OPEC Fund Partners with IRENA
The OPEC Fund for International Development has signed an agreement with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to join the Energy Transition Accelerator Financing (ETAF) platform.
The platform is a global initiative that seeks to mobilise funds for renewable energy investments. The OPEC Fund plans to support the platform with up to USD 250 million financing until 2030 to finance renewable energy solutions in its partner countries.
The ETAF platform, established by IRENA and backed by the United Arab Emirates, initially aimed to mobilise at least USD one billion of capital by 2030. Now, with the commitment from the OPEC Fund and contributions from all other existing ETAF partners, this initial target has been surpassed, with total commitments amounting to USD 1.15 billion.
OPEC Fund members are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela, Kuwait, Nigeria, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Algeria, Indonesia, Ecuador and Gabon. Director-General Abdulhamid Alkhalifa said: “This collaboration marks an important milestone in our joint efforts to tackle the twin challenges of climate change and energy poverty thanks to this innovative platform. It will help to progress an inclusive and just energy transition that leaves no one behind with investments, new technologies and knowledge sharing."
IRENA is the lead intergovernmental agency for the global energy transformation. It has 168 members (167 States and the European Union) and 16 additional countries in the accession process.Within the ETAF structure, IRENA acts as the Secretariat and manages the ETAF platform from project sourcing to financial close. As part of its responsibilities, it undertakes outreach activities, identifying prospective projects and partners.
Recent ETAF projects include the recent capital commitment from Masdar and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank for three solar projects in Uzbekistan. With a combined capacity of about 900MW, they will be the region’s largest solar development program.