The Pan-Arab Clean Energy Initiative (PACE) – one of the initiatives included in the Roadmap of Actions for the implementation of the Pan-Arab Sustainable Energy Strategy 2014-2030 – endorsed by the 4th Arab Economic and Social Development Summit in Beirut in January 2019 (https://irena.org/mena/Pan-Arab-Clean-Energy-Initiative) is a regional initiative that aims to promote the integration of greater shares of renewables into power systems of the Arab region. IRENA has engaged with the League of Arab States (LAS), RCREEE and other key regional partners in the design and development of the PACE initiative.

Following this extensive consultative process, the three institutions set out to establish the current gaps preventing larger scale deployment of renewables in the region and input an Action Plan to implement the PACE initiative in IRENA’s Work Programme and within this framework, are organising this regional capacity building activity on the use of Open Solar Contracts (OSC).

As the participating countries are seeking to implement fast-track power sector development plans with an emphasis on utility scale wind and solar projects, IRENA has been requested to support this plan by offering capacity building regarding the design of power purchase agreements (PPAs) and identify risk mitigation tools.

As part of the IRENA programme (together with Jean-Pascal Pham-Ba of Scale Sustainable Transitions) Chana delivered a two-day workshop attended by governmental delegates from Saudi Arabia, Libya, Algeria, Sudan, Jordan, Oman, Somalia, Syria, Egypt, Qatar, Algeria and Djibouti.

The overarching objective of the workshop was to empower the governmental delegates with the practical skills and knowledge to clearly identify and mitigate contractual risks and to defend the contractual position of governments in the procurement of affordable solar energy, all with a bankable perspective.