Spain
Energy

ESECA – European Sustainable Energy Cluster partnership for Africa

ESECA aims to support the internationalisation of European SMEs in the renewable energy and smart grids sectors towards sub-Saharan Africa. This project, funded by the European Commission, is led by a consortium of European energy clusters.

An initiative of Basque Energy Cluster

Overview of the project

ESECA is a partnership formed by five clusters from Spain, Germany, Italy and France and funded by the European Commission. Together, our networks bring together around 550 organisations and almost 290 SMEs. ESECA specifically aims to support the internationalisation of European SMEs in the renewable energy and smart grid sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Five target markets have already been pre-identified to promote collaboration between European and African SMEs:

  1. Senegal,
  2. Ghana
  3. Kenya,
  4. Tanzania and
  5. Rwanda.

In particular, the project aims to:

  1. Intensify collaborations between European SMEs…
    – Promote cooperation and the creation of trans-regional partnerships between clusters and SMEs
    – Help SMEs to identify business and internationalisation opportunities
    – Position SMEs in trans-European consortia
  2. … Renewable energy and smart grids sectors… Targeted technologies:
    – Distributed energy resources
    – Smart grids
    – Solar and wind energy and other renewable energy sources
    – Energy storage solutions
    – Innovative monitoring and digitalisation
  3. …To develop a common internationalisation strategy
    – Identify and analyse potential target markets
    – Develop specific market reports
    – Define a strategic internationalisation plan
    – Organise missions to target countries
    – Sign cooperation agreements with intermediary structures in Africa.
Objective

The ESECA project aims to support the internationalisation of European SMEs in the renewable energy and smart grids sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Level of progress

implementation

Project timeline

16/09/2021 - 16/09/2024 project still in progress

Financing

ESECA is funded by the European Commission under the COSME Clusters GO International programme. This programme aims to support international cooperation between clusters in areas of strategic interest to the Commission and to third countries beyond European borders.

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About the
organisation

Basque Energy Cluster

website
Laura Burgaud
lburgaud@pole-medee.com

The Basque Energy Cluster is a non-profit organization which was set up in 1996 with the mission of improving global competitiveness of the Basque energy sector companies by facilitating an industry-driven collaboration along the value chains and seeking public-private partnerships. Our vision is to contribute to the positioning the Basque Country as one of the European references in the energy industry sector in specific energy fields.
The Basque Energy Cluster is made up of more than 100 members, including leading companies in the energy sector located in the Basque Country (energy operators, component and equipment manufacturers), agents of the Basque Science, Technology and Innovation Network and public administration bodies involved in the energy field.

A project
in collaboration

  • MetaIndustry4

    Cluster

  • Lombardy Energy Cleantech Cluster

    Cluster

  • Power Electronics Cluster within ECPE e.V.

    Cluster