Republic of Palau, EarthX, GridMarket, GLISPA
The Republic of Palau launches an innovative public-private partnership to bring renewable energy and resilient infrastructure to island and coastal communities.
NEW YORK CITY, July 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Republic of Palau, EarthX, GridMarket, and the Global Island Partnership (GLISPA) are proud to announce that they have formed a new partnership during the United Nations’ High-Level Political Forum to help island and coastal communities achieve their renewable energy and resilient infrastructure goals. The “Island Resilience Partnership” is addressing the biggest challenge in the fight against climate change: time. Palau’s political leadership, GLISPA’s international network, GridMarket’s innovative technology, and EarthX’s resources are collectively accelerating the transition of small island developing states toward renewable energy and resilient infrastructure. This new partnership builds on the Island Resilience Initiative, enhancing the effort by island leaders to scale models for local implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with new resources and technologies.
As the host of the Our Ocean Conference in 2020, the Republic of Palau is making the “Island Resilience Partnership” a cornerstone of its efforts to combat the effects of climate change and improve island sustainability by providing tangible support to local, regional, and national governments.
“The voyage to a resilient and sustainable future is not one that is taken alone, but by a movement of cities, states, islands, and countries working together to shape the future we want,” said President Tommy Remengesau. “Over the next two years, the Island Resilience Partnership with GridMarket, EarthX, and GLISPA will proactively engage communities across the globe in order to accelerate the world’s transition toward a sustainable and resilient future.”
As a Leader of the Global Island Partnership, President Remengesau is committed to catalyzing sustainable solutions that support the resiliency of islands around the world. GLISPA’s collaborative approach to strengthening island communities has cultivated a community of international leaders dedicated to a shared mission of the island resilience movement.
“Our partnership has been working across islands for the past 10 years to build island resilience,” said Kate Brown, Executive Director of GLISPA. “That’s why we’re excited to scale a proven public-private partnership that not only develops national resiliency roadmaps, but implements distributed energy solutions that achieve climate mitigation and adaptation goals. Too often, islands are dismissed as small and insignificant, but this unique partnership demonstrates why islands are becoming a model for the global transition towards resilient infrastructure.”
Palau’s public-private partnership is currently transitioning its energy economy away from dependency on imported diesel and towards self-sustaining energy infrastructure – a national plan that was developed and is being implemented at no-cost to the country’s government due to the generosity of EarthX. GridMarket – which was spun out of a public-private partnership with the City of New York following Hurricane Sandy – used its predictive analytics and mapping technology to identify renewable energy and microgrid solutions for Palau’s government buildings, commercial properties, and residential homes.
“We’re honored to be the chosen vehicle for Palau’s national transformation,” said Nick Davis, CEO of GridMarket. “By diversifying generation, decentralizing its energy grid, and educating a local workforce, Palau’s new energy economy will experience sustained growth and strengthened resiliency in the face of natural disasters. This is just the beginning of Palau’s new energy future.”
After witnessing the success of the partnership in Palau, Trammell S. Crow, founder of EarthX, committed to scaling the public-private partnership in order to help those communities already being impacted by rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and natural disasters.
“We now have a proven model for quickly transforming a diesel-dependent country with a fragile energy grid into a resilient, renewable energy-producing nation,” said Trammell S. Crow. “By underwriting GridMarket to not only develop energy roadmaps for governments, but also implement their distributed energy projects, we’re able to cut through bureaucratic red-tape and quickly provide significant support to countries because it’s being provided to them for free . I’m committed to scaling our public-private partnership to coastal communities around the world because we simply don’t have time to waste.”
President Tommy Remengesau and the Island Resilience Partnership will be showcasing the progress of its partners with an exhibition and Island Resilience Pavilion at EarthX, the world’s largest environmental expo. EarthX2019 will take place April 26-28, 2019, in Dallas, Texas.
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Contact: Jillian Caramanna GridMarket Jillian.Caramanna@gridmarket.com
