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Newsletter for Members and Supporters of the Alliance for Rural ElectrificationCONTENT
NEWS FROM THE RURAL ELECTRIFICATION WORLD
RURAL ELECTRIFICATION AND RENEWABLE ENERGY EVENTS
EDITORIALTHE CHALLENGE OF RENEWABLE ENERGIES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Some weeks ago we attended the 3rd Renewable Energy Policy Conference in Brussels, where a large number of stakeholders from the renewable energy community shared their visions about the situation and perspectives for renewables all around the world.
Industry and government representatives had interesting discussions about the huge progress of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in developed economies especially thanks to the implementation of feed in tariffs mechanisms. In rich countries, RES represent opportunities to meet our international commitments regarding greenhouse gas emissions reduction and can be a solution to improve the security of energy supply. Furthermore, they constitute a common option for economic recovery and job creation. In this sense, COP 15 was often mentioned as a crucial event to establish the basis for a long term global framework which could trigger global deployment of these technologies.
What was not discussed in depth is the global energy problem. How it affects developing countries and which measures must be taken urgently to answer the needs of communities around the world deprived from access to modern energy services. Under development is often associated to lack of energy access and whereas renewables are often seen as a luxury tool for rich countries they could actually be a concrete answer to this major problem.
Renewable energy technologies are increasingly becoming cost competitive compared to conventional energies. This is excellent news for developing countries, where the need is huge and where climate change is already having terrible consequences. Recently the Alliance for Rural Electrification, along with the European Photovoltaic Industry Association and the Spanish Photovoltaic Association, presented a study that reflected how PV is today getting cheaper on a life cycle analysis than some conventional energy sources in many countries. Cost reductions coupled with solar radiations which are much higher than in Southern European markets are making this technology ever more competitive. This trend could be further accelerated with the right framework conditions in place. Nowadays with PV, together with small wind, mini-hydro and biomass, we can provide modern energy services to these regions in the most competitive way.
In the developed world we are embarking on a new energy model based on decentralized, clean, independent and viable sources which could already be implemented in developing countries. The objective in these regions of the world should be to leapfrog their energy model towards the most sustainable and competitive sources without going through the destructive path followed by developed economies. Manifold advantages would be generated at the local level if such progress was made: Access to health, education, limitation of rural migrations, economic development, gender improvements etc.
We don’t need expensive grids and big power plants. We need smart grids, cost competitive technologies and clean energy sources. Now the challenge is to increase awareness on the potential and the advantages linked with renewables and to fight the old prejudices. Along with a sound and well organized technology transfer, education and capacity building for policy makers in developing countries will be the key towards sustainable and clean development. Let’s work on it!
Ernesto Macías News from the AllianceNew members in the Alliance for Rural Electrification:The Alliance is proud to present two new members:
Rolls batteries, United Kingdom. Rolls batteries is one of North America’s leading lead-acid battery manufacturers. Their factory is based in Nova Scotia, Canada and produces a wide range of high quality products for the off-grid renewable energy market. Sales, marketing and distribution is managed by rolls battery Europe from the UK facility together with their Europeans partners. By joining ARE they are looking forward to strengthen their relationships with the rural electrification community since batteries and battery technology are key in this area.
Renewable Energy Ventures (K) Ltd., Kenya. is a renewable energy and energy efficiency project development and advisory firm. They focus on advising governments, private companies and development organizations and implement projects either for captive power generation or for feeding into the grids. They work with rural communities, off-grid applications and institutions to develop hybrid power generation solutions that provide reliable power at the lowest cost. By joining ARE, Renewable Energy Ventures wants to contribute to provide off grid and rural power solutions using renewable energy and hybrid energy systems throughout the world. They believe that by sharing experience all companies in the sector will gain.
If you also would like to join our network please contact us. News from ARE Working GroupsWorking Group on Technological Solutions: International Standards
On 21 October 2009 the working group on Technological Solutions met in Frankfurt chaired by Michael Wollny, SMA. After accomplishing a publication on Hybrid systems the working group has decided to start focusing on Technology Standards and Quality Recommendations for Energy Home Systems and Mini-grids.
