This podcast was created as a part of the FSR’s Lights on Women initiative in joint partnership with Inter-American Development Bank under the Lights on Women LAC Edition series.

The Caribbean region has a growing renewable energy sector that is adding close to half a million jobs and skills globally each year. At the same time the prices of renewable sources such as wind and solar are dropping, as are technologies like batteries, and governments see a golden opportunity here.

In this podcast, Dr Malaika Masson is a Senior Regional Energy Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). discuss these opportunities and challenges ahead for the Caribbean region in our latest podcast.

Dr Malaika Masso Bio
She brings 15 years of experience bridging governance and institutional policy with transformative investments in the energy sector. She currently manages the IDB energy portfolios for Jamaica and Bahamas, focusing on integrated resource planning, investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency and alternative fuels for transport. Prior to joining the IDB, Malaika worked for 9 years on public private partnerships and extractive industry governance within the UK Government, Chatham House, and Shell Group and served on public boards. Malaika received a Ph.D. in 2003 in Management Studies from Cambridge Judge Business School, Cambridge University.

In this episode, Violeta Mihalache, Director of Urban Survey Timisoara, joins us for a discussion on the rationale behind- and challenges towards a common European framework for sustainable urban mobility indicators (SUMI). We discuss a number of topical issues on the urban mobility agenda: from sustainable urban mobility planning, to indicators and data gathering, funding and financing issues, and not the least, the interrelation between SUMI and the European Green Deal and Climate Law objectives.

In this episode, Marylin Bastin, Head of Aviation Sustainability at EUROCONTROL joins us for a discussion on the European Green Deal and its implications for the aviation sector. We discuss critical issues on the European aviation agenda, including barriers to route optimisation and how the implementation of the Single European Sky can support the reduction in aviation emissions. Furthermore, we touch upon the measures that airports can implement to mitigate both air- and noise-pollution stemming from airplanes and airport operations. Not least, we discuss the future of aviation in the post-Covid-19 period: Can climate-resilient growth be achieved? Could Covid-19 be transformed into an opportunity for a more sustainable and resilient European aviation?

In this episode, Piia Karjalainen, Secretary General of the Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) Alliance joins us for a discussion on the role of MaaS in supporting the advancement of the European Green Deal agenda. We discuss issues critical to enabling the development of MaaS, including data sharing, multimodal ticketing and payment systems, as well as the role of the insurance sector in adapting to the needs of multimodality, while also serving the needs of the service providers. Not least, we discuss the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic and the social distancing regulations implemented to curb its spread. Is the pandemic a threat or can it be turned into an opportunity for MaaS?

Wind power industry has been a great success in Brazil, the installed capacity of wind power has increased from less than 1 GW in 2010 to more than 15 GW in 2019 in more than 600 wind farms, accounting for more than 9% of the Brazilian electricity matrix, with an 80% nationalized production chain. Today, wind Energy is the second largest source of electric energy in Brazil. In this podcast we talk with Elbia Gannoum, who as ABEEólica´s CEO has been active in strengthening the sustainable growth of wind energy in Brazil.

Elbia Gannoum has been the CEO of ABEEÓLICA, the Brazilian Wind Energy Associatio, since September 2011. She was a Member of the Board of CCEE, the Electrical Energy Chamber of Commerce from June 2006 to April 2011. She was a Chief Economist to the Ministry of Mines and Energy (2003-2006, Coordinator of the Political Institute of the Ministry of Finance (2002-2003), Advisor of Economic Affairs to the Ministry of Mines and Energy (2001), Advisor to ANEEL (2001-2001), and Professor of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (1998-2000).

This podcast was created as a part of the FSR’s Lights on Women initiative in joint partnership with Inter-American Development Bank under the Lights on Women LAC Edition series. Learn more about the Lights on Women LAC Edition here: medium.com/lights-on-women/lig…dition-2a0211b1c456

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The Andean Electric Interconnexion System Initiative (SINEA by its acronym in Spanish) was created in 2011 by Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Bolivia (as an observer country) with the goal of advancing the integration of their electric systems. SINEA´s coordination rotates annually in July, this year Chile has the task of moving the path of electricity integration forward in the region. According to Paula Estevez, Energy Integration is a priority for Chile, as “Interconnected systems are more robust, resilient, and provide greater security in energy emergencies, and also they enable a higher penetration of variable renewable energies as solar and wind because they give greater flexibility to the systems”.

Listen to the podcast in Spanish here: http://bit.ly/2LnyWuI

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Colombia continues reforming its electric sector to improve and expand service, reduce vulnerability to climate change and diversify the energy matrix by incorporating more non-conventional renewable sources (including solar, wind and biogas). According to Alexandra Planas – Senior Energy Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank – “the use of Non-conventional sources of renewable energy has been growing steadily in the last decade, but still only represents one percent of the total energy matrix in Colombia”, therefore the reforms are necessary to secure the energy transition in the country and to increase the share of Non-conventional energy to 15-18% by 2031.
This podcast was created as a part of the FSR’s Lights on Women initiative in joint partnership with Inter-American Development Bank under the Lights on Women LAC Edition series. Learn more about the Lights on Women LAC Edition here: https://medium.com/lights-on-women/lights-on-women-the-latin-american-and-caribbean-edition-2a0211b1c456

Subscribe for updates and opportunities from Lights on Women! http://bit.ly/2Sk4diT

Interested in learning more about the Clean Energy Package? Check out our online course: http://bit.ly/CEP_online_course

The second day of FSR Global Forum coincided with the day when the new Electricity market Regulation and Electricity market Directive as well as of the Regulations on Risk Preparedness and on ACER were adopted by the European Parliament. This marks the finalisation of the Clean Energy Package negotiations.

