The World Bank and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), under the Ministry of Power, Government of India, recently concluded a five-day knowledge exchange programme, titled ‘South-South Knowledge Exchange Programme in Energy Efficiency’, in New Delhi. Held in collaboration with the Korea Energy Agency (KEA) and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) with support from the Korea-World Bank Partnership Facility, the programme witnessed participation of over 50 delegates from Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Maldives, Kenya, South Korea and Nepal.
The programme is the second in a series of knowledge exchange programmes on energy held by The World Bank this year, and aims to provide international energy-efficiency practitioners a common platform for sharing best practices and discussing implementation models and solutions for enabling energy-efficiency adoption in Asia and Africa.
Addressing the gathering, Saurabh Kumar, MD, EESL, said, “Platforms such as this are extremely important for building on global best practices, and for ensuring that policy enables an environment that translates the practice of energy-efficiency into tangible benefits for the world at large.”
The programme consisted of seven sessions on: energy-efficiency policies in different countries; industrial energy-efficiency & incentive mechanisms; innovative energy-efficiency financing models and ESCO market development; new-age smart grid solutions and utility-based Demand Side Management Programmes; programmes for energy efficiency in buildings; and, institutional frameworks and initiatives for national energy-efficiency programmes.
Wrapping up the programme, Dr. Ashok Sarkar, senior energy specialist, The World Bank, said, “I cannot stress the importance of such knowledge exchange programmes, which have inspired projects that have transformed the energy-efficiency landscape in several countries in the past. I encourage each of the participants to think beyond the workshops, and identify and innovate application of the solutions discussed over the past week in their own countries.”