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Event Background
EVENT
Workshop on Innovations in Solar Energy
Workshop Series on Innovations in Renewable Energy Technology and Connectivity
Workshop on Innovations in Solar Energy
14 May

2025

TIME: 14 May 2025, 18:00 – 20:00 (GMT+8)

LOCATION: Virtual

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DESCRIPTION

Workshop Series

Co-organized by the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF), Saudi Arabia Ministry of Finance, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and Asian Development Bank (ADB), this workshop series will spotlight standards and practical lessons for advancing innovations in renewable energy technology and connectivity infrastructure in developing countries. It will feature case studies and interactive discussions among governments, technology companies, International Financial Institutions, and developing country financiers, with a focus on Asia and Africa.

Certificate of Participation

Those who attend at least two out of three workshops in the series will receive a certificate of participation.

Workshop Two: Innovations In Solar Energy

This session will discuss innovative solar energy technologies (e.g., new photovoltaic materials such as perovskite solar cells, concentrating solar thermal power materials, and minigrids) and institutional mechanisms to support these innovations.

AGENDA
Speakers
Michael Gabisch
Michael Gabisch
Principal Investment Specialist and Unit Head, Private Sector Infrastructure Finance for the Pacific, Asian Development Bank
<p>Michael Gabisch is a Principal Investment Specialist at the Asian Development Bank. He also currently serves as the Unit Head for the Pacific in the private sector operations department for infrastructure finance.&nbsp;</p> <p>Since joining ADB in 2017, he has led two pioneering climate financing projects in Viet Nam. In 2019, he led a $116 million green loan project to develop 144-megawatt wind farms in Viet Nam, which is ADB’s first financing of a wind power project in the country. In 2019, ADB signed a $37 million loan agreement to finance the installation of a 47.5-megawatt peak floating photovoltaic (PV) solar power facility on the manmade reservoir of an existing 175-megawatt hydropower plant. The project marks the first large-scale installation of floating solar PV panels in Viet Nam and the largest installation in Southeast Asia.</p> <p>Prior to joining ADB, Michael Gabisch served as an Investment Officer at the African Development Bank from 2008 to 2014 where he closed a 360-megawatt wind project in Kenya, as well as other infrastructure financing deals. He currently resides in Papua New Guinea.</p>
Dr. Gurleen Kaur
Dr. Gurleen Kaur
Technology and Solar Specialist, International Solar Alliance
<p>Dr. Gurleen Kaur is a Technology and Solar Specialist at the International Solar Alliance, a coalition of over a hundred countries devoted to easing solar deployment globally. Dr. Kaur's PhD from the National University of Singapore in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore paved the way for impactful research. Her doctoral research, focused on developing low-cost and high-efficiency architectures for solar cells using contact passivation, has a significant global reach.</p> <p>With over a decade of experience in R&amp;D and teaching, she has made specific contributions to the development and characterization of thin films, silicon solar cells manufacturing, module reliability, and emerging PV technologies like agrovoltaics and floating PV.</p> <p>For her enterprise, Dr. Kaur has been recognized on numerous occasions. She was named the Female Science Talent 2021, Future Energy Leader 2019 (eleventh in the world) by BP plc, BP Scholar 2019, One Young World Ambassador 2019, Youngest International Energy Agency Delegate 2017, Emerging Young Leader in Asia 2015, and Young India Fellow 2015. She is&nbsp;also one of the youngest individuals elected (and nominated) to the&nbsp;<strong>Board of the International Solar Energy Society</strong>&nbsp;(ISES).</p> <p>Through her professional endeavors, she is dedicated to making affordable and clean energy solutions accessible to every household, thereby creating impactful solutions for people and the planet.</p>
Alagi Basiru Gaye
Alagi Basiru Gaye
Lead Global Energy Specialist， Islamic Development Bank
