MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help strengthen Pacific power utilities’ regulation to support clean energy technologies and decarbonize Pacific economies through a $600,000 technical assistance project.
ADB’s knowledge and support technical assistance will support Pacific developing member countries, which are part of the Office of Pacific Energy Regulators Alliance (OPERA), through capacity building and knowledge and skills exchange. This will enable ADB to strengthen energy sector reforms and meet the emerging requests for analytical support and knowledge sharing on regulatory matters from developing member countries.
“This ADB support will contribute to a sustainable, low-carbon, and climate resilient Pacific by developing and strengthening the regulation of the Pacific energy sector,” said ADB Energy Specialist for the Pacific Rafael Abbasov. “Regional cooperation and collaboration will be key to the success of this process and improvement of the business-enabling environment conducive to energy investment.”
The technical assistance will promote regional cooperation in creating progressive regulation of energy utilities in the Pacific by strengthening and enabling OPERA to deliver capacity-building interventions and leverage the Pacific’s limited resources to address common sector development issues and challenges. ADB’s assistance will support OPERA’s administrative and governance structures, sustainability, and mechanisms to attract and manage funding, including support from other development partners and OPERA members.
ADB, as the executing agency and administrator of the technical assistance, will engage, select, supervise, and evaluate consultants; organize workshops; and provide staff to act as resource persons in the workshop, in close coordination with The Pacific Community, which performs administration support to OPERA.
ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.
Source: Asian Development Bank