It is first necessary to break the vicious cycle which currently dominates the sector and to search for ways and means which would enable the integration of excluded populations into the commercial system, which is necessary to make development possible.

Priority must be given to the following actions:
Improvement of the traditional usage of biomass which would enable the use of modern recycling procedures;

• Promotion of natural gas consumption, an abundant resource in North Africa and the Guinea Gulf countries;
• Facilitate access to electricity in peri-urban and rural environments;
• Establishment of the technical, legal and fiscal conditions which would facilitate oil and gas production;
• Provision of the means to enable the maintenance of refinery facilities which could provide for the production of oil-based products at the lowest possible cost;
• The search for solutions which would enable producers and distributors to effectively deal (or partly deal) with the uncontrollable fluctuations in fuel prices (diesel, fuel oil) - a factor which is difficult to integrate into tariffs.

However, the efforts of these actions are not likely to bear fruit immediately and the extreme independence of sector participants does not facilitate the initiatives.

In order to achieve these objectives, the ADEA uses the following tools:

• The Energy and Sustainable Development Summit whose success over the past five years has shown that the major actors of the sector feel directly concerned by the challenge of achieving sustainable development; 

  The Association intends to promote its efforts using the Energy Summit as its main springboard.

  Senegal, one of the countries involved in the launch of the NEPAD initiative (New Partnership for Africa’s Development), is in charge of energy issues within this framework: this is why the Energy Summit was held in Dakar from 2002 to 2005 and has always received the unconditional support of Senegal’s highest ranking authorities. The 2006 Summit took place in South Africa and the 2007 one was again in Dakar.

• The Journal of the Association for the Development of Energy in Africa which conveys Summit and forum recommendations, providing the various actors -who have all been developing completely separately- with the opportunity to communicate and prepare for future Summits.

  The publication is used as a means to promote the ideas, initiatives, projects and encounters organised during and in relation to the Summit. Through this, the Association may take on the role of facilitator and intermediary between the associations which are very active in their relative fields –but often lack resources and whose efforts are too dispersed– and the industrial world including major oil groups and electrical companies.

  It is published twice a year, once for the Summit and once half-way through the year. Editorial content includes:

  • Lead articles, chosen from Summit contributions or other sources;
  • A follow-up on flagship projects carried out by sector participants, in line with the principles which the Association intends to promote;
  • A promotional space for the NGOs involved in the sector, in search of partners and the sharing of ideas and financing;
  • The creation of a “forum” providing sector participants with the opportunity to communicate.

• Web

The Association :

• Develops within a network of businessmen, academics and specialists concerned with the energy problems in Africa, encouraging communication and publications. It will, of course, be working in close collaboration with existing bodies and especially with AFREC (African Energy Commission, based in Algiers), NEPAD commissions, NGOs and UPDEA); 
   
• Organises conferences and encounters such as the Energy and Sustainable Development Summit.
   
• The Association is financed by membership fees, by sponsorships and by advertisements in the Journal.