Alectris participated in the 4th Workshop for the Global Solar Energy Standardisation Initiative in London, held Wednesday 12th July to Thursday 13th July 2017. The event was part of the Global Solar Energy Standardisation Initiative by IRENA – International Renewable Energy Agency and The Terrawatt Initiative, along with SolarPower Europe and the Global Solar Council.
At the 4th Workshop of the Global Solar Energy Standardisation Initiative Workshop is Máté Heisz of SolarPower Europe (left) and Vassilis Papaeconomou, Alectris (right).
Vassilis Papaeconomou, managing director of Alectris and SolarPower Europe O&M task force leader participated in the working stream related to solar PV operations, maintenance and asset management standardization efforts. SolarPower Europe and its O&M task force will lead and contribute to the development of an O&M template contract under the Global Solar Energy Standardisation Initiative of the Terrawatt Initiative and IRENA.
International law firm, Bird & Bird LLP, has a key role in the Global Solar Energy Standardisation Initiative, jointly leading the Operation and Maintenance working group together with SolarPower Europe and drafting the template contract. The firm attended the workshop with lawyers from their Energy and Utilities sector group.
The Global Solar Energy Standardisation Initiative was announced in June 2016 to spur global solar development by standardising contracts to streamline the development and finance of solar projects.
From the June 2016 announcement:
Country commitments submitted under the Paris Agreement entail roughly USD 1.2 trillion in solar energy investment by 2030. To reach this target, governments must implement efficient regulatory schemes that enable massive development of solar projects – with minimal risk – and allow private investors to enter the market at scale. There is also a need to reduce transaction costs so solar power can penetrate more markets across the globe.
“High transaction costs for some solar projects are due, in large part, to the complexity of the contractual documents supporting the projects,” said Henning Wuester, Director of IRENA’s Knowledge, Policy and Finance Centre. “Simplifying the negotiation of these contractual documents will help reduce transaction costs, and allow investment in solar PV to advance more rapidly in more markets worldwide. That is what this initiative hopes to achieve.”
“This initiative aims to create a common industry language across all the assets, contracts or markets that are needed to develop renewable energy projects,” added Jean-Pascal Pham-Ba, Secretary General of the Terrawatt Initiative. “This will help quickly increase investment to the levels required to achieve global sustainable development and climate goals.”
