REN21 & IRENA Long Term Energy Scenarios network PAC Workshop – July 2024
On 15 July 2024, REN21 co-organised the fifth and final PAC workshop Stakeholder Engagement in Energy Planning: Across All Voltage Levels, in collaboration with Renewables Grid Initiative and the International Renewable Energy Agency. The workshop focused on:
- Raising awareness about the importance of energy system planning (including grids) at all voltage levels, with an integrated approach.
- Discussing how stakeholders can collaborate in such complex processes.
- Sharing experiences and successful initiatives from Africa, America and Europe.
- Energy system planning at both the transmission and the distribution level with a focus on the planning stage.
- Civil society involvement in energy system planning.
- Discussing the importance of knowledge sharing to build capacity from all stakeholder groups to organise and implement such collaborations to effectively contribute to energy system planning.
Thanks to the speakers and participants for diving into the various aspects of energy planning, enabling better renewable energy deployment! You can find the workshop recording here.
This event was part of the PAC project (Paris Agreement Compatible Scenarios for Energy Infrastructure). For more information about the project and the PAC consortium, please visit this website.
REN21 PAC Workshop – November 2023
Effective energy and grid planning are key to facilitating the deployment and distribution of renewable energy, ensuring inclusive energy access for all.
How does civil society participation contribute to this process? This workshop engages speakers and panellists as they share experiences from different regions. This workshop is organised in the context of the PAC project.
For more information about the project and the PAC consortium, please visit: https://www.pac-scenarios.eu/project.html
REN21 PAC Workshop at SPIREC – February 2023
Although there are several best practices related to how to improve grid development through stakeholder participation, there is still a knowledge gap on the need for such practice, as well as how to implement it.
As a bottom-top approach that engages with different stakeholders and involves civil society in grid development, the PAC Scenario can be highlighted as an important best practice in this sector.
With this in mind, during the Spanish International Renewable Energy Conference (SPIREC) 2023, the Paris Agreement Compatible (PAC) Scenarios’ project partners co-organised a workshop, aimed at:
- Raise awareness and understanding of the importance of stakeholder engagement in grid planning and the equally valid views/roles of various stakeholders;
- Learn about different stakeholder engagement measures from an international community;
- Present the PAC approach and the latest project development to an international audience.
Agenda
For more information about the project and the PAC consortium, please visit: https://www.pac-scenarios.eu/project.html
REN21 & UNESCAP PAC Workshop – Bangkok December 2022
REN21 and UN ESCAP organised a workshop discussing the role of grids in the energy transition, and how civil society can participate in the planning process.
The event took place on 07 December 2022 at 15h30 ICT at The United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok. This event was part of the PAC project (Paris Agreement Compatible Scenarios for Energy Infrastructure). For more information about the project and the PAC consortium, please visit: https://www.pac-scenarios.eu/project.html
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! Video available soon!
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.
