Italy milestones
Kevin Sara Presents at the United Nation’s ‘Sustainable Energy for All’ Forum
Kevin Sara presented the topic of solar energy with storage as a scalable and sustainable source of power for Sub-Saharan Africa (and elsewhere) at the United Nations ‘Sustainable Energy for All’ forum later on Thursday 5th of June 2014.
In his presentation ‘Transformative Solutions at Scale’ Kevin shows that solar power with storage is technologically feasible and economically viable today and is one of the best ways to 1) provide dispatchable power to countries with weak grid infrastructure and growing electricity demand and 2) to promote job creation and socio-economic benefits in these countries. However to make this happen it requires the large financing institutions to help fund projects from an early stage and it needs Government support to open markets for local generation and exports/imports. If we are able to get this financial and political support then it will allow local and international firms to start executing projects on the ground.
The Sustainable Energy for all Forum was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 4-6 June 2014. In June 2014, two years will have passed since world leaders gathered at Rio+20 and stated that “we are all determined to act to make sustainable energy for all a reality and, through this, help to eradicate poverty and lead to sustainable development and global prosperity.” The first annual Sustainable Energy for All Forum marked this milestone, as well as officially launched the United Nations Decade of Sustainable Energy for All 2014-2024, as declared by the UN General Assembly. The Forum also kick-started a global campaign with focus on Energy and Women’s Health, built momentum towards the UN Climate Summit in September, and contributed to the ongoing discussions on Energy and the Sustainable Development Goals for the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
The Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative is helping to realize the vision agreed at Rio+20 by catalyzing major new investments, facilitating new public-private partnerships, and mobilizing bold commitments and actions that will have a transformative impact towards the achievement of three targets by 2030:
- Ensuring universal access to modern energy services;
- Doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency; and
- Doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.