Media coverage
Al-Resalah Net · 2014-03-11
PalThink for Strategic Studies, in cooperation with the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation, held a discussion session on the importance of renewable energy as part of a project presenting it as a sustainable solution to Gaza’s electricity crisis, with the participation of experts, academics, civil society organizations, and government bodies. Omar Shaban, Osama Antar, and Awni Naim stressed the need for short-, medium-, and long-term solutions, greater use of solar energy, customs and tax exemptions for relevant materials and equipment, and coordination between the public and private sectors to implement renewable energy projects.
PalThink for Strategic Studies, in cooperation with the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation, held a discussion session on the importance of renewable energy as part of a project presenting it as a sustainable solution to Gaza’s electricity crisis, with the participation of experts, academics, civil s…
PalThink for Strategic Studies, in cooperation with the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation, organized a discussion session on "The Importance of Renewable Energy," which comes within the project "Renewable Energy as a Sustainable Solution to the Electricity Crisis in the Gaza Strip."
A number of experts, specialists, academics, civil society organizations, and some government bodies participated in the seminar.
The session was opened by Omar Shaaban, Director of PalThink, who thanked the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation for the joint cooperation during the renewable energy project as a sustainable solution to the electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip.
He stressed that this project comes in response to the reality of the electricity crisis suffered by the Strip, which has become one of the problems affecting various aspects of the lives of Palestinian citizens, given the severity of the crisis and its economic and social effects and consequences.
Shaaban pointed out that the aim of this project is to support all efforts to find new short-, medium-, and long-term solutions to the electricity crisis through the use of scientific and research methods, benefiting from expertise, activating the role of the relevant bodies, and searching for alternatives.
Shaaban said: "Renewable energy such as the sun and seawater can be utilized as alternative energy to solve the problem of power outages in the Strip," adding, "Everything that has been accomplished regarding Gaza’s electricity crisis consists of palliative solutions and not strategic ones. There are also ideas without solutions, which requires transforming ideas into strategic solutions and ignoring political bickering and affiliations."
For his part, Dr. Osama Antar, Gaza Strip Program Manager at the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation, said that the session aims to put forward ideas for the use of renewable energy in light of the growing demand for energy use, especially since many countries, including Germany, have turned to sustainable solutions in electricity generation, with the aim of preserving the environment on the one hand and reducing the expenditures resulting from petroleum energy on the other.
Antar explained that the renewable energy project needs intensified efforts from the private and government sectors through government bodies enacting customs and tax exemption laws for materials and equipment used in establishing sustainable energy, while the private sector is required to provide the necessary equipment and offer its costs in installments to families that cannot afford to purchase such devices.
In turn, Engineer Awni Naeem, Director General of Energy and Electricity at the Energy Authority, affirmed that his authority’s plan in the coming years is based on encouraging all government, civil, and private institutions to adopt electricity generation projects using solar energy systems.
Naeem said during his remarks at the seminar: "We launched a plan to encourage the use of solar energy systems in electricity generation in an attempt to curb the electricity crisis."
During the session, many ideas were presented that could contribute to providing renewable energy, and it was also agreed to hold discussion forums in universities and with the relevant bodies to agree on initiatives and measures that would contribute to implementing the renewable energy project to solve the ongoing electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip.
At the end of the session, the participants stressed the importance of coordination between the government and private sectors and putting in place the required measures to begin renewable energy projects within the framework of the solutions needed to solve the electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip.
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