ICA is a non-profit association dedicated to promote the sustainable use of copper. Our members are major copper mining industries, as well as major fabricators. Renewable energy systems, especially in mini/micro-grid applications, use more copper than conventional electricity-generating systems. Therefore supporting rural electrification promotes copper.

From that perspective, our organisation would support initiatives that have the potential to have significant impact on the long-term. This includes capacity building for policy makers and practitioners (designers, installers), standards and policy making process. We would get involved in support specific on-site projects.

From our current programs, there are some that could be of value to certain activities:

Electrical safety: we are the founder and manager of FISUEL, the international federation for the safety of electrical users (fisuel.org): we support member countries with standards development and capacity building efforts. We have a large range of training materials and programs, including safety in homes, safety and efficiency/operation/maintenance of solar panels for designers and installers, programs to fight against counterfeited cables and components
Energy efficiency: RE systems often do not perform as expected due to poor choice of materials and components, inappropriate design and maintenance, resulting in lower output and ROI: we support capacity building activities and standard making

We have also supported the implementation of these programs:

Slum electrification in Brazil and Senegal
Rural electrification in Mindanao (Philippines) with USAID: capacity building for villagers on developing small businesses with the availability of electricity

We are a co-founder and co-manager of the United for Efficiency Initiative (led by UNEP, one of SEforAll’s EE accelerator) under which we aim at helping countries adopt integrated policy approach to promote energy efficiency.