More than two thirds of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa live without access to electricity or modern fuels for cooking. Furthermore, those who do have access to energy often need to cope with a very unreliable service. This clearly represents a major barrier to socio-economic development of the continent. Both renewables and gas might play a role in solving this problem, but questions persist on the competing or complementary nature of their relationship. In any case, guaranteeing energy access to all will require large investments, that international financial institution might contribute to mobilise.

This one-day closed-door brainstorming workshop seeks to face this complex set of issues, discussing opportunities for improving energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly on the basis of renewables and gas.