- IRENA released a report outlining 40 innovations that can strengthen power system resilience, expand energy access, and support local development through renewable energy.
- The agency urged countries to adopt integrated solutions that combine technology, policy, market, and regulatory innovations to deliver affordable, inclusive, and low-carbon energy systems.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has released a report identifying 40 innovations that policymakers can utilise to strengthen power system resilience, expand electricity access, and drive inclusive socioeconomic development across multiple regions.
IRENA presented the publication in Abu Dhabi during a ministerial dialogue on artificial intelligence at its Assembly, arguing that systemic innovation transforms power systems when advanced technologies interact with modernised policy, regulatory, and market frameworks that support investment and efficient system operation.
The report, titled “Innovation Landscape for Sustainable Development Powered by Renewables,” highlights solutions that include artificial intelligence applications, digital system tools, off-grid deployment models, advanced grid planning techniques, and new commercial structures that accelerate renewable adoption at a lower cost.
IRENA emphasises that only an integrated and holistic strategy delivers resilient energy systems, broadens electricity access, ensures affordability and maximises socioeconomic gains from the global energy transition, particularly in emerging and developing markets.
As the third edition in the Innovation Landscape series, the publication analyses how emerging solutions accelerate renewable deployment across national power systems and how these technologies reinforce economic competitiveness, local value creation and job growth.
IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera stated that countries must adopt comprehensive strategies that deliver social justice, equality and shared prosperity, arguing that the energy transition increasingly revolves around societal choices rather than technological feasibility.
The report notes that renewable technologies now offer the lowest-cost source of electricity in most regions and that decentralised solutions enable governments and communities to move closer to universal electricity access and robust energy security.
IRENA emphasises that national strategies must consider technical system characteristics, natural resource availability, grid integration requirements, end-use sector dynamics, and social and cultural conditions that influence reform outcomes.
The agency documents practical examples worldwide, including community-owned renewable projects in Tanzania, Kenya, Colombia and Malaysia; regional power pools that allow 15 West African countries to share renewable resources; dynamic line rating in Malaysia that increases transmission capacity through real-time weather analysis; battery-swapping stations that support electric mobility in Uganda and Rwanda; and pay-as-you-go models that supplied electricity to more than 500,000 people in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
To accelerate implementation, IRENA groups the 40 innovations into four strategic toolkits that promote grid modernisation, decentralised energy solutions, inclusive local development, and universal access. It urges multilateral institutions, regional bodies, national governments, and local communities to adopt coordinated approaches.
IRENA states that the framework helps countries and communities design tailored solutions that align with technical, economic, and cultural realities, while expanding electricity access and advancing resilient, affordable, and low-carbon energy systems worldwide.