Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was struck by the statistic the Minister provided that, of the 473 GW of renewable energy put in place, only 2.7 GW is in Africa. Has the Minister been able to probe what is going on there? I recently met the Moroccan ambassador to Ireland and he identified great opportunity in this area, to which he is very committed. What are the barriers? Are they funding barriers or are they more tangible ones such as those we have encountered ourselves in grid preparedness and interconnection? Can we develop some micropolicies that might crack the problems of renewable energy in Africa? I suspect that there are substantial untapped opportunities there.