Many different issues have been raised during this meeting such as the new challenges for mini-grid installations or communications between system components. The participating companies covered PV, SHS, wind turbines, batteries, inverters and small hydro. Detailed technical presentations were followed by a lively debate about the way forward.
The working group reviewed objective criteria for the quality of products and whether international standards need to be updated or complemented. The working group decided on a detailed to do list encompassing quality recommendations for SHS, battery management, PV modules and innovative concept for enhanced communication between system components.
If you would like to know more about the working group on technological solutions, please contact us at g.glania(at)ruralelec.org.
Kick Off meeting of ARE Working Group on Legal and Policy frameworks for Rural Electrification
On the 25 November 2009, ARE started a new experts working group on Legal and Policy Framework, chaired by Anjali Shanker, IED.
The rural electrification process based on renewable energies is strongly dependant on the business model and the legal framework used to implement the programmes. The concession model, the “free for all” approach, output based aid, subsidies on the investment costs, connection based subsidies, Power Purchase Agreements, Public Private Partnerships etc. the approaches used in developing countries are manifold with very different results. Each model has its partisans and its opponents.
The goal of this meeting was to welcome the members of this WG, to discuss its objectives and its work programme. We expect its work to be of central importance for shaping the core messages of the Alliance. The meeting analysed both the public and the private side of the project cycle with the participation of the EUEI PDF and of KfW as well as of several members of the Alliance.
The proposals of the secretariat concerning the follow up of this meeting will be circulated soon among the members of the WG and of ARE.
If you want more information about the working group, please contact dev.com(at)ruralelec.com. Follow the Alliance for Rural Electrifcation on Facebook and Twitter!
The Alliance for Rural Electrification has created its own Facebook page to complement our corporate website. You will be able to easily follow up the latest activities and news from us and from the Rural Electrification World, and more important, make your contribution by posting your comments, suggestions and questions. It is easy, just click here and let’s interact!
If you are interested in micro-blogging you can follow ARE Secretary General Guido Glania on Twitter. Search for https://twitter.com/guidoglania. Your retweets are highly welcome! ARE ACTIVITIESARE at the OECD Annual Conference on Rural DevelopmentThe Alliance for Rural Electrification was present in Quebec, Canada, at the “OECD Annual Rural Development Conference.” (13 - 15 October).
This event was organised by the OECD Directorate of Public Governance and Territorial Development to allow policy makers from OECD countries to examine current rural policy issues and to engage in a wider dialogue with the private sector, non-governmental organisations, civil society and academics. ARE’s Policy and Communication Officer, Simon Rolland, participated as a panellist at the Session V of the main conference on “New sources of energy production and transmission”.
The objective of this session was to analyze how to improve natural resources productivity and to achieve sustainable development in rural areas. The speakers provided an overview of opportunities and constraints faced by renewable energy at the technical and socio economic levels and presented hands on experiences. ARE took the opportunity to convey its key messages to high level policy makers from different OECD countries and to discuss the different challenges political authorities are facing to develop renewables on a sustainable basis.
Download the programme of the conference here. ARE at Hydro 2009The Secretary General of the Alliance, Guido Glania, moderated a session on small hydropower implementation in HYDRO 2009, conference organised by AquaMedia International in Lyon, France from the 26 to the 29 of October.
This Conference and Exhibition has progressively increased in size and scope, and brings together delegations from more than 70 countries, including high level representatives from developing countries. The session reflected a great interest in small hydro power projects for rural electrification but also highlighted manifold obstacles for successful project implementation.
For more information about HYDRO 2009 and this session please click here. Conference Session at Solar Power International 2009 on “Solar Opportunities in the Developing World”The Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE) was present at Solar Power International 2009, America’s largest solar event.
Our workshop focused on business opportunities in developing countries. The session was held on Tuesday 27 October. In this meeting our experts gave an insight of their experience acquired in these regions; presented the latest information concerning the enormous potential that emerging and developing countries represent for both off-grid and grid connected PV technologies; and introduced some recommendations on how to enlarge these markets.
The workshop enjoyed high attendance and media coverage (see below), especially on the internet. As it was the only session focusing in developing countries, the questions & answers round was active and many participants showed a strong interest in further exploring the opportunities in developing countries.
