Micro-hydro and decentralized green energy goals set in Borneo

 

Participants from diverse backgrounds and groups marking on a map the creation of partnerships through identified projects at the end of the Southeast Asia Renewable Energy People’s Assembly (SEAREPA) at the Rainforest Discovery Centre in Sandakan, Sabah. Photo by: Suzanne Chong/LEAP.

The first ever meeting of the Southeast Asia Renewable Energy People’s Assembly (SEAREPA) ended with agreement on 12 future projects, including developing community micro-hydro power and pushing for new policies on decentralized renewable energy in the region. Held in Malaysian state of Sabah on the island, the meeting brought together 130 people from some 80 different groups.

"At this first SEAREPA, we drew diverse groups. We now have to ask ourselves where we wish to invest that positive energy," Gabriel S. Wynn, the coordinator of SEAREPA said in a press release.

Born from years of grassroots work to stop a coal-fired plant on Sabah's coastline, SEAREPA is a community-oriented renewable energy organization. When local and activists won the fight against the coal plant in early 2011, they wanted to bring what they learned with the wider Southeast Asian region.

The conference ended with goals to create an online network for journalism in the region on green energy, promote regional exchanges of renewable energy systems, build a youth alliance in the Mekong Delate, and build a network against the massive dam spree in Sarawak among other initiatives.

Wynn says the meeting has created "a renewable energy ecosystem" for the region to build on.

Hosted by a broad coalition of groups—including Land Empowerment Animals People (LEAP), TONIBUNG (Sabah-based Friends of Village Development), Green Empowerment and the Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC)—a second SEAREPA is planned for next year either in Laos or the Philippines.

Source: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1104-hance-searepa-goals.html

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Renewable energy meet in Sabah to focus on workable solutions

KOTA KINABALU: Community-based solutions and cost-effective reliable models for generating renewable electricity are among the features of a regional assembly in Sabah that will do its part in creating a sustainable energy-secure future for the planet.

The five-day Southeast Asia Renewable Energy People’s Assembly (SEAREPA) that starts on Oct 29 at the Rainforest Discovery Centre in Sandakan will also explore an array of renewable energy technologies and methodologies.  SEAREPA coordinator Gabriel S. Wynn said the event aimed to build strategic partnerships between renewable energy players in Southeast Asia, South Asia and the United States, and would include non-profit organisations, for-profit enterprises and governments.

“The assembly will showcase innovative approaches of renewable energy pioneers, address issues affecting communities impacted by large-scale energy projects and galvanise investment in clean energy. It also aims to influence policy by integrating decentralised clean energy projects into development plans.  “This is an open space forum where stories, struggles and solutions surrounding power generation can be heard. The demand for energy in Southeast Asia is placing severe pressure on natural resources and is displacing rural communities as demand is largely met through coal plants and large-scale hydro dams,” Wynn said in a statement.

About 100 people are expected at SEAREPA, with confirmations from groups in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos, including strong participation from the Bornean states of Sabah, Sarawak and Kalimantan.   Joining them are representatives from India and the United States. Among them are the Renewable Energy Association of Myanmar, micro-hydro practitioners IBEKA from Indonesia, the Mekong Delta Development Research Institute of Vietnam, the Lao Institute for Renewable Energy and the Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation (AIDFI) from the Philippines.

Wynn said distributed renewable energy projects had demonstrated cost-effective, equitable, reliable and environmentally conscious models for generating power and that, at this point, it was a matter of scaling them up. — BERNAMA

Read more: Renewable energy meet in Sabah to focus on workable solutions – Latest – New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/renewable-energy-meet-in-sabah-to-focus-on-workable-solutions-1.154995##ixzz29x4Ooikj

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