Transforming the Energy Supply of Small Island Developing States and Other Coastal Communities – STI Forum Side Event
Transforming the Energy Supply of Small Island Developing States and Other Coastal Communities with Utility-Level Electrical Power Generation from Ocean Waves – A Sustainable Development Innovation Multi-Stakeholder Partnership
A Side Event during the 4th annual Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology, and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals
Download the side-event flyer (pdf)
The 2019 STI Forum – May 14th, 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM, United Nations, Conference Room 12
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes multi-stakeholder partnerships as important vehicles for mobilizing and sharing knowledge, expertise, technologies, and financial resources to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in all countries, particularly developing countries. Faced with the clear and present threat of climate change, concrete, realistic, and enduring partnerships are needed now to mitigate this pressing challenge.
On May 14th, 2019, Stakeholder Forum Chairman Charles Nouhan introduced the Partnership for Offshore Ocean Wave Power to the international community at UN headquarters in New York during a side event at the 4th annual Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology, and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, the 2019 STI Forum. Presenters, including two from the company behind the technology underpinning this sustainable development multi-stakeholder partnership, SurfWEC LLC, explained how it has the potential to transform the energy supply of small island developing states (SIDS) and other coastal communities.
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- H. E. Ambassador Elizabeth Thompson of Barbados, Co-Chair of the 2019 STI Forum, shares her thoughts
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- Rik van Hemmen presents the SurfWEC concept
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- Mr. Sai Navoti, Cheif of SIDS Unit, UNDESA
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- The panel, from left to right: Michael Raftrey, SurfWEC LLC, Claudia LaRue, Montclair State University and SF Board, me, Rik van Hemmen, SurfWEC LLC, and Elira Karaja, Ph.D., Columbia University.
Deployed off-shore and therefore with no anticipated impact on the tourism industry that many SIDS countries value, in addition to the societal, economic and environmental benefits of being emissions-free and carbon neutral, the SurfWEC technology can also support applications to desalinate seawater, offering small island state users entry to the marketplace as a commercial scale supplier of potable water for human consumption, agricultural and industrial use, and industrial hydrogen and oxygen for fuel cell and related technologies including the electrification of transport systems. Once established, expansion of those applications will create new skilled jobs and sustainable new revenue streams.
Presenters included Charles Nouhan on the Multi-Stakeholder Partnership, Rik van Hemmen, President, and Senior Partner, Martin & Ottaway on the SurfWEC concept, Michael Raftery, SurfWEC LLC’s Chief Technology Officer on the technology, Claudia LaRue, Sustainability Specialist, PSE&G Institute for Sustainability Studies, Montclair State University on partnerships, Elira Karaja Ph.D., Economist and Visiting Scholar, Harriman Institute, Columbia University on the economics of leaving no one behind, and Respondent Mr. Sainivalati (Sai) S. Navoti, Chief of the Small Island Developing States Unit, Division for Sustainable Development Goals UNDESA, who considered how the deployment of such a technology could lead to greater economic independence for small island developing states from the outside world, including improved quality of life and prosperity.
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