30 May 2013: The fifth meeting of pilot countries participating in the Scaling up Renewable Energy Program (SREP) brought together over 50 participants from pilot countries, countries on the SREP pilot reserve list, multilateral development banks (MDBs) and the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) Administrative Unit. Participants heard updates from pilot and reserve countries on investment plans, and exchanged lessons on enabling environments for investing in renewable energies.

The meeting was held in Bandos Island, Maldives, from 28-30 May 2013. On Tuesday, 28 May, after an official welcome by the Government of Maldives, participants: heard updates from pilot and reserve countries on new developments of investments plans, and exchanged lessons on SREP planning, project preparation and implementation; discussed the SREP “pipeline” monitoring and project delivery; and heard about the proposed competitive allocation of funds to promote innovative approaches to engage the private sector. CIF Administrative Unit presented on the criteria and procedures for the selection of the SREP Sub-Committee members.

On Wednesday, 29 May, country representatives worked on fine-tuning indicators that assess enabling environments for investing in renewable technologies, following presentations by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank on the potential indicators. In the afternoon, participants completed diagnostic worksheets on their country’s enabling environment for renewable energy investments. After a first round of in-country discussions, countries then shared these experiences among each other in a roundtable discussion. CIF Administrative Unit presented on the SREP Results Framework regarding monitoring and reporting, after which the World Bank presented an overview of ways to define and measure access to renewable energy. During a roundtable session, participants discussed ways of assessing the access impacts of generation and transmission projects, working collaboratively through a case study based on a fictional country.

On Thursday morning, 30 May, participants attended a joint energy and technical working group learning event on SREP, and Kenya, Nepal and Maldives highlighted specific challenges and key lessons in implementing rural energy projects. Participants discussed their countries’ best practices, challenges and developing country-specific enabling environments. The African Development Bank (AfDB) moderated discussions of successful practices, the unique challenges of rural poverty, and rural functional markets. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) moderated a panel discussion on the role of social enterprise and the provision of energy services in rural areas. Panelists from Kenya and India shared their experiences in establishing renewable energy systems in remote areas. Participants discussed social enterprise work in the country context to address challenges in the rural sector, and how these can improve enabling conditions and develop markets. In the afternoon, participants visited a solar photovoltaic (PV) installations at the Muhyiddin School on Villi-Male’ Island, located on the northern side of Male’ Atoll and observed environmental work done by Save the Beach non-governmental organization (NGO). [IISDR RS Coverage of the Fifth Meeting of Pilot Countries Participating in SREP] [Meeting Website]