The former Libyan Council for Oil and Gas (LCOG), which has changed its name to the Libyan Council for Oil, Gas and Renewable Energies (LCOGRE), organized in Tripoli today a debate on the role of renewable energies in sustainable development.
The LCOGRE represents the interests of the Libyan private sector in these fields in Libya. It has been lobbying Libyan authorities for years attempting to reduce the role of the state and increase that of the private sector in the oil, gas and now renewable energies fields.
The LCOGRE said the debate aims to encourage Libya’s private sector to contribute to the spread of renewable energy and encourage the public and private sectors through the development of current laws and legislations in the sale and purchase of electric energy in Libya.
It reported that the debate participants focused on:
- The importance of supporting private sector companies
- Creating a mechanism by the state reducing the cost of solar domestic systems for the Libyan citizen
- Opening the investment market in generating electricity from clean energies
- Creating competitive opportunities that contribute to reducing dependence on oil and gas in generating electricity and investing its revenues
- Developing the infrastructure
- Raising sustainable development in Libya
Khaled Ben Othman, head of LCOGRE said in his opening speech that today’s debate is the first free economic and political dialogue in Libya, as it includes the private sector and the government sector, and discussion will be held on several topics related to renewable energy and its role in Libya.
He said Libya is ranked 10th in oil production, fifth in shale oil and the first in solar energy potential.
At the end of the event, the debate issued several recommendations that emphasized:
- The importance of making bank credit available for solar energy systems (partnership between companies and banks)
- The need for the Central Bank of Libya to financially support private sector companies in the field of renewable energy, similar to its support to the state General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL)
- The need to encourage to the Libyan parliament and the state to adopt draft laws on buying and selling renewable energy sources.
