- Worldwide, solar has an important part to play in preventing climate breakdown and reducing the frequency of extreme weather events.
- But the regions most vulnerable to these conditions face their own challenges in building resilient energy systems.
- The right approach to renewable energy development can reap multiple benefits in these regions, as pv magazine heard when it spoke to Kamal Kishore, Special Representative for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
How do you see the role for renewable energy in building resilience against disasters in small island developing states (SIDS) and other vulnerable regions?
Renewables are of course extremely important for small island developing states. Their share of emissions is almost negligible, so the transition to renewables doesn’t necessarily have a huge global impact in terms of reduction in emissions. But their move to renewables is an important contribution, even if small, and we must recognize that.
There are three other benefits I can see by making that transition to renewables. The first is that wind and solar are highly modularized, you produce energy locally and most of the time you either consume onsite or contribute to the local grid. That in itself is of great importance for remote geographies like SIDS, it makes them less dependent on long supply chains for fuels.
The second aspect is that when disruptions do happen as a result of extreme weather events or other disasters, it is much easier to quickly restore power if you are dependent on renewables, where the generation, storage and consumption are happening locally. The third is that renewable energy is consistently getting cheaper. If you look at solar, the prices have come down very sharply in some countries in the last 15 years or so and it is very attractive from a cost perspective.
Can you say a little more about why it is faster to repair a system based on renewables after a disaster?
It comes down to the fact that your system is not based on a large power plant or a global supply of fuel.
You can prepare much better for recovery if your power sources are dependent on renewables. You can store spare solar panels and parts for wind turbines, and these assets by themselves can be made quite resilient to physical risks imposed by extreme weather events. Solar systems can be made to be collapsible, or unscrewed and taken apart when there is a hurricane or cyclone approaching. Wind as well can be built to withstand extreme conditions. Overall, you can foster far greater resilience and independence.
Beyond the energy supply itself, do you see other areas where renewable energy can contribute to improved resilience in case of extreme weather or other disasters?
Absolutely. It can create employment for a large number of people because it is small scale, it’s distributed. You need people for installation, for maintenance, for repairs.
For critical facilities such as hospitals, if they are dependent on their own energy supply from a renewable energy source, they can ensure their own resilience and continued power supply in times of disaster.
One key challenge to building this kind of infrastructure in SIDS and other developing countries is accessing finance to cover the upfront cost. Do you see solutions for this?
This is really the main challenge. And we have two ways of addressing it. In some regions we can bring about greater integration, so that each individual small country can pursue energy transition objectives as part of a group, potentially achieving economies of scale and making projects more cost effective.
I always say that access to finance is not a matter of generosity, but of responsibility. Anything that we can do to facilitate their access to finance for their resilience goals, we must do. We owe it to these countries.
When it comes to aggregating that demand and bringing different nations together, do you see a specific role for the UN in creating those groups?
Other UN agencies that are more on the ground than ours, such as the UN Development Program, UN Office for Project Services, UN Industrial Development Organization, and many others, obviously have a role in fostering that kind of effort.
As far as UNDRR is concerned, we advocate for transition from risk to resilience, not just within the UN system but also with international financial institutions, regional development banks, the private sector and the governments themselves. The governments have to create a conducive regulatory environment to make this happen. We advocate and work very closely with all of these.
How do you see this responsibility for the developed world taking shape? Should it be the private sector offering more reasonable terms, or increased involvement of development banks and these types of organization?
It has to be a whole suite of responses. It is the private sector looking at how they can create viable businesses and make something out of this energy transition. It’s also the multilateral development banks, it’s also bilateral support. It has to be a whole range of things. If we work together, it can really be done.
Are there any other challenges that you see in the way of energy transition for developing regions and those vulnerable to disasters?
Besides the issue of finance, it is also important that we focus on local capacities in the countries to lead and manage these transitions. It requires a lot of local capacity, not just technical capacity in terms of engineering knowledge, but also project management, long-term financial management, and other areas – how do you set tariffs, how do you create systems that work for businesses and for homeowners. All of that requires a lot of expertise. It is important that we work hand in hand with SIDS in building those capacities wherever they are lacking.
When it comes to resilience and disaster risk reduction, do you have a particular message for the renewable energy industry?
As we make the transition from conventional sources of energy to renewables it is important that we think carefully about their physical disaster and climate resilience as well.
We don’t want a situation where we’ve installed a lot of solar panels, but those get blown away by a hurricane or flooded because they were located without adequate understanding of the risk.
These things need to be resilient. They are contributing to wider resilience, but they must be resilient themselves. The technical capacity is there, it just requires us to be a lot more deliberate and careful about it.
In so many ways SIDS are really showing the way. They are bearing the brunt of the problem, but they have shown how, for example, early warning systems can be made to work. So we are not just looking to create opportunities to support, but we are also looking to learn from them.
This article was originally published in pv magazine and is republished with permission.
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