IEA Energy Training Week highlights partner countries’ key role in changing global energy map

FRANCE: The International Energy Agency opened its 2013 Energy Training Week, welcoming more than 130 participants, most of them from developing and newly industrialising countries.

The third annual meeting – an introduction to IEA knowledge and research – is particularly important as the global energy map changes and as many partner countries become more important stakeholders in the global energy landscape.

“Energy Training Week offers officials from dozens of countries – many of them becoming mainstays of energy demand – the chance to interact with IEA experts and learn firsthand about the policies we recommend to achieve a secure, sustainable energy system,” said Ulrich Benterbusch, Director of the Office of Global Energy Policy at the IEA.

This year’s training in Energy Training Week comes as the IEA holds preliminary discussions with several partner countries about potentially enhancing co-operation. Mr. Benterbusch greeted the participants, noting that they represented the largest number of countries at an IEA Energy Training Week.

Indeed, participants arrived at Energy Training Week from about 60 countries, ranging from Albania to Yemen, most of them non-member countries, as well as international organisations. Ten international observers from a mix of member and non-member countries also are taking part.

In addition to offering a general introduction to the latest in IEA best practice and research, Energy Training Week features five classes in such subjects as “Energy Essentials for Decision Makers”, “Energy Efficiency Policy and Measures” and “Energy Analysis and Modelling”. Besides lectures, each class features a site visit, such as Paris’s Autolib’ electric car-sharing programme and a geothermal plant. Practical exercises include simulated responses to energy supply disruptions and practice implementation of regionally defined versions of the IEA 25 Energy Efficiency Policy Recommendations.