Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show Dr. Roland Roesch, Ph.D. - Director, Innovation and Technology Centre, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) - Innovation For A Sustainable Global Energy Transformation
Dr. Roland Roesch, Ph.D. is Director, Innovation and Technology Centre (IITC), of the International Renewable Energy Agency ( IRENA - https://www.irena.org/ ) where he oversees the Agency’s work on advising member countries in the area of technology status and roadmaps, energy planning, cost and markets and innovation policy frameworks. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is a leading global intergovernmental agency for energy transformation that serves as the principal platform for international cooperation, supports countries in their energy transitions, and provides state of the art data and analyses on technology, innovation, policy, finance and investment. IRENA drives the widespread adoption and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy, including bioenergy, geothermal, hydropower, ocean, solar and wind energy in the pursuit of sustainable development, energy access, and energy security, for economic and social resilience and prosperity and a climate-proof future. Dr. Roesch currently leads IRENA´s work on RE Innovation, Grids-Assessments and the Strategies Teams for the Power Sector Transformation and for the Gas Sector Transformation. He actively leads the development of IRENA´s work in the fields of ocean energy, blue economy and decarbonizing the shipping sector. Before becoming Director, Dr. Roesch served as IITC Deputy Director from 2018. With a MSc. in Industrial Engineering, and MBA / Ph.D. in Energy Economics, from Technische Universität Darmstadt, Dr. Roesch joined IRENA in 2012 and has worked in multiple work programs since. For two years prior to joining IRENA, Dr. Roesch had been Professor for Energy Economics at the University of Applied Science in Darmstadt. Previously, he worked for 15 years in the oil and gas and utilities industries for Shell and E.ON, latterly as General Manager Power with Shell and as Head of Division, Project Leader, Project Executive and Technical Project Developer with E.ON. Prior to that, he worked as an Energy Market Consultant for Lahmeyer International and as a researcher in renewable energy. Dr. Roesch has solid business experience in energy markets, energy economics and strategies, renewable integration management, energy project development and project financing.