IRENA and Terrawatt Seek Massive Solar Scale-Up
Newsletter
IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin met with Isabelle Kocher, Deputy General Manager of Engie and first Chairperson of the private sector Terrawatt Initiative, today on the sidelines of the World Future Energy Summit. The meeting took place in the presence of H.E. Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State of the United Arab Emirates and the Chairman of Masdar and H.E. Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Republic and President of the Climate Conference in Paris.
IRENA and the Terrawatt Initiative pledge together to establish proper conditions for the substantial deployment of competitive solar power generation, building on important recent initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance of more than 120 countries, launched by French President François Hollande and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 30 November 2015 during the Climate Conference. Specifically, cooperation between IRENA and Terrawatt Initiative aims at exploring concrete ways to implement the objectives of the Paris Agreement as soon as possible, with a specific focus on solar power generation.
“We would like to work in close collaboration with Terrawatt to ensure that the climate agreement will achieve its promise to deliver clean energy, to take us toward sustainable development.” – Adnan Z. Amin, IRENA Director-General
“Now the technologies are affordable and full of hope for humanity. Nevertheless, it won’t happen if we don’t mobilize. We must identify the ways to implement the technologies on a large scale and generate thousands of gigawatts.” – Isabelle Kocher, Deputy General Manager of Engie and Chairperson of the Terrawatt Initiative
Areas of possible future cooperation include:
- Reducing the cost of finance and cost of technology for immediate deployment of competitive solar generation assets;
- Supporting industrial capacities, through support for development and implementation of appropriate regulatory frameworks and innovative financial and risk mitigation instruments;
- Developing a systemic approach for the massive integration of renewables, solar in particular, in the energy systems at local, national and regional levels; paving the way for future solar generation energy storage and technology solutions adapted to each country’s individual needs.
