s gas deposits
  • Prospects for pipelines, compressed natural gas (CNG) and small-scale LNG schemes
  • Monetising gas for industry, domestic distribution and other purposes, including small-scale gas generation, gas processing and the LPG market

A focus on the opportunities and obstacles in developing its natural gas resources and meeting Abuja’s net-zero target.
  • Impact of Petroleum Industry Bill on gas and power industries
  • Major export expansion plans and new investments in domestic market

Royal Society of Arts (RSA House)
8 John Adam Street
London, WC2N 6EZ

The Venue
Conveniently located in central London within easy walking distance of Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, and the South Bank, RSA House was designed by Robert Adam in the early 1770s, and is the historic home of the Royal Society of Arts. A famous centre for Enlightenment thinking, the building has been the intellectual and social home of some of the greatest thinkers and social activists of the past 200 years. Today it is also recognised as one of the most exclusive and sought after locations for executive meetings in London.

London – access to international funds
The world’s leading global financial centre, home to a large number of internationally significant banks, businesses, and stock exchanges, and barometer for international investor appetite in Africa’s growth industries.

London is an ideal destination which provides African industries access to a large international audience as well as the opportunity to capitalise on the city’s financial expertise.

Participating organisations

Government officials regulators and utilities

  • Autorité Nationale de Régulation du secteur de l'Electricité de Côte d'Ivoire
  • Bui Power Authority, Ghana
  • Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE)
  • Commission for Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency, Algeria
  • Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, UK
  • Department of Trade & Industry, South Africa
  • Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA)
  • High Commission of Canada to the UK
  • Presidential Office, Namibia
  • Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy
  • National Energy Regulator of South Africa
  • Petroleum Directorate of Sierra Leone

Finance
Actis, AfDB, Africa50, African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), ARCH Emerging Market Partners, Àrgentil Capital, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, British International Investment, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, International Finance Corporation (IFC), JBIC, Lion's Head Global Partners, Mahlako Financial Services, Nedbank, Rand Merchant Bank, Société Générale, Standard Bank, Standard Chartered, The Rockefeller Foundation, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation

Power and infrastructure
Atome, Azura Power, Clarke Energy, Fortescue Future Industries, Globeleq, Hive Energy, Milele Energy, Monetizing Gas Africa, Proton Energy, Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone, Savannah Energy, Sun Africa, Thunder Energy, Wartsila

LNG and Upstream
ANOH Gas Processing Company, BW Energy, Chariot, Circle Gas, Falcon Corporation, Fortesa International, Gigajoule, Greenville LNG, Kosmos Energy, NLNG, Shell, Sound Energy, Stena Power & LNG Solutions, Tema LNG Terminal Company

Professional services
African Energy, Alesco Risk Management Services, Alliant, BeraMasamba, Bowmans, Clifford Chance, Climate Policy Initiative, Economic Consulting Associates, ENR Advisory, Gas Strategies, Harmattan Renewables, Herbert Smith Freehills, io consulting, Latham & Watkins, Green Hydrogen Association of Namibia, Mauritanian British Business Council (MBBC), Mitochondria Energy Company, Norton Rose Fulbright, SLR Consulting, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Zaki Hashem & Partners