As is expected, IRENA’s first year has involved building-up the Secretariat. Early in the year, it secured office space, established the necessary technical infrastructure, and resourced its operations by inviting seconded staff from Member States; quickly enabling it to establish operations. It has also spent much of the year establishing direct contact with stakeholders and creating a global network of partners.
As the implementing organ of IRENA, close relationships between the Secretariat and its Member States is of crucial importance and in recent months the Agency’s Interim Director-General, Ms. Hélène Pelosse, has liaised extensively with representatives of IRENA’s Member States. Hélène Pelosse has also reached out to non-member countries to inform them about IRENA, its activities and goals and try to get them to join.
Other important meetings between Pelosse and key international figures have included a meeting with the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, who has expressed strong support for IRENA. During the UN’s International Climate Week in New York in September, Mr. Ban and Ms. Pelosse discussed future areas of cooperation between IRENA and various UN bodies, such as education and training, financing, access to energy and potential research studies.
The same month, Ms. Pelosse also attended the Steering Committee meeting of REN 21, the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century in Delhi, where the two organisations discussed possible fields of cooperation. IRENA has also held working meetings with UNIDO as well as the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Vienna.
IRENA has also met with a number of financing institutions such as the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and business associations such as the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), the Indian Trade Associations and the REN Alliance. According to IRENA: “The aim of these meetings was to establish close relationships with important individuals and institutions in renewable energies”.
At a meeting on the IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change, Ms. Pelosse introduced IRENA to the science community. Meanwhile, the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, has offered to assist in establishing cooperation between IRENA and outstanding scientists and research institutions.
Setting the path for 2010
To brainstorm on IRENA’s future activities and to liaise with experts, IRENA hosted a number of workshops on topics that might feature as core activities in the 2010 Work Programme which is currently under discussion by Member States.
Collaborating with the Renewables Academy (RENAC), IRENA also held a workshop on existing capacity building activities. Several regional and international organisations such as REEEP, UNEP and UNESCO participated in the event which focused on methodologies, best practices, and capacity building needs in different regions. Experts provided IRENA with suggestions on where the Agency could fill gaps and create added value in the field of capacity building.
Global potentials database
IRENA is convinced that “high quality information on renewable energy is a basis for assessing the role renewable energy can play in a future energy supply system” and in 2010, IRENA plans to take stock of existing global knowledge on this topic.
One of IRENA’s goals is to develop a global database on renewable energy potentials. An initial expert meeting on renewable energy potentials and scenarios took place in Paris. Representatives of several intergovernmental organisations like the International Energy Agency (IEA) and laboratories and research institutes including: the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), the Technical University Vienna, the Energy Economics Group together with EREC, REN21, and Greenpeace International were invited to exchange ideas. To further refine the idea of a global database, IRENA brought together experts in specific technologies in a second meeting, including representatives from intergovernmental organisations such as the IEA and UNEP and from research centres and laboratories such as NREL, the Umweltbundesamt (UBA), the Institute for Energy Economics (IEE), the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO), DLR, Risø DTU, Ecofys, the International Geothermal Association and the Wave Energy Centre. The Secretariat received special guidance from UNEP, which has led a similar project and will continue its work on the global potentials database in 2010.
Building IRENA’s internal resources
One of IRENA’s priorities is to hire new staff members from around the world: IRENA is planning to enlarge its staff considerably in 2010 and to achieve full gender equity.
IRENA will continue to identify potential organisational partners such as Member States, governmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, research institutions, scientific bodies, industry associations and the media. It will work to identify possible opportunities and means for further collaboration in order to better transfer ideas, strategies and expertise among Member States and stakeholders. In 2010, IRENA’s goal is to establish internal and external global communication structures and networks.
Assisting Tonga
While much of this first year has been about establishing relations and building up infrastructure, IRENA has already started to perform work on the ground to drive renewable energy development forward. One example is the help it has given to the Kingdom of Tonga which turned to IRENA to seek advice on tailor-made policies to power its remote islands in a sustainable way. Together with the Kingdom, IRENA has charted out a renewable energy based strategy to power the main and outer islands. “Starting with Tonga and subsequently assisting other countries, IRENA will develop its own systematic advisory approaches and methodologies for policy advice in the field of renewable energy,” say the Agency.
Moving forward during 2010
IRENA plans to spend the year ahead gathering, analysing and systematising existing knowledge and information related to global renewable energy. The Agency plans to produce inventories of stakeholders, technologies, policies and financial mechanisms. It also plans to conduct reviews of data and establish databases and start first projects with Member States.
IRENA will no doubt make good use of time spend at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, which runs from 18-21 January, to strengthen relations. The Agency will host a booth, which it hopes will attract the attention of players in the renewables sector. Ms Pelosse will also speak at the first Plenary Forum on 18 January on “World Future Energy Policy”.
Back in October, we interviewed Ms Pelosse about IRENA's initial work, which can be accessed here: IRENA interview.
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