Capacity Building for Open Solar Contracts in Arab Countries

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, 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), the regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) and other key regional partners in the design and development of the PACE initiative and its attached Action Plan.

IRENA and Terrawatt Initiative (TWI) teamed up on the OSC initiative since 2017 to support the rapid and widespread scale-up of solar energy. OSC provides freely available standardised contract documentation designed to streamline project development and finance processes for solar PV projects. The model agreement templates that comprise OSC are products of a rigorous and collective process involving key market-leading energy stakeholders. Backed by several top-tier law firms, the initiative aims to decrease transaction costs, shorten project development timelines and facilitate balanced risk allocation. To implement this project, Terrawatt Initiative and IRENA collaborated with more than 30 leading development banks, law firms and industry associations and in particular, the model PPA and Implementation Agreements are two examples of "tools" that are publicly available.

In this regard, and within the framework of the PACE Initiative, IRENA, in partnership with its partners, has organised a two day capacity building workshop, on 9-10 of November 2021, to empower the participants with the practical skills and confidence to utilise the OSC and to have a strong position and understanding when using the OSC in the procurement of affordable solar power. At the completion of the workshop the attendees should have the practical skills and knowledge to clearly identify and mitigate contractual risks and to defend the contractual position of their respective Governments in the procurement of affordable solar energy and to prepare an OSC set of Implementation Agreement and PPA for their countries.

The workshop included a combination of informative presentations, case study analyses, interactive exercises and also provided participants the opportunity to participate in interactive discussions with the audience.