CAPE TOWN, Oct. 06 (MNA) – Poverty reduction and climate change discussions will focus debates on the International South Africa International Renewable Energy Conference 2015 (SAIREC 2015), celebrated for the first time in an African nation.

The Cape Town International Convention Centre, located about 1,300 kilometers southwest from Pretoria, will host until Wednesday the delegates and guests from about 35 countries, in this high-level event which theme is 'to reenergize Africa.

According to the program, today, in addition to the official opening conference, two working sessions will take place.

In one of them it will be evaluated the role of renewable energy as a tool for economic development and poverty eradication, in a world where there are more than 1,2 million people without access to electricity services, according to experts.

Another session will deal with the impact of this type of energy to address climate change.

There is growing consensus that the planet must change to a sustainable energy system.

SAIREC 2015 will also highlight the latest trends in technology in the field of renewable energies.

Last week the South African Presidency Minister Jeff Radebe praised the importance that biomass, wind energy, solar energy and hydropower will have in the future, which will contribute with 11,4 GW to the national power grid.

In South Africa, only the solar energy plan will provide a quarter of the country's renewable energy by 2030, said Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies.

He stressed that the African nation has the continent's largest renewable energy program and one of the largest in the world.

Similar conferences were held previously in Bonn, Germany (2004); Beijing, China (2005); Washington, United States (2008); New Delhi, India (2010) and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (2013).

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PL-9/MNA