Afghan Minister of Energy and Water visits Reiner Lemoine Institut

The Reiner Lemoine Institute was honored to welcome the Afghan Minister of Energy and Water H.E. Ali Ahmad Osmani with his delegation on the 12^th of October in Berlin for a meeting with a number of Administration officials, representatives of the GIZ and researchers from the Reiner Lemoine Institute.

Initially RLI’s researchers gave a general presentation to the energy sector in Germany and the further pathways towards an energy transition of 100 % renewable energy supply. Several aspects of the regulatory framework for renewable energies and current obstacles for the further deployment of renewable energies in Germany were discussed in detail with the Minister and his team of experts.

Subsequently, Mr. Amanullah Ghalib (Director for Renewable Energy) informed about the current situation of the energy sector in Afghanistan and further development plans. He pointed out that a number of renewable energy based mini-grids is operated in Afghanistan with the largest mini-grid having a capacity of 1MW. Furthermore he stated that all solar energy facilities in Afghanistan are currently operated “off-grid” which gives a lot connecting points with the work of RLI’s Off-Grid research division.

Additionally, the delegation was informed about RLI’s fields of competencies and main projects which are currently conducted. Points of interest were the modelling and simulation of energy supply systems including different storage options as well as the interaction with the transport sector. The visit ended with a demonstration of an electric plug-in-hybrid and a test drive around the institute’s facilities.