Renewable energy is becoming a growing share of World Bank lending and advisory activities in both low- and middle-income countries. As a result of the increasing importance of renewable energy in the World Bank’s overall energy portfolio, Bank staff and partners require a high level of understanding of sector issues, as well as access to updated information. To address these needs, a comprehensive training program on renewable energy was carried out in 2012 for World Bank Group staff in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC’s Advisory Services).
The key objective of the program was to strengthen the overall level of knowledge of WBG staff on renewable energy, increasing their effectiveness when engaging on related analytical work, technical assistance, and investment operations. Based on feedback from regional staff on their preferences for a second phase of the training program, ESMAP is now facilitating targeted events for our World Bank regional colleagues who are based in the field.
The first regional session took place in Pattaya, Thailand, on April 23-25, 2014, organized by ESMAP, in partnership with the South Asia and East Asia and the Pacific regions of the World Bank and the IFC. The program comprised technology modules (including wind, solar PV, concentrated solar power, and small hydro) and cross-cutting modules covering grid integration, financing, and policy and regulatory incentives. The training program focused on key aspects of project development necessary for the deployment of renewable energy on a larger scale. It also included interactive discussions based on actual case studies with a focus on South-South knowledge exchange.
The event brought together over 100 field experts from the World Bank Group, as well as other professionals from the wider energy community.
The event also involved South-South exchange sessions that provided an opportunity for smaller group discussions and exchange of experiences and lessons across projects and countries. The participants broke into four parallel case study sessions, covering:
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public and private models for distributed generation focused on experiences from India and the Pacific Island Countries;
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renewable energy resource mapping with an overview of the experiences of Pakistan and Vietnam on the benefits and implementation challenges of RE mapping activities;
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scaling up renewables, focusing on two successful but different models in Bangladesh and China; and
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experiences and lessons from regional power markets in South Asia and East Asia and the Pacific, looking at incentives and barriers for market development, the importance of power trade agreements and regional planning in catalyzing large investments, and the role of regional institutions in facilitating the power trade.
Presentations: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
Clean Energy > Renewable Energy Training Program > South Asia and East Asia & Pacific Regions Renewable Energy Training Program