What is the role of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)?

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is an intergovernmental organization that was founded in 2009. Its main mission is to promote the use of renewable energies in all countries in the world. To achieve this goal, it carries out a lot of other activities. From its origins to its missions, you will know all the usefulness of this international structure.

The creation of the International Renewable Energy Agency

The International Renewable Energy Agency was founded in January 2009 in Bonn. The project to create this organization has existed since 1990.

Since that time, some managers were already looking for alternatives to promote better energy consumption. The project was led by the director of the World Energy Council at the time, Hermann Scheer. Before its official establishment, IRENA was supported by Germany, Spain and Denmark. On January 26, 2009, it will be officially created by 75 states, including France.

Today, there are over 160 member countries and the majority of them have signed and ratified the statutes of the intergovernmental organization. This means that they take care of respect the rules put in place by IRENA on the use of renewables.

After its establishment, the Agency went through two years of preparatory sessions before an inaugural Assembly was organized. It was held in Abu Dhabi in 2011 and the venue was selected as the main headquarters of IRENA.

The missions and objectives of IRENA

All the missions assigned to the IRENA Agency concern renewable energies. According tointergovernmental organization, the world needs these less polluting energy sources, but also progress in ee.

It therefore encourages the sustainable use of all clean energy sources. So you have:

• Wind energy,
• Marine energy,
• Geothermal energy,
• Solar energy,
• Hydroelectricity,
• Bioenergies.

To ensure a effective promotion of these renewables, IRENA supports Member States in their government policies on energy transition.

To do this, it provides training, provides them with mechanisms of action, makes grants... It also finances certain research carried out in order to ensure better energy security in the world. The International Renewable Energy Agency then publishes the results in order to inform and raise public awareness.

It therefore makes national and international standards concerning renewable energies available to member countries, but also to the population. This allows everyone to have an idea of what decisions are being made on a global scale for promote energy security and low-carbon economic growth. It also supports electrical networks and facilitates technology transfers.

Still in order to achieve its objective, the intergovernmental organization has entered into collaboration with The International Energy Agency. It was formalized in November 2016. This international cooperation makes it possible to carry out numerous activities that are part of the sustainable development of renewable energies and easy access to this resource.

Recent information from IRENA on the importance of renewable energies

With the conflict in Ukraine, the price of fossil fuels (petroleum, gas...) has greatly increased. This currently puts renewable energies in a prime position since they are sold at a lower price. This concerns as well solar energy, wind energy, marine and geothermal energies... Thus, adopting these types of energy will make it possible to make real savings.

This price comparison was carried out in a study carried out by IRENA and published in July 2022. It shows that nearly 163 gigawatts of renewable energy implemented in 2021 cost less than coal, which is considered to be the cheapest fossil energy.

They will also allow governments to transform their energy and climate promises into concrete actions. In this way, they will be able to reach the zero emissions goal. According to IRENA, if they continue to be used by a large part of the world's population, the ceiling on the global warming limit may be respected within a few years.

Of all renewable energy sources, wind and solar energies are those that are produced in a relatively short time. They therefore represent the essential components to facilitate the energy transition and make fossil fuels disappear quickly.

According to the director of IRENA, Francesco La Camera, the current crisis shows that saving energy and renewable sources are the key to good global energy security.

IRENA, an agency that makes every effort to achieve its goals

With the news related to climatic conditions and renewable energy prices that have become very competitive, IRENA is more motivated than ever to achieve its objective. The director of the intergovernmental organization also declared in November 2022 that “Nobody can stop this progress”. According to him, the use of renewable energies at the expense of fossil fuels because of the war is The start of a total energy transition.

However, if we put aside the high demand for renewable energy in recent years, the energy transition does not yet really follow the projections made. The speed at which things are changing will not allow us to reach before time, The aim in terms of limiting global warming. The director of IRENA underlined this last November when he said that it would be necessary to “double the ambition between now and 2030” to get there.

True to its principle, the intergovernmental organization is already thinking of some steps to be taken to speed up the transition. Its objective is to target countries in which renewable energy production will be very easy. For example, she is already thinking about taking action in Africa, which he says is an incredible power plant.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is therefore working to promote energy transition and security in the world. To do this, it carries out international cooperations and carries out a lot of other actions. However, with the figures she publishes in her reports, she shows that these clean energies are very useful. So it would be beneficial for everyone to adopt and use them for the long term.