WEMC and WMO further their shared vision for energy sector services

We introduce the people and projects behind some exciting times

Formalising relationships, like the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on 15th January 2018, to make climate and weather information and knowledge more readily available for the energy sector, signified real progress towards a shared vision for Managing Director of the World Energy and Meteorological Council (WEMC) Prof Alberto Troccoli and the team.

At the time of signing Dr Dilley, Director of WMO Climate Prediction and Adaptation, commented: “Addressing climate change will require a transformation of the entire energy sector. This will entail the development of new services for helping the sector manage the transition to renewable sources, such as wind, solar and hydropower, which are highly sensitive to climate and weather.

“Partnering with WEMC will assist National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in WMO member countries to provide these services and assist WMO member countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and make their Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris climate change Agreement.”

Since then the connections between the organisations have strengthened. Prof Alberto Troccoli led the formulation of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) User Interface Platform for the Energy priority area in 2017 and following this achievement the WMO invited him to chair the newly formed Study Group on Integrated Energy Services, which is operating under the newly established WMO technical commission on Services.

Roberta Boscolo, pictured above, who currently leads the WMO effort in implementing climate services for the energy sector, particularly in developing countries, also works closely with WEMC and has done for several years. She is a valued member of the Council’s Advisory Board.

For over a decade Roberta Boscolo has also worked as science officer for the World Climate Research Programme and, representing WMO, she contributed to a joint training course with WEMC addressing upcoming energy challenges. The course ‘Building Weather and Climate Services for the Energy Sector’ targeted energy sector specialists, meteorologists and climate scientists and was delivered at the annual International Conference Energy & Meteorology (ICEM), organised by WEMC and held in Shanghai, China in 2018.

Projects are at the core of WEMC business and the expert team, guided by Prof Alberto Troccoli, are poised ready to begin working on the new WMO-led project – FOCUS-Africa (Full-Value chain Optimised Climate User-centric Services for Southern Africa).

WEMC will lead Work Package 5, one of eight WPs, and will develop end-user tailored climate services prototypes and lead the organization of stakeholder workshops: logistics, programme, visibility and communication as well as producing training materials.

WEMC and WMO have decidedly furthered their shared vision of enhancing international knowledge for addressing the interaction between the energy industry and the weather, climate and broader environmental sciences community since the signing of the MOU. They continue to make strides in their work to develop and deliver new services for the energy sector including exciting new projects involving colleagues from WMO and WEMC beginning this Autumn.