Keeping the lights on: sustaining solar systems beyond the technology

Join us at the Australian Pavilion for this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Türkiye, for Keeping the lights on, a session on what makes off-grid renewable energy endure long after installation.

Installing solar is the easy part. Keeping it running for years, in remote communities prone to cyclones and fuel crises, is the real test. This session looks beyond the technology to what makes clean energy last: quality installation, reliable maintenance, local governance and financing that pays for upkeep over time. You’ll hear how communities across the Pacific keep the power on and take away a practical model for delivering energy that lasts where it’s needed most.

Launched at COP29 by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, the Hon Chris Bowen MP, REnew Pacific is the Australian Government’s $75 million investment delivering off-grid renewable energy to some of the Pacific and Timor-Leste’s most remote communities. Two years on, and building on earlier pilots, the program is changing how essential services are powered and sustained across the region.

In this session, you’ll hear from Australian and Pacific Government leaders, alongside REnew Pacific’s Team Leader and project delivery partners from communities across the region. Speakers will be confirmed closer to the event.

Together they’ll share how locally led partnerships keep clean energy running long after installation through quality, maintenance, local ownership and financing models that fund upkeep over time.

REnew Pacific is made possible through the Pacific Climate Infrastructure Financing Partnership (PCIFP), a $350 million initiative delivered by the Australian Government’s Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP) and implemented by Palladium.

The event will be livestreamed via the DCCEEW YouTube channel, with the link to be shared following the event.

We hope you can join us, online or in person, at the COP31 Australian Pavilion at 9:00am on Wednesday 11 November!