The governments of Tuvalu, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands established international partnership opportunities with the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) – a global public-private partnership that is facilitating the development of ‘market conditions’ for the accelerated uptake of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies – that will enable increased development of renewable energy sources and the possibility of sharing experiences with other partner countries.

South East Asia and Pacific REEEP Regional Director Eva Oberender said that the new official partnerships could “Also be seen as a call to other governments to benefit from the advantages of becoming a partner of an independent, flexible and fast-acting organisation such as REEEP.”

As a region particularly vulnerable to atmospheric conditions, the Pacific Islands face numerous and substantial challenges due to the effects of climate change, which would jeopardise the capacity of the island environments to sustain their inhabitants.

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland in December 2008, Tuvalu Prime Minister Honourable Apisai Ielemia said “Recent scientific evidence on ice sheet melting and ocean acidification suggests that we must act more rapidly before it is too late for countries like Tuvalu. Given our extreme vulnerability as a small low-lying atoll country, we must not sink from the problems caused by the big and industrialised countries.”

At the Pacific Energy Ministerial Meeting (PEMM), substantial attention in presentations and discussion were given to renewables, indicating a focus shift for the Pacific Islands, all currently heavily dependent on fossil fuels and therefore susceptible to fluctuating oil prices. Ms Oberender said “Officially becoming a Partner of REEEP underlines this mindset and cements an already strong relationship.”

Fourteen Pacific Energy Ministers, energy officials and observers – such as REEEP and the World Bank – attended the PEMM, some of the key focus areas of which included:

* Implementation of National Energy policies; * Pacific Petroleum Project and National Petroleum Import policies; * Renewable Energy; * Energy Efficiency; and * Energy Conservation.

During the conference, REEEP organised a well-attended event entitled ‘Successful Microfinance Models for Clean Energy Projects in the Pacific’. The discussion panel included solar entrepreneurs from Kiribati and the Solomon Islands, who talked about ways of creating viable rural electrification through a microcredit facility.

Event participants examined the potential of replicating and scaling up two existing, operational REEEP Pacific Island projects:

* Pacific Micro Energy Service Companies in the Solomon Islands and Kiribati, implemented by SOPAC; and * Renewable Energy Kerosene Replacement Project in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, implemented by Barefoot Power.