Renewable Energy Transition Marches Ahead in San Francisco

Energy ministers from more than 20 countries gather in San Francisco this week for the 7th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) meeting. Accounting for some 80% of global emissions and 90% of global clean energy investment, participating governments will exchange ideas, collaborate, and share knowledge to push forward the renewable energy transition domestically. Indian officials, for example, used knowledge on LED light bulbs shared by the US Department of Energy at past CEMs to accelerate their own roll out of LEDs. The new demand generated by the roll out caused prices to drop an impressive 75%.

This year’s event will focus heavily on private/public sector collaboration and renewable energy innovation. For the first time ever, the Startups and Solutions Technology Showcase will take place in conjunction with the CEM, which highlights breakthrough technologies and start-ups that will transform the worldwide economy in the years and decades to come. Today, ministers will also take advantage of the event’s location in San Francisco to visit the campuses of Google and Tesla, and learn more about renewable energy innovation taking place in the private sector.

In the coming days, members of the public and private sector will convene to discuss how to increase green energy/energy efficiency investment, how to boost corporate and government use of renewable energy, and how to create policies and markets that support the generation renewable energy technologies.

IRENA’s Director-General, Adnan Z. Amin will moderate a roundtable discussion on facilitating corporate sourcing of clean energy. During the session, representatives from Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Solar Power Europe, ENEL, China Lighting & Power and others will share best practices in policy and market design, examine barriers preventing more procurement and explore policy solutions to remove those barriers.

As a part of this discussion – and to further reinforce the necessity of enabling policies – Mr. Amin will provide participants with a sneak peek of IRENA’s latest renewable energy costing report on the cost reduction potential for solar and wind power technologies to 2025. This report finds that – with the right policies in place – the global average cost of electricity from solar and wind power technologies could fall as much as 65% by 2025. The full report will be launched globally next week.

Outcomes from the round table will feed into the Corporate Sourcing of Renewables CEM campaign, to be officially launched on 2 June. Stay tuned for more outcomes from CEM7 or follow discussions online via #CEM7.