Private and Public Sector talk Business at IOREC, Manila

Decentralised renewable energies a very valuable option for developing countries to provide for universal energy access says Ernesto Macias

June 20, 2014. By Moulin

Together with the International Renewable Agency (IRENA) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE) successfully organised the second edition of International Off-grid Renewable Energy Conference (IOREC) in Manila, Philippines on 16-18 Jun 2014. With over 400 attendees attending this very important conference, it gathered key stakeholders from across the decentralised renewable energy value chain, including representatives from rural electrification agencies, ministries in charge of renewable energy development, the private sector, academia, financing institutions and international organisations.

“Access to clean and reliable electricity supply is vital for social and economic development, and off-grid renewables present a cost-effective, clean and reliable solution for electricity access in rural, peri-urban and island contexts,” Adnan Z. Amin, IRENA’s Director-General said. “To fully utilise this off-grid opportunity, we need dedicated policies, enabling regulations, access to financing, tailor-made business models and the quick adoption of technologies. To achieve this, IRENA is developing its collaboration with the Asian Development Bank.”

In addition to the conference, the IOREC Exhibition organised by ARE was both well booked and well attended. Practitioners on all levels could meet up to realise business opportunities. This networking possibility was also well used by attendees of the leading Asian conference on renewable energies, the Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF).

Ernesto Macias, President of ARE, said: “As the international private sector reference for off-grid renewable energies ARE is glad about IRENA’s increasing activity in this field. We especially value the decision by its members to establish IOREC as the long-term platform for mutual exchange between public sector decision-makers, financiers and even more importantly practitioners. With their long standing experiences they have shown remarkable results to make decentralised renewable energies a very valuable option for developing countries to provide for universal energy access in the near future.”

Marcus Wiemann, Secretary General of ARE, said: “We thank the ADB for its great hospitality to host both the conference and ARE’s exhibition. Especially, we regard the workshop on the third day of IOREC as a further step towards achieving universal energy access in Asia. This session brought together the private sector who presented their business cases to high-level national government officials from India, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Indonesia to discuss short-term ways on how to cost-effectively energise rural areas.”

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