The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) are organizing a training on small to medium scale hydropower development for experts from the ECOWAS region and other parts of Sub Saharan Africa. The training will combine theoretical lessons, hydro site visits, as well as meetings with plant operators and owners, consultants, hydro power generation associations, manufacturers and financiers. The training is supported by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and the Austrian Energy Agency (AEA).
The training will take place from 22 to 27 May 2013 and will also include participation in the Vienna Energy Forum (VEF) scheduled to take place from 28 to 30 May 2013. This activity is undertaken under the capacity building component of the ECOWAS Small Scale Hydropower Program. This initiative came about as a result of lack of technical capacities on SSHP creating major barriers to dissemination and successful transfer of feasible SSHP technologies within the West African states. The training is a follow-up to the workshop on the ECOWAS Scale-Up Programme for Small Hydropower, organized by ECREEE, UNIDO and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP), which held April 2012 in Monrovia, Liberia.
