The Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, Masdar, has organised a high-level training workshop on renewable energy for top decision-makers and chief executives from 11 Pacific Ocean countries, shortly before the convention of the General Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA, over the course of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.
The training was covered by AED183.6 million (US$50 million) UAE-Pacific Partnership Fund funded by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, ADFD, and managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, MoFAIC, to deliver a two-year training programme in energy for the Pacific region.
The current workshop aims to provide objective answers to number of issues and questions that have risen around the importance of renewable energy, its properties, cost and advanced technologies it utilises, as well as the integration between renewable energy grids and conventional energy grids. It also tackled techniques used to build standalone renewable energy systems and help decision-makers build renewable energy integrated systems and solutions, in addition to discussing success stories and other key topics relevant to sustainable development efforts in their respective countries.
During the training, Sultan Al Shamsi, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for International Development Affairs, said, "We are profoundly proud to highlight what we managed to achieve through the ‘UAE-Pacific Partnership Fund’ (UAE-PPF) to answer clean energy needs, as it constitutes one of the key elements of the sustainable development. While these projects have had numerous positive effects on the respective national budgets of these countries and in preserving a carbon-free environment; not to mention enhancing growth potential in other sectors, UAE-funded energy projects have helped in saving millions of dollars that were disbursed to buy fuel, whereas the south pacific region has the world’s highest cost. These savings were utilised for other development projects and towards achieving sustainable development".
He added that this second workshop builds upon the success of the first renewable energy training session held in Suva, the capital of Fiji, in late October 2017, gathering 25 participants from the 11 Pacific Island countries that implemented renewable energy projects through the UAE-PPF, including Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau, Kiribati, Nauru, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
Adel Al Hosani, Director of Operations at ADFD, said that the UAE-PPF financed by ADFD, plays an active role in promoting renewable energy, expanding employment opportunities, and accelerating social and economic development in Pacific Islands."
A third training session is planned for October 2018 and will cater to project and technical managers responsible for utility operations and renewable energy project planning in the Pacific region.