Accelerating Off-grid Renewable Energy

This report highlights key findings and recommendations of the Second International Off-grid Renewable Energy Conference (IOREC 2014), which was organized by the IRENA in partnership with off-grid and regional agencies. The conference convened over 400 key stakeholders from across the off-grid renewable energy value chain, including representatives of rural electrification agencies, ministries in charge of renewable energy development, the private sector, academia, financing institutions and international organizations. This paper also presents the results of an IRENA survey of 423 stakeholders from South and South-East Asia. According to the paper, (1) financing for off-grid development needs to be more accessible and better administered, (2) comprehensive data are needed on technology costs, socio-economic impacts, resource availability and other factors in order to guide effective decision making on scaling up off-grid deployment, and (3) capacity building efforts are needed for public agencies, financing institutions, entrepreneurs, regulators and others to promote better understanding the peculiarities of the off-grid sector.