The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) partners with low- and middle-income countries who want to prepare their national and regional energy systems for increasing amounts of renewable energy (RE) generation through the Renewable Energy Integration (REI) Program. REI, launched in 2021, received 54 expressions of interest covering 60 countries, ten of which were selected to develop investment plans. On June 30, in Brasilia, Brazil became the second country, after Colombia, to receive funding as part of the program.
But more countries need support in accelerating RE integration. The newly created REI Learning Platform will facilitate the sharing of emerging knowledge among countries. The platform is a direct response to calls from countries for knowledge and exchange to advance their national renewable energy ambitions and associated climate goals. Activities will be determined by users’ needs and demands and will include events (virtual and in-person), peer-to-peer exchanges, and analytical work (case studies and enhanced knowledge support activities).
The June 2023 launch event introduced the REI Learning Platform and shared early insights from governments, multilateral development banks (MDBs), and other sector stakeholders on the types of investments required to accelerate the incorporation of variable renewable energy (VRE) in energy networks. Energy integration expert Christine Wörlen, Founder of Arepo, opened the discussion by outlining findings from an analysis of the expressions of interest received by CIF. She shared that those countries demonstrated high ambitions and potential, but many had limited implementation capacities including for private sector engagement, and some requested more funding for RE investments rather than ways to tackle RE integration challenges faced by power systems.
“As the saying goes, there is no transition without transmission,” said Javier Campillo, General Director of IPSE, which is affiliated with Colombia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy. “In Colombia, we have requests for 36 GW of new added RE capacity. Of this, we could only allocate about 8.3 GW due to transmission restrictions, and we are seeing more interest in new projects. So, we’re building large transmission lines to make it possible to add new capacity, in cooperation with local communities.“
Len George, Principal Energy Specialist, Asian Development Bank, honed in on the situation in small island developing states (SIDS). “I find small islands particularly fascinating in terms of what they're setting out to do on renewable energy integration. Small islands face a lot of challenges for multiple reasons. In a lot of these places, the grid is dilapidated and there are concerns about energy security because you're not able to reach out and hook into another source,” he said. Len also noted that, while he’s seen many Pacific Island countries such as the Maldives take steps to address some of these integration challenges over the last decade, he’s seen a lot more nuanced understanding among policy makers in just the last year as well as more openness from the private sector to engage and find workable solutions.
Discussing the situation in Mali, Birama Diourte, Technical Advisor at the Ministry of Energy, explained that grid storage is helping to enable VRE integration, noting that “a few years ago we did not even think about energy storage, did not think about generating solar energy and stocking the same capacity. Now the cost is becoming acceptable.” Mali will also use experience acquired thanks to the CIF’s Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program (SREP) to finalize their REI investment plan over the next few months.
In the case of the Dominican Republic, “we have great potential for renewables, and we are exploring the capacity to integrate them into our network and drive other projects that contribute to the human development of communities in underdeveloped areas of the country,” explained Sara Victoria González Troncoso, International Relations Advisor, National Council for Climate Change, Dominican Republic. In addition to the ten countries already selected to develop investment plans, the Dominican Republic was among the nine additional EOIs shortlisted to receive support when additional funding becomes available, alongside a regional submission from the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) and country submissions from Bangladesh, Lesotho, Morocco, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Tunisia.
Through the REI Learning Platform, CIF aims to strengthen the capacities and readiness of all countries, and regions, looking to advance RE integration through a combination of applied learning events and exchanges as well as knowledge products. By employing a learning-by-doing approach, the platform will help countries be more prepared for the next wave of investments, which are urgently needed to meet the tremendous level of country ambition for RE integration.
Watch the session to learn more: