Mr. Yaw Afrane-Okese is a seasoned energy professional with over 35 years of experience in the energy sector, specialising in managing programmes and coordinating projects in renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE). He has led capacity-building initiatives for policymakers, regulators, utilities, government agencies, training institutions, project developers, and NGOs across multiple African countries on behalf of donor governments and development partners.
He has extensive experience providing technical advisory and programme management services for clean energy initiatives in Southern and Eastern Africa (including Rwanda), funded by multilateral organisations such as the World Bank, the United Kingdom, and EU member states including Denmark, Finland, and Austria.
From 2014 to 2017, Mr. Afrane-Okese served as Senior Energy Advisor to the Danish–South Africa Renewable Energy Programme, supporting capacity building and institutional development for the South African Department of Energy (DoE) and the national utility, Eskom. His expertise covered RE grid integration, EE policy development and implementation, climate change response, wind atlas development, energy planning, and energy information systems, involving extensive stakeholder engagement.
Between 2008 and 2013, at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), he managed two flagship grant funds: the Renewable Energy Market Transformation (REMT) Programme of the World Bank, and the Energy & Environment Partnership Programme (EEP S&EA) funded by Finland, Austria, and UK DFID. He successfully led a team to allocate EUR 24 million from EEP to 113 projects in 13 countries over three years, leveraging double that amount in co-funding, primarily from the private sector (60%) and civil society (30%). These projects spanned RE and EE technologies including biomass, biogas, hydro, wind, and energy efficiency, from project preparation through to energy production and grid integration.
Mr. Afrane-Okese’s regulatory experience includes serving at the South African Energy Regulator (NERSA) from 2003 to 2007, where his pioneering work laid the foundation for the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Procurement Programme. He also led the Energy Information Systems & Planning Programme at the Energy & Development Research Centre, University of Cape Town, contributing to national energy surveys and the development of energy information systems.
His policy dialogue and partnership expertise from the National Business Initiative in South Africa has strengthened private sector participation in policy formulation. Since 2014, he has provided monitoring and evaluation (M&E) services for the Solar Thermal Demonstration and Training (SolTrain) Programme in seven Southern African countries, funded by Austria. In 2018–2019, he served as an international expert for UNIDO/SACREEE on the Energy Efficient Lighting and Appliances Project, further demonstrating his depth of experience in energy efficiency.
