Managing the Power Sector Transition to Renewable Energy .

Chemonics hosted a panel on December 9, 2021 to explore challenges and solutions related to the transition to renewable energy and reducing CO2 emissions in light of COP26 and the Glasgow Climate Pact.

As the urgency to counteract climate change increases due to widespread weather-related natural disasters, efforts to ensure the uptake of renewable energy and lower global CO2 emissions must accelerate. On December 9, Chemonics convened a panel, featuring experts from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the Green Climate Fund, and Chemonics, and discussed post-COP26 global efforts and initiatives including the Glasgow Climate Pact to reduce emissions from the energy and transportation sectors. These initiatives include the Global Methane Pledge, commitments to phasedown coal, climate finance commitments from asset managers, and more. The panel addressed potential solutions for the three interrelated challenges that governments, utilities, and business leaders address must address to change electric sectors around the world:

• How to overcome the challenge to grid operators and utilities of managing higher amounts of variable renewable energy generation;
• How to overcome the policy, infrastructure, and legal barriers impeding the expansion of renewable energy investment to levels beyond the current pace; and
• How to mobilize the necessary capital to achieve the levels of investment required, in particular securing capital from private institutions in developed countries and key emerging markets – including investments to address the dislocations that the transition will cause (achieving a ‘just transition’).

Speakers and panelists

Keynote speaker:

• Amy Myers Jaffe, Managing Director, Climate Policy Lab, Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

Moderator:

• Tara Sabre Collier, MOBILIST Policy and Research Platform Team Leader, Chemonics

Panelists:

• Sabin Basnyat, Energy Efficiency and Transport Sector Lead, Green Climate Fund
• Daniel Brooks, Vice President of Integrated Grid and Energy Systems, Electric Power Research Institute
• Matthew Mendis, Managing Director of Chemonics Energy Group, Chemonics

Introductions and closing remarks:

• Edward Hoyt, Senior Global Practice Lead of the Water, Energy and Sustainable Cities Practice, Chemonics