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P.O. Box 236, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

As of 26 May 2015

Overview of events at/around ninth meeting of the Council, 8-11 June 2015

Monday, 8 June Pre-meetings, 1st floor, IRENA Headquarters

09.00 am - 05.30 pm Workshop on REmap Africa - Africa Renewable Energy Roadmap to 2030

Energy and Sun meeting room

Tuesday, 9 June Pre-meetings, 1st floor, IRENA Headquarters

09.00 am - 01.00 pm Programme and Strategy Committee meeting

Energy and Sun meeting room

02.00 pm - 06.00 pm Policy Day

Energy and Sun meeting room

05.00 pm - 06.00 pm Administration and Finance Committee meeting

Geothermal meeting room

Wednesday, 10 June 1st day of ninth meeting of the Council, Sheraton Hotel, Corniche

09.00 am - 01.00 pm Council meeting, Arzanah ballroom

01.00 pm - 02.30 pm Lunch event: Improving Renewable Energy Data and Information

Room: Suite 801, 8th floor

Lunch event: The solar boom: New opportunities, markets and challenges

Room: Oasis

02.30 pm - 06.00 pm Council meeting, Arzanah ballroom

Thursday, 11 June 2nd day of ninth meeting of the Council, Sheraton Hotel, Corniche

08.00 am - 09.00 am Breakfast event: REmap Action Teams

Room: Oasis

09.00 am - 01.00 pm Council meeting, Arzanah ballroom

01.00 pm - 02.30 pm Lunch event: Electricity Storage for Renewables

Room: Oasis

Lunch event: Martinique Action Plan

Room: Suite 801, 8th floor

02.30 pm - 06.00 pm Council meeting, Arzanah ballroom

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Workshop on REmap Africa

Africa Renewable Energy Roadmap to 2030

Concept Note

08 June 2015, 09.00 am – 05.30 pm, 1st floor IRENA Headquarters, Masdar City

In 2012, the United Nation’s General Assembly declared 2014-2024 the Decade of Sustainable

Energy for All (SE4ALL). Within this context, IRENA developed REmap 2030 - a global renewable

energy roadmap - in order to assess how an aspirational target of doubling the global renewable

energy (RE) share could be put into practice. The REmap Africa regional report aims to address how

different types of renewable technologies could be deployed to significantly scale up renewable

energy in Africa and to ensure energy access in line with the aspirational targets. It assesses the

costs and benefits associated with different technology deployment pathways and identifies areas of

collaboration between countries or within the sub-regions of Africa. It also aims to show how

Africa’s significant renewables potential is integral to the global energy sector transformation. The

report builds on IRENA’s Africa work to date and will provide impetus to the African Clean Energy

Corridor (ACEC) initiative. The report is planned to be released at the South Africa International

Renewable Energy Conference (SAIREC) in October 2015 in South Africa.

At the workshop, IRENA will present the draft REmap Africa report to experts and policy-makers in

Africa. The main objective of the meeting is to discuss the energy policies needed to accelerate the

deployment of RE technologies in the African context. The workshop will gather regional

organisations, policy-makers from IRENA Member countries in Africa, and other IRENA Member

countries to solicit their views on key policy actions for accelerating the use of renewable energy to

supply much-needed energy across all sectors in the region.

The workshop is expected to result in a number of important outcomes for IRENA’s REmap Africa

regional report. The workshop will facilitate stakeholder consultation on the direction of the

roadmap focus. African stakeholders’ cooperation and engagement with REmap will be expanded by

the participation of country and regional organisations.

For more information please contact:

Asami Miketa, Programme Officer, Energy Planning (amiketa@irena.org) Deger Saygin, Programme Officer, Renewable Energy Roadmaps (dsaygin@irena.org) Safiatou Alzouma, Regional Programme Officer, Sub-Saharan Africa (salzouma@irena.org)

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IRENA Policy Day

Concept Note and Agenda

09 June 2015, 02.00 pm - 06.00 pm, 1st floor IRENA Headquarters, Masdar City

Background

One of IRENA’s key functions as established through its Medium-Term Strategy 2013-2017 is to act

as a global knowledge repository and centre of excellence for renewable energy policy. IRENA

provides up-to-date analysis on enabling policy frameworks spanning the renewable energy

deployment cycle and shares trends and best practices in policy design at the national and regional

levels.

