IRENA’s commitment to supporting a sustainable energy transition in Southeast Asia will be showcased during the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW) starting next week. Various, high-level events throughout the week will offer insight and knowledge across a broad range of topics related to renewables in the region, including policy-making, finance and investments, off-grid solutions and the role of renewable energy in delivering rural healthcare.
Energy Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), will kick-off the week on 29 and 30 October with 36th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM). A keynote by IRENA’s Director-General Adnan Z. Amin on the ‘Global Energy Transformation 2050 and Southeast Asia Perspective’ will outline an economically attractive path to a low-carbon energy future in ASEAN fueling ministerial discussion aimed at scaling up renewable energy deployment.
IRENA and ASEAN will look to strengthen cooperation and co-develop strategies to stimulate investment flows and accelerate the pace of energy transformation. IRENA will outline the widespread socio-economic gains to communities in every corner of the region resulting from accelerated action on renewables. One key benefit being in job creation. Southeast Asia’s renewable energy employment stands at around 600 000 today, but the potential exists to generate well over two million jobs under an accelerated 2030 path.
Access to energy is a challenge for more than 65 million people in the region. Rising urban demand as well as low population density in remote communities make decentralised renewables solutions a reliable and affordable alternative for households. Scaling up the adoption of such off-grid systems is therefore the focus of IRENA’s 4th International Off-Grid Renewable Energy Conference (IOREC) on 31 October – 1 November. The two-day event will be co-located with the Asia Clean Energy Summit, and will showcase the latest policies, business models and systems aimed at powering rural communities that are often disconnected from the grid.
Finally, IOREC will be followed by the Renewable Energy Solutions for Healthcare Facilities conference – the first of its kind – on 2 November, which will explore the potential of renewable energy to transform healthcare in rural communities. The international conference will bridge the fields of energy and healthcare to develop meaningful pathways to better rural healthcare through the accelerated deployment of decentralised renewable technologies.
With technological innovation, dramatic cost declines, positive socio-economic benefits and the imperative to decarbonise our economies driving global energy transformation, Southeast Asian countries are well positioned to build a new and increasingly inclusive economic future based on low-carbon energy.
