Pacific Islands Renewable Energy Project (PIREP)

  • Cook Islands,
  • Federated States of Micronesia (FSM),
  • Fiji,
  • Kiribati,
  • Nauru,
  • Niue,
  • Palau,
  • Papua New Guinea (PNG),
  • Republic of Marshall Islands,
  • Samoa,
  • Solomon Islands,
  • Tonga,
  • Tuvalu,
  • Vanuatu,
  • Pacific

ENTRY DATE: 09.03.2012 | LAST UPDATE: 09.03.2012

SCALE:

  • Sub-regional Level

TARGET AREA:

  • Rural and Urban

BEST PRACTICE IN:

  • Capacity Building
  • Research and Development

KEY SECTOR:

  • Energy

FUNDING AMOUNT:

  • USD 500,001 - USD 1,000,000

Description of Intervention

The PIREP is a medium-sized project funded mainly by GEF with UNDP as the implementing agency and executed by SPREP. It was approved in February 2002 by the GEF Council and implementation started in May 2003.

The main objective has been the preparation of a regional approach to removing barriers to the development and commercialisation of renewable energy systems in PICs. There were two main reasons for choosing a regional approach for this project.

First, there are limited human and institutional resources in many PICs and they would thus probably have difficulty completing some of the PIREP in-country activities without the regional support network. PICs are fully aware of the limited available resources and have therefore opted for a collective and regional project.

Secondly, previous experiences have shown that regionally executed projects are a cost-effective way to implement homogenous activities across the countries of the region. This is especially true when—as is the case with the PIREP—the overall in-country activities as a starting point are identical for all the 14 participating PICs The establishment of an enabling environment conducive to the region-wide adoption and commercialisation of RETs involves the design, development and implementation of appropriate policies, strategies and interventions addressing the fiscal, financial, regulatory, market, technical and information barriers to RE development and utilisation.

Problems to be Addressed

In-Country Renewable Energy Initiatives:
1. Persistent barriers to renewable energy development, as well as gaps between what needs to be done in specific areas, and what has been done, need to be evaluated 2. Address the capacity development needs of the PICs in various aspects of renewable energy development
3. Identify renewable energy market development strategy for each PIC
4. Find out potential funding sources for RE projects in the region
5. Point out feasible RE projects employing delivery mechanisms for possible financing support for their implementation on a demonstration basis

Regional renewable energy initiatives:
1. Get a clear understanding of the objectives and outputs of the MSP implementation
2. Synthesise all findings and recommendations in the country assessment reports, highlighting common barriers to renewable energy development in the region, common approaches to addressing the identified barriers and measures, which would be specific to a particular PIC
3. Design a regional renewable energy database
4. Design a regional website on renewable energy development and promotion, including documentation of successful models of RE initiatives
5. Draw up an appropriate financing mechanism for supporting renewable energy projects in the region
6. Develop a regional RE demonstration programme showcasing the ‘business angle’ of renewable energy project delivery
7. Develop a regional renewable energy technology support programme
8. Present and disseminate outputs and recommendations of all renewable energy sector assessments (as described in the regional report) to stakeholders on RE in the region and interested donor parties

Aims

The PIREP will facilitate the promotion of renewable energy technologies among PICs. The establishment of an enabling environment conducive to the region-wide adoption and commercialisation of renewable energy technologies would involve the design, development and implementation of appropriate policies, strategies and interventions addressing the fiscal, financial, regulatory, market, technical and information barriers to RE development and utilisation. The project has a regional approach to improve the policy-making abilities of the small island nations.

Objectives

The adoption and commercialisation of feasible and applicable renewable energy technologies as part of efforts to support sustainable development of PICs through the removal of barriers to widespread application of renewable energy and the reduction of implementation costs of RE initiatives is accelerated.

How it fits into the EbA concept

PIREP has basically been a project development exercise and, although formally being a MSP, is therefore not expected to result in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions or removal of barriers to renewable energy development. PIREP only involved studies of barriers, capacity development needs and strategies, consultation meetings with stakeholders and project document formulation.

Relevant Publications

Project Description