Under this collaboration of The International Low-Carbon Energy Technology Platform of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Finance and Technology Transfer Centre for Climate Change (FINTECC) of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) a workshop on supporting deployment of low-carbon technologies was held in Istanbul, Turkey on 15-16 June 2015, hosted by the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.

The workshop was organized into eight sessions over two days, with day one focusing on policies and day two focusing on means for assessing the market penetration of low carbon technologies.

 The event was attended by over 75 participants representing Turkey and 13 target countries from SEMED and ETC including Mr. Murman Margvelashvili from think tank World Experience for Georgia and Mr.David Sharikadze the head of energy department in the Ministry of Energy of Georgia.

Participants responded positively to the presentations of the methodologies for assessing market penetration of low-carbon technologies for renewable energy, energy efficiency and the agrifoods sector. Representatives also provided valuable information on the market penetration of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies in their countries.

It is noteworthy, that initiative of Georgian delegates was included in the conference summary, which suggested that “regional trading of low-carbon energy could be an important step in unlocking significant renewable energy deployment. A regional approach, incorporating energy trading through transnational electricity networks, would allow each country to maximise the exploitation of its renewable energy resources and potentially overcome barriers such as seasonal variability”. This approach can help the countries with rich hydropower potential to effectively develop their resources.