Dr. Annegret Groebel shares with us her insights on the CEP role in enhancing the functioning of the internal electricity market and reaching climate goals, specifically on the role of regional coordination centres (RCCs); the establishment of the EU DSO entity and its tasks; the updated adoption process for network codes and guidelines.

In this podcast, Jessica Dabrowski (FSR) and Agnes da Costa (Director, Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy) discuss Brazil’s long history of renewable energy development. Agnes provides in-depth insight on the current status of Brazil’s renewable energy mix, developments in their transport sector and provides key lessons for other countries to best address challenges of the energy transition and unlock their further growth of renewable energy.

The podcast also briefly turns to the Sim, elas existem, or Yes, they exist initiative which has started as a grassroots movement by Agnes and her colleague Renata Beckert Isfer. The initative recently had the spotlight after publishing a list of 163 qualified women and handing it over to the transition team of the new government to give them the chance to appoint women to leadership positions.

*Correction Notice: 6:50 speaker mistakenly states the transport sector is leading instead of lagging behind.

In the framework of the 7th World Forum on Energy Regulation (WFER), ICER Women in Energy and FSR teamed up to ‘give a voice’ to women professionals actively contributing to the event.

In this podcast, Swetha Bhagwat (FSR) interviews Ifey Ikeonu, a successful energy policy and regulation consultant with over 25 years of experience. Ms Ikeonu discusses her role in various power sector reform programmes, highlighting the main pioneering efforts put in place to establish the regulatory framework for the electricity market of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Prior to her current position, she helped found the Nigerian Energy Regulatory Commission and was one of the first commissioners for ECOWAS. The ECOWAS region is low on access to energy but it is high on innovation and motivation. In this podcast Ifey discusses her career path and explains the importance of innovation and regulatory framework in the energy sector in order to attract investment to help build the sector.

Later in the podcast she goes on to explain the large gender gaps that she has noticed in the energy sector. In a male-dominated sector, she acknowledges that her presence and leadership is unique. She notes that there are drastic gender imbalances in energy access and energy leadership specifically in Africa. Ifey actively empowers and mentors women and hopes to see more women leaders in the energy sector.

She discusses two very different sides of the coin when it comes to gender and energy. On one side, years of working in the sector have opened her eyes to the massive lack of women’s representation and participation in the sector, especially when it comes to male dominated executive positions. On the other side, she stresses that the lack of energy access disproportionally effects nearly every aspect of women’s lives — from meeting their basic needs, like having electricity for food refrigeration and light for reading, to increasing their participation in the workforce and public life of their communities.

Check out more podcasts like this one and learn more about the Lights on Women Initiative here: https://bit.ly/31bDjPY

In the framework of the 7th World Forum on Energy Regulation (WFER), ICER Women in Energy and FSR teamed up to ‘give a voice’ to women professionals actively contributing to the event.

Diane X. Burman serves as a Commissioner of the New York State Public Service Commission, which regulates the state’s electric, gas, steam, telecommunications, and water utilities. The Commission focuses on the provision of safe, reliable and affordable services across all sectors, working with both industry and consumers to ensure that regulations are effective, flexible and fluid to adapt to the changes and challenges faced by those sectors. In this podcast, Diane and Swetha discuss the ways women from different professional, economic and cultural backgrounds find innovative ways to work towards greater access to energy. According to Diane, women working in energy, although still underrepresented, are changing the energy sector with their versatility, wealth of diverse knowledge and solution-driven mindsets. She explains that the collaborative approach which women bring to the table is key to the energy transition, and that they must engage in every level of the workforce to ensure its success. Diane uses her role to make sure that women’s voices and inputs are heard and implemented so that the sector becomes increasingly inclusive and open to new, diverse perspectives.

Check out more podcasts like this one and learn more about the Lights on Women Initiative here: medium.com/lights-on-women/

In the framework of the 7th World Forum on Energy Regulation (WFER), ICER Women in Energy and FSR teamed up to ‘give a voice’ to women professionals actively contributing to the event.

Annegret Groebel is Vice-President at CEER and Head of the International Relations Department at BNetzA, Germany’s multisector regulatory authority.

In this podcast, she sheds light on BNetzA’s approach and discusses the main similarities and differences when it comes to a ‘multisector regulation’. Network industries under the supervision of BNetzA share similar cost structures and face the problem of recovering sunk costs. The challenge for regulators is then to assess those costs and ensure an adequate structure and level of the network tariff paid by network users.

However, regulators like BNetzA play a role also in ensuring the integrity and transparency of the wholesale markets, as mandated in the EU by REMIT.

As a concluding remark, Ms Groebel stresses the importance of looking at the regulatory experience of other countries and other sectors. Knowledge sharing, eagerness to learn and cooperation are essential to avoid mistakes and improve the regulation of the industries under the oversight of NRAs.

Check out more podcasts like this one and learn more about the Lights on Women Initiative here: medium.com/lights-on-women/