IRENA’s Policy Day provides a forum for renewable energy policy dialogue where countries and

partners can share experiences and disseminate best practices in policy making and enhance the

understanding of the benefits of renewable energy. The Policy Day generates feedback from policy

makers and experts and provides key input to support IRENA’s implementation of the Work

Programme in the policy realm, to ensure relevance and accuracy.

Policy Day

Building on previous successful experience, this year’s Policy Day will engage policy-makers and

experts from the IRENA membership in a discussion around key findings stemming from IRENA’s

work on policy assessment and the socio-economic benefits of renewable energy, supporting intra-

Agency synergies on policy-related topics.

Participants will share lessons learnt in setting renewable energy targets from jurisdictions globally.

This will be followed by a thorough discussion on best practices in the design of renewable energy

auctions, as policy makers are increasingly adopting this scheme to fulfil their set targets. Experts

and participants will also provide insights on how support schemes can be designed to maximise

socio-economic benefits, such as the development of a domestic industry and job creation. In this

context, a discussion will be held around the most recent findings of IRENA’s annual review on jobs

in the renewable energy sector.

1- Renewable Energy Target Setting: Renewable energy targets have become a defining

feature of the global energy landscape. As of early 2015, 164 countries around the world had

adopted at least one type of national-level RE target (with two additional countries with only

sub-national targets), up almost four-fold from 45 countries in 2005. As they have spread

around the world, RE targets have begun to play a significant role in shaping investment

decisions, and increasingly provide the broader framework within which particular policies

and measures are designed and implemented. To support policymakers in the design and

evaluation of renewable energy targets, IRENA has developed a study on Renewable Energy

Target Setting, which will be launched at the Policy Day. The report provides insights and

recommendations on designing and setting renewable energy targets by drawing on

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experiences from both developed and emerging markets while taking into consideration

contextual factors such as political, institutional and economic aspects. The report has

benefited from the feedback received from policymakers and experts during a side-event

organized at the fifth session of the Assembly in January 2015 to discuss preliminary

findings.

The Policy Day will provide a platform to disseminate the findings emerging from the report

and to discuss the key design features of renewable energy targets.

2- Renewable energy auctions: To support governments in designing support schemes that are

effective in deploying renewable energy while maximising efficiency in terms of needed

resources, IRENA has developed a comprehensive, state-of-the-art guidebook on Renewable

Energy Auctions Design and Best Practices. The guidebook is based on lessons learnt from

diverse country experiences to address the main design elements of renewable energy

auctions that policy makers and practitioners need to consider. The preliminary findings of the

guidebook were presented and discussed at a workshop in March 2015 alongside the

preparatory meeting for the sixth Clean Energy Ministerial in Washington D.C. The guidebook

will be launched at the Policy Day prior to the ninth meeting of the IRENA Council.

The guidebook will form the basis for a discussion on innovative approaches to the design of

renewable energy auction schemes focusing on: 1) key decisions on what exactly is to be

purchased in the auction, and under which conditions; 2) qualification requirements; 3) the

winner selection process; and 4) the seller’s liabilities. Participants will share lessons learnt

from country experiences in designing and implementing such schemes.

3- Benefits of renewable energy (Jobs): Building the business case for renewables at the national

and regional level requires a better understanding of macro-economic, social and

environmental aspects and their consideration in decision-making. IRENA’s work showcases

the benefits of renewable energy by highlighting its potential for industrial value, income

generation and job creation. It is in this context that IRENA has developed an authoritative

knowledge base on renewable energy employment. In its much awaited second edition of the

“Renewable Energy and Jobs – Annual Review” IRENA estimates that employment in the sector

reached 7.7 million (excluding large hydropower) in 2014 with China, Brazil, the United States,

India, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, France and Bangladesh as the largest employers.

Benefiting from the experience of experts from some of these countries, the discussion during

the Policy Day will revolve around aspects such as emerging employment trends by country

and by technology, policy instruments for maximising job creation, education and training

requirements as well as other socio-economic benefits derived from the development of a

renewable energy industry.

