Tag Archives: International Renewable Energy Agency

Energy Transition, Events, Header_Posts

IRENA’s 13th Council Convenes

1 Comment

Agency’s governing body discusses the next steps towards a sustainable future

“We are in the midst of a major energy transition and renewables are at the centre stage of it, experiencing continuous growth and development in more and more countries around the world,” announced IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin at the opening of the 13th IRENA Council.

Convening from 23 to 24 May, with a preparatory day on 22 May and a Policy Day on 25 May, the 13th Council attracted the registration of over 300 delegates representing 110 countries — the highest participation ever at an IRENA Council. Continue reading IRENA’s 13th Council Convenes →

Africa, Assembly 7, Caribbean and Latin America, energy access, Header_Posts, Oceania

Ministers: ‘IRENA/ADFD Plays Key Role Advancing Renewables in Developing Countries’

2 Comments

At IRENA’s seventh Assembly, held in Abu Dhabi in January 2017, renewable energy projects from the Marshall Islands, Niger, Seychelles and the Solomon Islands were selected to receive a total of USD 44.5 million in funding through the IRENA/ADFD Project Facility. The Facility is a unique partnership between the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), set up to identify and partially finance promising renewable energy projects in developing countries.

At the Assembly, energy ministers from the four selected countries explained how this partnership will bring about a positive change in their respective countries. Continue reading Ministers: ‘IRENA/ADFD Plays Key Role Advancing Renewables in Developing Countries’ →

Header_Posts

Opening IRENA’s Doors to Students this Summer

2 Comments

“He seeks an entry-level job to get experience, but he cannot get an entry-level job without experience,” the zen master riddles to his disciple in a humorous viral video, but for many young people this conundrum is a perplexing reality. Around the world millions of young people seek meaningful work experience but struggle to find employers willing to take a chance on them.

Though hiring the young and inexperienced presents risks, it also holds great rewards — fresh ideas, enthusiasm, and new skills. IRENA’s exciting new programme for undergraduates in the United Arab Emirates, GROWTH@IRENA (PDF), aims to attract motivated and inspired students looking to gain work experience in an international organisation. Continue reading Opening IRENA’s Doors to Students this Summer →

Energy Transition, Header_Posts

Onshore Wind Industry Learning Fast

3 Comments

In recent decades, wind turbines have become a familiar sight in many countries. Onshore wind projects around the world now consistently deliver electricity for USD 0.04 per kilowatt‑hour (kWh), with some projects achieving as low as USD 0.03/kWh. Yet up-to-date cost data and reliable projections of future costs remain limited.

The “learning curve” — a concept borrowed from manufacturing — assesses the rate at which production costs fall as deployment grows due to manufacturing and technology improvements. As an analytical tool, the curve captures past evolution and is a useful tool for assessing potential future cost trends for a given technology. In short, it provides a useful estimate of how future costs will fall as deployment (measured in some kind of physical units) grows. Continue reading Onshore Wind Industry Learning Fast →

Innovation, Publications

Biogas Cost Reductions to Boost Sustainable Transport

2 Comments

While most people will identify electric vehicles as a sustainable form of transport, particularly when paired with renewable electricity generation, biogas also holds great potential to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector.

“In the global pursuit for sustainable transport, biogas represents a great opportunity for countries to address climate change while harnessing local economic benefits in the rural sector and tackling environmental challenges such as waste management,” says Dolf Gielen, Director of IRENA’s Innovation and Technology Centre, about the release of IRENA’s latest addition to its sustainable transport series, Biogas for Road Vehicles.

IRENA’s newest technology brief highlights the process and technology status of biogas and provides insight to policy makers that want to include it in their plans for sustainable transport. Continue reading Biogas Cost Reductions to Boost Sustainable Transport →

Publications

Developing Bankable Woody Biomass Projects

Leave a comment

Bioenergy, renewable energy derived from biological sources, today accounts for as much as three-quarters of total final renewable energy use — making it by far the most widely used renewable energy source worldwide. IRENA estimates that to meet international climate change targets, the share of renewable energy will need to be doubled by 2030, and bioenergy can account for around half of that.

Falling costs and favourable policies have resulted in a dramatic rise in installed generation capacity worldwide, but the deployment of renewables is at times still stalled by projects that do not meet the specific standards required to obtain the necessary financial support. To support the successful development of woody biomass projects, IRENA has launched new technical guidelines on Woody Biomass, as part of its online Project Navigator platform. Just as the utility-scale solar PV guidelines, released last October, the newly released guidelines describe in nine stages what is needed to plan, establish, operate, and decommission a bankable woody biomass project. Continue reading Developing Bankable Woody Biomass Projects →

Innovation, Publications

Sustainable Flight with Biofuels

7 Comments

If the aviation sector were a country, it would be the eighth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world — using planes and helicopters to move people and cargo around the world produces around two percent of the world’s planet warming gases. In 2010, carbon dioxide (CO­2) emissions, the primary contributor of human-caused climate change, from international aviation amounted to 448 megatonnes (Mt). The International Civil Aviation Organisation has forecasted that CO2 emissions from the aviation sector will increase to the range of 682 Mt to 755 Mt by 2020, and could even be as high as 2,700 Mt by 2050, a six-fold increase from 2010 levels, if nothing is done about it.

So what can be done? What’s the environmentally responsible solution for aviation, and how can emissions be reduced, short of removing planes from the skies? Continue reading Sustainable Flight with Biofuels →