09 December 2020 - Stakeholder national workshops

Decarbonisation in the Central Asian and Caspian region: a first of a series of workshops

On December 9, 2020, the PARIS REINFORCE project held its virtual workshop focusing upon the Central Asian and Caspian region. The goal for the workshop was to receive insights from regional stakeholders into the public policy context as well as a better understanding of some of the key assumptions modelling groups must make regarding the region.

To this end, a range of stakeholders were invited from national governments, NGOs, the private sector, international institutions, and academia. On the day, stakeholders were in attendance from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

The workshop began with a brief introduction from project coordinator, Assoc. Prof. Haris Doukas (National Technical University of Athens). Then, during the first session of the workshop, Mr. Rocco De Miglio (E4SMA) introduced the TIMES-CAC model that the project uses to investigate the region in more detail. The presentation particularly delved into the structure of the initial exploratory scenarios used for analysis (designed to facilitate the first round of engagement) , as well as the diverging pathways of key assumptions (e.g. the price of natural gas) under each scenario. Here, an emphasis was placed on the help that stakeholders can provide by allowing for more politically and contextually relevant policies and assumptions to define scenarios.

Additionally, an interactive dashboard was shared and demonstrated. This dashboard allows for a user-friendly visualisation of the key performance indicators relevant to the TIMES-CAC model.

Participants were then split into two breakout groups, in order to allow for more intimate discussion. The two topics for discussion were key policies and key data assumptions.

The session on key policies was chaired by Mr. Rocco De Miglio (E4SMA). Some of the main topics discussed were around water supply within the region (with respect to its integration with the energy chain), the capability to keep track of regional “strategic agreements”, as well as the deployment of renewable energy capacity with relation to targets set by national governments. Furthermore, additional regional studies and data sources were discussed.

The session on key data assumptions was chaired by Mr. Gabriele Cassetti (E4SMA). During this session, the accuracy and reliability of different data sources were discussed in relation to the regional context. Discussions focused particularly on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on relevant economic drivers, oil price long-term projections, and costs of key energy technologies (e.g. PV, carbon capture and storage, etc.).

Key outputs from the session will be used to better design realistic decarbonisation scenarios for the region. Moreover, as indicated during the workshop, additional outreach activities to attending stakeholders are planned for the coming months; in this respect, Dr. Alexandros Nikas and Mr. Konstantinos Koasidis (National Technical University of Athens) facilitated a co-creative session via an online polling platform, before Dr. Hannah Parris and Dr. Annela Anger-Kraavi (Cambridge) hinted the next steps of co-designing scenarios to follow. Modelling teams hope to learn more from stakeholders following this initial introduction into the capabilities of the PARIS REINFORCE consortium in the region.

 

Presentations:

Haris Doukas - Introduction

Rocco De Miglio - Presentation of the TIMES-CAC model and preliminary outputs

Alexandros Nikas - Co-designing research questions and modelling parameters