Contact: Divyam Nagpal, Junior Professional Associate – Policy (DNagpal@irena.org)

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IRENA Policy Day

Tentative Agenda

14:00-14:10 Welcome remarks: Henning Wuester, Director, Knowledge, Policy and Finance Centre (KPFC)

14:10-14:20 Introduction to Policy Day: Rabia Ferroukhi, Head of Policy Unit and Deputy Director, KPFC

14:20-15:20

Policy

Assessment

Presentation on IRENA study on Renewable Energy Target Setting: Ghislaine Kieffer,

Programme Officer – Policy Advice, KPFC

Panel of experts

Member state interventions and discussion

Coffee break

15:45-17:00

Policy

Assessment

Introductory remarks: Rabia Ferroukhi

Presentation on IRENA guidebook on Renewable Energy Auctions Design and Best

Practices: Diala Hawila, Associate Programme Officer – Policy, KPFC

Panel of experts

Member state interventions and discussion

17:00-18:00

Benefits of

Renewable

Energy

(Jobs)

Introductory remarks: Rabia Ferroukhi

Presentation on IRENA’s Renewable Energy and Jobs - Annual review 2015: Arslan Khalid,

Associate Programme Officer – Policy and Alvaro Lopez-Peña, Programme Officer – Policy

Advice, KPFC

Member state interventions and discussion

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Ninth Meeting of the Council – Thematic Events

10 June 2015: 01.00 pm - 02.30 pm Sheraton Hotel, Corniche, Abu Dhabi Room: Suite 801, 8th floor Improving Renewable Energy Data and Information

Reliable data and information about trends and developments in renewable energy not only promote the deployment of renewables but also help to dispel myths and misconceptions about the feasibility of integrating renewables into energy systems. At present, IRENA collects a substantial amount of data on topics such as: costs, jobs, capacity, production and trade, policies and measures, investment flows, patents, and standards. This data are used to support many of the core activities of the Agency, such as the analysis and monitoring of policies and practices, the provision of policy advice, the development of incentives and investment mechanisms, and the dissemination of information that increases awareness of the benefits and potential of renewable energy. There is high demand for renewable energy data and one of the first statistical products now available from IRENA is the renewable electricity capacity database. This is the only freely-accessible source of capacity data that covers the whole world and all renewable energy technologies in detail. In addition, renewable energy production and consumption data are also currently being validated and will be published before the end of the year. At this event, IRENA will present some of the statistics collected so far as well as proposals for future statistical activities, including the following topics:

a review of the current status of data collection in IRENA;

a presentation of the renewable electricity capacity data;

a description of current and future statistical capacity building activities; and

a summary of next steps. The data collected by IRENA show that many countries have good statistics about renewable energy, but the number of Members that are engaged with IRENA in the process of data collection and validation is still relatively low. As the renewable energy sector grows, this may lead to a number of issues related to the consistency and reliability of IRENA’s renewable energy data and the efficiency of data collection. IRENA is well on its way to becoming an authoritative source of data and information about renewable energy, but the relatively low level of country engagement could have an impact on the perceived credibility of IRENA’s statistical products and is a barrier to future capacity building in this area. At this event, delegates will be invited to provide feedback on the current and proposed statistical activities and, in particular, to suggest how IRENA and its Members can work together more effectively in the future to strengthen the availability of information about renewable energy.

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Questions for participants:

What would Members recommend to improve country engagement in the collection of renewable energy data?

Would Members endorse the change in emphasis in statistics capacity building work away from publications towards more training and field testing of data collection?