<p>Alagi Basiru Gaye is the Lead Global Energy Specialist at the Islamic Development Bank. Prior to this role, he served as Operations Team Leader at the Bank’s Regional Office in Abuja, where he oversaw the preparation and implementation of sovereign infrastructure projects in Cameroon and Nigeria.</p> <p>Before joining the Islamic Development Bank, Mr. Gaye worked as an Energy Policy, Regulation, and Strategy Consultant, delivering assignments funded by the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the European Union, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation across The Gambia, Sierra Leone, and the COMESA region.</p> <p>Earlier in his career, he served as a Council Member (Commissioner) at the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA) and as Director General of the Gambia Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA). In both institutions, he played a key role in establishing and operationalizing core regulatory frameworks that laid the foundation for market development and institutional growth.</p>
Christophe De Gouvello
Christophe De Gouvello
Senior Energy and Climate Change Specialist, ESMAP, World Bank
<p>Christophe is a Senior Energy and Climate Change Specialist at ESMAP, a global World Bank unit that finances studies and technical assistance activities related to the energy sector and decarbonization in all developing countries. At ESMAP, he coordinates different workstreams, in particular the one related to “Innovative Solar.”</p> <p>Previously, he coordinated the World Bank Energy and Climate Teams in Beijing and Brazil and also worked in other regions, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, on more than 40 World Bank energy and climate projects. These covered a broad spectrum of topics including rural access, large-scale and decentralized renewables, energy efficiency, battery storage, smart grids, energy pricing, power sector reforms, utility management, carbon pricing, carbon markets, and net-zero carbon strategies.</p> <p>Before joining the World Bank, he was a Senior Researcher at CIRED, a public research center on Energy and Environment Economics &nbsp;in France. Among other relevant reports for this audience, he coordinated the “From the Sun to the Roof to the Grid” report series and led the World Bank’s report “China: 40-year Experience in Renewable Energy Development: Policies, Achievement, Lessons learned.”</p> <p>He holds an engineering degree, and a PhD in Energy and Development Economics.</p>
Ede Ijjasz
Ede Ijjasz
Senior Advisor to the CEO, MCDF
<p>Ede Ijjasz is currently Senior Advisor to the CEO of the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance, MCDF. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of several organizations and foundations, including the Global Reporting Initiative, GRI, one of the first organizations that developed ESG standards, currently used by more than 10,000 organizations in over 100 countries.</p> <p>Mr. Ijjasz had a long career at the World Bank, where he was part of the senior leadership responsible for the sustainable development, infrastructure, and climate change portfolios. He has worked in more than 90 developing and emerging economies in all regions of the world – from fragile and conflict-affected countries to high-middle-income countries. Mr. Ijjasz was responsible for about $80B of investments in and close to 800 policy reports during his World Bank career. He oversaw the implementation of the social standards of the World Bank’s ESG framework in the entire World Bank portfolio.</p> <p>Mr. Ijjasz has a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has been a lecturer at Tsinghua, Johns Hopkins, and Georgetown universities</p>
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AUDIENCE
  • Officials from ministries of energy, industry, technology, research, planning, and finance in developing countries
  • Staff from financiers in developing countries working in the energy sector
  • Staff of renewable energy technology companies and power and grid utilities
  • Staff from International Financial Institutions and development partners
  • Other interested stakeholders
FORMAT

The Workshop Series will be held virtually. Speaker presentations, case studies, and discussions will be conducted in English.

Participants will engage through small group discussions, quick-answer apps, and question-and-answer sessions at the end of each panel discussion.

Video recordings of select workshop content will be uploaded on the MCDF website. Complete workshop video recordings and featured presentations will be made available on MCDF’s digital platform, JIGSAW.

ORGANIZING PARTNERS
  • Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance
  • Saudi Arabia Ministry of Finance
  • Islamic Development Bank
  • Asian Development Bank
SERIES SCHEDULE
CONTACT

If you would like to learn more about the Workshop Series on Innovations in Renewable Energy Technology and Connectivity, please contact MCDF’s Jenny Lou Fernandez (jenny.fernandez@themcdf.org).

RELATED

Concept Note: Workshop Series on Innovations in Renewable Energy Technology and Connectivity.