IRENA provides regional training workshops on best practices in energy transition planning and grid integration of variable renewables using energy modelling tools. Regional training workshops on long-term energy transition planning have been provided in different African sub-regions and on power sector planning with variable renewables in South America, Central Asia, and Arab countries.

In Africa, training was based on IRENA System Planning Test (SPLAT) models that are regularly updated for the five regional power pools in Africa. SPLAT models can be readily used by regions and individual countries for energy planning, allowing policy makers to assess least-cost investment options considering policy goals, trade, affordability and CO₂ targets, or to plan trans-boundary transmission lines. The training benchmarked results for power sector development from the respective regional power pool reports.

This regional training serves to familiarise countries with the importance, best practices and tools of energy planning. Regional training can often motivate requests from individual participant countries for bilateral support in energy master plan development.

The following regional training events in energy planning have been provided by IRENA:

Energy Transition Planning Workshops in Africa 

Regional training workshops on energy transition planning have been held in Africa to support the region in energy system planning through the use of power system tools.

Capacity-Building Programme with West Africa

IRENA and the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) held training events to introduce SPLAT-W, the System Planning Test model for the West African power system. 

Power Sector Planning Workshops in South America, Central Asia, and Arab countries

Regional workshops on power sector planning with variable renewables have been held in South America, Central Asia, and Arab countries. Building on IRENA's report, Planning for the renewable future, the workshops focus on long-term planning and modelling for variable renewable energy (VRE) sources such as solar and wind.