Powering Jobs
Power for All was part of a strategy session in Geneva of the Sustainable Energy & Jobs Platform, which was first announced in May at the United Nations by IRENA and the International Labor Organization (ILO), and included the World Bank, GGGI, UNIDO, Power for All and the European Commission. The group discussed collaboration on strengthening the link between Sustainable Development Goals 7 (energy), and 8 (decent work). Energy access was one of the central topics discussed. Look for further updates towards the end of the year.
India State of the Sector Report
Our country lead in India Divya Kottadiel represented Power for All at the launch of a new report ‘State of the Decentralized Renewable Energy Sector’, by Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN). According to the report, decentralized renewable energy (DRE) sector in India continues to see growth in enhancing energy access, especially in rural communities where it is experiencing maximum impact thereby aiding economic and social growth.
Nigeria DRE101/X-Learning Workshops
Power for All campaign team in Nigeria carried out DRE 101/X-Learning follow-up workshops under the Scaling Off-Grid Energy (SOGE) project in the states of Enugu and Kano. These follow-up workshops are meant to assess the growth of the DRE market in both the states and private DRE companies, ascertain DRE-specific policies and plans adopted and identify challenges in order to design proper policy support. So far, the workshops have attracted close to 400 policymakers from 16 state governments with participants expressing high enthusiasm for increased energy access through DRE solutions.
Media Coverage Highlights
Power for All continued to secure high-profile media coverage of its work supporting the DRE sector. Among the highlights were an article by Devex on the recent Future Energy East Africa conference in Nairobi, an interview by our Chief Research Officer Rebekah Shirley on BBC Africa, a widely-read perspective by our board member Kandeh Yumkella on the link between energy access, agricultural jobs and migration, and an insight on the announcement by Uganda’s main electricity distributor, our partner Umeme Ltd. on integrating variable solar energy into the national grid.
Financing the Future Summit
In Cape Town, Power for All was present at the Financing the Future: The Global Divest Invest Summit, the world’s first Divest Invest conference in the Global South. The Summit sought to provide tools and resources to align capital with climate goals while challenging the global community to leave fossil fuels in the ground. Campaigners issued a joint statement calling on investment managers to re-deploy funds previously invested in the fossil fuel sector into emerging clean energy technologies, including renewables, as a meaningful way of accelerating global action on climate change.
Upcoming Events
September 23 to 29, our CEO Kristina Skierka, COO Matthew Tiedemann and Director of Fundraising Melissa Nussbaum will participate in high-level discussions at the upcoming United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York. The Summit will convene on the theme, ‘Climate Action Summit 2019: A Race We Can Win. A Race We Must Win.’ It will seek to challenge states, regions, cities, companies, investors and citizens to step up action in the areas of the energy transition, climate finance and carbon pricing, industry transition, nature-based solutions, cities and local action, and resilience.
September 25, Power for All CEO Kristina Skierka will participate in a panel event convened by the Rockefeller Foundation to launch the Global Commission to End Energy Poverty (GCEEP). The Commission which comprises of utilities, off-grid companies, multilateral development banks, academics, and leaders from across the electricity and development sectors seeks to address the lack of access to electricity for almost a billion people across the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
October 2, at the Greentech Media Off-Grid Energy Access Forum in London, our CCO William Brent will moderate a panel discussion on “Results-Based Financing Models as the Key to Enabling Economically Viable Mini-Grids”, where leading mini-grid companies will break down the granular regulatory necessities for a bankable enabling environment for new systems, technology trends and coming cost declines that could boost returns, discuss new market opportunities as the policy landscape evolves, and debate the role of system standardization in scaling up mini-grids, particularly under RBF programs.
October 23, Power for All will participate at the 8th International Renewable Energy Conference, a high-level political conference series hosted by a national government every two years, convened in the City of Seoul, Korea KIREC 2019. The conference will help move the momentum forward by bringing together new and different perspectives on how to accelerate renewable energy uptake.