Founder and President of the Africa Energy Technology Centre (AETC), Emelia Cedar-Palm Akumah has called for urgent collaboration among African governments, investors, and industry leaders to accelerate the continent’s energy transformation and deepen intra-African trade through technology, sustainability, and climate action.

Addressing delegates at the opening of the AETC 2026 conference in Accra, she said Africa must move beyond discussions and take deliberate steps toward building integrated energy systems capable of driving industrialisation and economic growth across the continent.

Speaking under the conference theme, “From Borders to Bridges: Driving Intra-African Trade and Development through Energy Technology, Sustainability, and Climate Action,” she stressed that Africa’s future depends on its ability to harmonise energy infrastructure, technology, and trade policies.

Madam Akumah highlighted the role of the youth in shaping Africa’s energy future, praising the presentation delivered by Youth Ambassador Joojo, whom she described as a symbol of the continent’s emerging generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.

According to her, his contribution reflected the vision behind the establishment of the Africa Energy Technology Centre and its newly created Youth Energy Entrepreneurship & Incubation Program (YEEIP), which is expected to be officially launched during the conference gala dinner.

She noted that Africa could not pursue transformation while excluding young people who would inherit the outcomes of today’s decisions, adding that the initiative seeks to position African youth as active participants and owners of the continent’s energy future.

Madam Akumah said Africa possesses enormous energy resources, including over 125 billion barrels of oil, nearly 18 trillion cubic metres of natural gas, and close to 40 per cent of the world’s renewable energy potential. Despite these resources, she lamented that more than 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity.

She attributed the situation not to a lack of resources, but to poor coordination, inadequate infrastructure, financing constraints, and weak political commitment.

She further observed that while Africa has created a single market of 1.4 billion people with a combined GDP exceeding $3 trillion, intra-African trade remains below 20 per cent due to infrastructure and energy deficits.

According to her, industrialisation and regional value chains cannot thrive without reliable and integrated power systems.

To address these challenges, the AETC president announced three flagship initiatives being championed by the Africa Energy Technology Centre.

The first is the Youth Energy Entrepreneurship & Incubation Program, which aims to support young African entrepreneurs and prepare green technology startups for investment opportunities.

The second initiative is the establishment of Africa’s first Smart Energy Technology Hub in Ghana, which he said would serve as a centre for technical skills development, innovation, and local content advancement in the energy sector.

She explained that the hub would help Africans transition from supplying labour for foreign projects to designing, building, and owning high-value technologies and intellectual property.

The third initiative, the Africa Solar Prosumer Initiative, seeks to decentralise energy production by enabling households, small businesses, and factories to both produce and consume clean energy through smart solar technologies.

The founder and president of the AETC also emphasised the importance of leveraging existing oil and gas resources while pursuing the continent’s green transition agenda.

She said the integration of Artificial Intelligence, IoT-enabled predictive maintenance systems, and carbon-capture technologies into Africa’s hydrocarbon industry could significantly reduce emissions, eliminate gas flaring, and improve operational efficiency.

According to her, Africa does not need to choose between energy security and environmental sustainability, insisting that technology can help achieve both objectives simultaneously.

Madam Akumah urged governments, investors, and policymakers attending the conference to see Africa as a single integrated energy and technology ecosystem rather than fragmented national markets.

She further called for the harmonisation of regulations across African countries to attract private investment into regional energy projects and encouraged stakeholders to invest in young innovators participating in the conference’s continental pitch initiative.

In conclusion, she stressed that energy integration remains central to trade integration and broader economic development on the continent.

“Let us stop building walls of bureaucracy and start building bridges of power,” she said, expressing hope that AETC 2026 would become a turning point in Africa’s energy and industrial transformation journey.
The 2026 Africa Energy Technology Conference ends on Thursday, May 21.