PAC 2.0 for Energy Infrastructure in Latin America Workshop
REN21 (Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century), a multi-stakeholder governance group focusing on renewable energy policy, is one of the PAC project partners. On April 21, REN21 hosted the online workshop Paris-Agreement Compatible Scenarios for Energy Infrastructure in collaboration with OLADE (Latin American Energy Organisation. This event focused on understanding the need of power grids and the importance of civil society participation in grid planning processes in Latin American regions. While CAN Europe presented the design process of the PAC Scenario to the audience, RGI moderated a discussion on “Civil society input on grid planning”.
The topics brought up in this event strongly complement the goals of another project ran by RGI: “Sharing best practices beyond Europe”. Through this project, RGI aims at sharing knowledge and good practices from Europe with selected regions and countries around the world to support and accelerate the global decarbonisation pathways of the power sector by 2030. The project focuses specifically on increasing knowledge and capacity of civil society organisations in Latin America, Southeast, and East Asia, and South Africa, who are key players in the energy transition of their respective countries.
Thanks to the speakers and participants to bring up challenges and solutions for greater development of renewable energy in Latin America during this interactive discussion! Watch the video below.
Citizen Power for Grids Report
Renewable electricity, specifically wind power and solar photovoltaic (PV), has become the most economical sources of electricity in many parts of the world. Growing shares of variable generation in an increasing number of countries place a renewed focus on power grid planning and operations to realise the transition to cost-effective and reliable energy systems based on renewable energy.
The report called Citizen Power for Grids: Case studies on collaborative infrastructure planning processes for the energy transition provides an overview of how civil society can play an influential and necessary role in these grid planning processes.
Further Reading
On 3 November 2020, REN21 hosted two nearly identical workshops with speakers who discussed case studies of citizen engagement in grid planning processes. The recordings of these sessions and the speakers’ presentations are now online. Also, on the event page you can find a 4-page explainer document that can be used in outreach to civil society organisations and with decision makers. Learn more and download these resources on our workshop page.
Read more about this topic in our background article.
What is the PAC Project?
The PAC project – “Paris Agreement Compatible Scenarios for Energy Infrastructure”– has been established to develop a future energy scenario for Europe which is compatible with the Paris Agreement. The scenario, under development by civil society organisations, shall guide European energy infrastructure planning and help to ensure that we are planning and building the infrastructure necessary for a future low carbon, renewables-based energy system.