For more information please contact: Adrian Whiteman, Senior Programme Officer - Statistics (awhiteman@irena.org)

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Ninth Meeting of the Council – Thematic Events

10 June 2015: 01.00 pm – 02.30 pm Sheraton Hotel, Corniche, Abu Dhabi Oasis meeting room The solar boom: New opportunities, markets and challenges

Solar PV deployment experienced another record year in 2014, with around 40 GW of new capacity added and total cumulative installed capacity approaching 180 GW. This demand is increasingly being driven by the fundamental competitiveness of solar technologies. Solar PV costs have fallen dramatically in recent years. Solar PV module prices have fallen by around three-quarters since the end of 2009. The cost of electricity from solar PV at the utility-scale has halved since 2010 and is now in the range of fossil-fuel fired power generation costs, following fast on the competitiveness of distributed solar PV on rooftops. With the traditional markets for solar PV entering a more mature phase, the landscape is becoming more challenging in some markets. Grid integration issues, which seemed decades away, now need to be planned for over the next 5 to 10 years and new opportunities are emerging as new business models evolve in these developed markets. At the same time, new markets are emerging for solar based on the fact that solar is the least cost option today for a range of market segments from solar home systems, to mini-grids, to utility-scale generation. Accelerating these markets must be a priority as many areas with the best solar resources lag behind in deployment. Especially in the ‘sunbelt’, the solar PV potential is huge. Most of the world’s 1.3 billion people without access to electricity live in the sunbelt, and electricity shortages plague many of those connected to the grid in these countries. With module costs at very competitive levels, solar PV is now typically the most economic solution to these problems. The question is how to unlock this potential of solar PV in the sunbelt. Kick-starting deployment in the sunbelt will require an integrated effort addressing today’s challenges to the large-scale deployment of solar PV. IRENA has undertaken a data collection exercise for solar PV system costs in Africa for solar home systems, mini-grids and utility-scale projects and analysed this data with the support of the German International Cooperation (GIZ). This session will discuss the evolution of existing solar markets, the emerging challenges and opportunities, as well as IRENA’s first analysis and recommendations on how to reduce costs to efficient levels in order to accelerate market deployment in Africa and elsewhere. Questions for participants:

What are the challenges facing your solar market and impacting your domestic policy debate?

What aspects of the solar market should IRENA focus on to assist Members in accelerating the deployment of solar technologies, are there other aspects of solar PV economics IRENA should be focusing on?

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What should IRENA focus on next? Are regional deep-dives focused on operationalising the recommendations of IRENA’s analysis useful, or should the focus remain on providing high-level analysis that guides Members’ own analysis?

For more information please contact: Michael Taylor, Analyst, Renewable Energy Cost Status and Outlook (mtaylor@irena.org)

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Ninth Meeting of the Council – Thematic Events

11 June 2015: 08.00 am – 09.00 am Sheraton Hotel, Corniche, Abu Dhabi Oasis meeting room REmap Action Teams

The UN Secretary-General set up a High-Level Group on Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) to develop a global, multi-stakeholder action agenda based on three interlinked objectives: 1) ensuring universal access to modern energy services, 2) doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency and, 3) doubling the share of renewables in the global energy mix. The target year of attaining these objectives is 2030 and the base year is 2010. In the course of 2014/15, IRENA has created three REmap Action Teams with interested countries and other stakeholders to work under the REmap 2030 umbrella toward a transformative impact on the deployment of renewables. Two of these Action Teams are on substantive themes (transport, joint strategies for renewables and energy efficiency) and one to support the SE4ALL renewable energy hub initiatives. This event will introduce the REmap Action Teams and highlight the importance of the end-use sectors for achieving higher renewable energy shares. It will focus on initial findings from the renewables and energy efficiency, and the transport Action Teams. The action team that focuses on the synergy between renewable energy and energy efficiency is a collaborative effort between IRENA, as the thematic hub of the renewable energy objective, and the Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency (C2E2), the thematic hub of the energy efficiency objective. This action team focuses on deepening the understanding of how renewable energy and energy efficiency, when employed in concert, can help realise the interlinked objectives of the initiative. The various aspects of the synergy between energy efficiency and renewable energy is an area that has received limited attention from policy-makers and the research community. To close this knowledge gap, IRENA and C2E2 have prepared a working paper that quantifies the potential synergies between renewable energy technologies deployment and energy efficiency improvements – particularly for end-uses – and analyses their contribution in achieving the energy efficiency and renewable energy objectives by 2030. The side-event will present the results from this working paper. Efforts to increase renewables for transportation are vital to achieve the doubling objective. The transport sector consumes one-third of total global energy demand and has only around a 3% share of renewable energy - a share that will only increase to 6% by 2030 under a business as usual scenario. REmap shows how this share can increase to 15% by 2030. Because market conditions and technologies are rapidly changing, a better understanding of the technology potential and its implications on the energy system needs to be examined. The transport Action Team consists of a network of organisations active in the field of sustainable transport. The side-event will highlight emerging trends with an initial focus on electric mobility and advanced biofuels. It will present an overview of regions in Asia, Europe, and Latin America where innovative projects are underway to increase renewables use in the transport sector.

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Questions for participants:

Where is electric mobility heading in different regions of the world and what are some of the best practices?

Why has biofuel production stalled in the last few years and what are the prospects for advanced biofuels?

How does the relationship between renewable energy and energy efficiency affect attainment of higher renewable energy shares in the end-use sectors?

How can higher renewable energy shares and rate of energy efficiency improvement assist each other in the attainment of the renewable energy and energy efficiency objectives?

For more information please contact: Deger Saygin, Programme Officer, Renewable Energy Roadmaps (dsaygin@irena.org) Nicholas Wagner, Junior Professional Associate (nwagner@irena.org)

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Ninth Meeting of the Council – Thematic Events

11 June 2015: 01.00 pm- 02.30 pm Sheraton Hotel, Corniche, Abu Dhabi Oasis meeting room Electricity Storage for Renewables

Has the decade of cheap distributed electricity storage finally arrived with Californian utilities procuring more than 400 MW in 2014, with TESLA announcing the sales of residential battery storage systems, and with residential storage systems in Germany reducing in cost by 25% in 2014? Or is pumped storage still the only economically-viable solution for the integration of renewables? This side event accompanies the launch of IRENA’s technology roadmap on electricity storage, and provides an opportunity to discuss the technical details, opportunities and challenges of different electricity storage options with a panel of leading technical experts. Following a brief introduction on electricity storage technologies, guiding questions for the discussion are:

What are the implications for the grid infrastructure if the share of self-consumption through renewables and residential electricity storage systems increases?

What are the short- and long-term roles of pumped hydro stations for balancing renewables-based grids, and are there any alternative solutions?

Will the expectations about prices and performance of flow batteries, metal-air batteries, super-capacitors be met?

How do you choose between alternative storage options for integrating or transitioning towards renewable energy?

Are islands and remote areas the only markets where electricity storage can provide an economic solution for the integration of renewables?

For more information please contact: Ruud Kempener, Analyst – Renewable Energy Technology Roadmaps (rkempener@irena.org)

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Ninth Meeting of the Council – Thematic Events

11 June 2015: 01.00 pm - 02.30 pm Sheraton Hotel, Corniche, Abu Dhabi Room: Suite 801, 8th floor Martinique Action Plan

The IRENA – Martinique Conference on Island Energy Transitions: Pathways for Accelerated Uptake of Renewables will take place on 22-24June 2015. The Conference will provide an opportunity to consider concrete options for renewable energy development on islands and will be a milestone in the implementation of the SIDS Lighthouses Initiative in preparation for the COP21 and beyond. The Conference will set forth the Martinique Action Plan to accelerate the uptake of renewables on islands. Public authorities and other interested parties will be invited to suggest priority projects to include in this action agenda. The agreed action plan is intended to showcase tangible progress at COP21 in Paris and demonstrate the commitment of partners in the Lighthouses Initiative which is attracting resources that can help implement the actions it contains. The Martinique Action Plan is foreseen to span many spheres of action that are vital to sustainable energy development on islands. These include actions to put in place enabling policy and regulatory environments, develop innovative financing and risk mitigation tools, document and share successful business models, generate proposals for bankable renewable energy projects, perform renewable energy grid integration studies, assess and develop renewable energy resources, and deploy renewable desalination and biomass- and waste-to-energy systems. At the event, participants will be informed about the Martinique Action Plan and the elements of action that have been proposed for consideration so far. They will also have the opportunity to provide feedback on the actions proposed and suggest additional actions for consideration. This will help ensure the Plan can be endorsed in Martinique and will help identify interested islands and development partners to finance the actions agreed in the run-up to COP 21.

For more information please contact: Jeffrey Skeer, Senior Programme Officer – Technology Cooperation (JSkeer@irena.org),