ARE re-elects Alexis Rehbinder as President and welcomes three new Board Members at its General Meeting
1 July 2024, Brussels – The Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE) recently held its Ordinary General Meeting, where Alexis Rehbinder (GDS International) was re-elected as President. Additionally, three new Board Members were elected: Gillian-Alexandre Huart (ENGIE Energy Access), Maud Watelet (EDFI MC – ElectriFI), and Ayu Abdullah (COMET).
ARE extends its gratitude to outgoing Board Members Laura Monteagudo Molina and Claudio Pedretti for their contributions to the organisation.
Re-elected President Alexis Rehbinder of GDS International and dedicated professional in the rural electrification sector since 2018, said: “I extend my heartfelt thanks to ARE Members for placing their trust in me once more. With the new Board, we will work on expanding the distributed renewable energy sector across the world. We are aware of the current needs of the sector and are ready to take action.”
Continuing their terms on the Board are Camille Andre-Bataille (ANKA Madagascar), Christophe Poline (Schneider Electric), Lynne Wesonga (Crossboundary Energy Access), Dario Traverso (Genius Watter), Ieva Indriunaite (Camco), and Nicolas Rohrer (Asantys Systems).
In 2023, ARE achieved remarkable milestones. The Alliance mobilised 8,500 key stakeholders in renewable electrification through its events, facilitating over 600 B2B matchmaking meetings, and thousands of connections. ARE played a pivotal role in advocating for access to clean electricity at the highest political levels and pushed hard to scale up rural electrification markets.
In addition, the Alliance experienced exceptional growth across the board, adding 48 members and deepening its impact. In 2023, ARE expanded its activities within Africa as well as into the Asia-Pacific and Caribbean regions through various initiatives such as the investment academies, business delegations, and programmes such as CORE. Throughout the year, ARE and its Members gained considerable visibility through high-profile interventions at international events, solidifying its leadership as the voice for rural electrification across emerging markets around the world.
ARE extends its warm congratulations to the re-elected President and new Board Members and wishes them success in their roles.
David Lecoque, CEO of ARE, emphasised: “I am delighted to witness the first board of ARE achieving complete gender parity. This diverse board, encompassing investors, developers, EPC specialists, and both hardware and software technology suppliers, truly reflects the breadth of our sector. It is well-positioned to champion the distributed renewable energy sector amidst the challenges of achieving SDG7. With President Alexis Rehbinder and this exceptional board, I am optimistic that we will successfully deliver on our goals of clean electricity access, green job creation and addressing climate change by 2030.”