Panelists were: Simon Rolland Policy and Communications Officer of ARE, Lars Koerner project engineering off-grid from SolarWorld AG, and Michael Eckhart President of ACORE.
For more information visit www.solarpowerinternational.com or contact us.
Several digital media echoed our session on solar opportunities in developing countries at Solar Power International 2009, in Anaheim. We proudly present this article of the New York Times by Todd Woody. To see the New York Times article please click here. Another article can be read here. Launching events of the Second European Energy FacilityThe 2nd EU Energy Facility is one of the most relevant EU instruments for the promotion of renewable Energy in Africa and the European Commission organized two official launching events at which ARE was invited to represent the voice of the private sector.
Our Secretary General Guido Glania took part at the panel discussion in the framework of the EU Development Days in Stockholm (24 October 2009). And our President Ernesto Macias was a speaker at the launching event in Brussels (4 November 2009).
Together these events attracted more than 200 participants. These conferences underpin that the Alliance has established itself as the most vocal Brussels based business organisation for energy issues in developing countries. (More about the energy facility here)
3rd European Renewable Energy Policy Conference, BrusselsThe European Renewable Energy Policy Conferences are the most eminent regular events for EU policymakers, industry representatives and various groups of other stakeholders to talk about the most relevant political questions for the future of renewable energy in Europe.
ARE President Ernesto Macias was a panellist at a session about the global perspectives for renewables. This session brought together representatives from industry association from the US, India, China and Europe. Ernesto Macias stressed that until recently many developing countries have either ignored or dismissed their excellent natural conditions for renewable energy. Only now they were beginning to think about ways how to tap into this potential. He underlined, that renewables were becoming ever more competitive and were an an important technology for improving energy security and hedging against erratic price development of fossile fuels. He expressed the hope that the Copenhagen climate change conference will improve the framework conditions for boosting renewables in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Training on renewable energies for the Centre for Enterprise Development (CDE)On 13th November ARE organized a workshop for the senior staff of the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE) in order to present the state-of-art of renewable energy technologies for rural areas.
The workshop covered technologies, financing , legal frameworks and business opportunities for ACP countries (African, Caribbean, Pacific). This meeting was the result of previous contacts between the two organizations, and it is expected to be the first milestone towards a closer collaboration in the future. More than 30 people attended this lively meeting.
We would like to thank our two presenters, Mr. Klimbie from Fortis Wind and Junte Wasmann from JanSun who helped us to ensure high level debates and interactions between the CDE and the Alliance.
The Centre for the Development of Enterprise is an ACP/EU joint institution created in the framework of the Cotonou Agreement. CDE’s financial resources mainly come from the European Development Fund (EDF). Its objective is to ensure the development of professional ACP enterprises operating in the private sector.
To see the interview of Simon Rolland, ARE’s Policy and Development Officer, by the CDE please click here
For more information about CDE: www.cde.int EU PV Technology Platform Working Group 4: Developing CountriesOn Tuesday 24 November, the Alliance, acting as secretariat on behalf of EPIA, organised the 8th meeting of the Working Group 4: Developing Countries, of the EU PV Technology Platform, at the Renewable Energy House, Brussels.
This meeting was especially significant as it was necessary to redefine the goals and scope of the working group as well as to welcome numerous new members. At the previous meetings, thanks to the effort of its participants and especially of the Joint Research Center of the European Commission, the working group published a report dedicated to an innovative support scheme “A new scheme for the promotion of Renewable Energies in Developing Countries, The Renewable Energy Regulated Purchase Tariff” which can be download here.
The main task of this meeting was to identify the future priorities of the working group. Some of the main ideas were: - Continued work on the RPT:
- Start a new cycle of activities:
If you want to have more information about the working group, please visit http://www.eupvplatform.org/wg4-dev-countries.html or contact us at c.guerrero(at)ruralelec.org ARE at the world environmental event, COP 15The Alliance will be present at the most important environmental event in the world, representing a sector which proposes sustainable and clean solutions for the 1,6 billion people deprived from access to electricity. It is an exciting event for all those who believe in a clean and balanced environment and the Alliance is proud to be an active part of this event. In fact, in COP 15, ARE will have an exhibition and will organise a side event.
The later called “Seizing solar power: Key to reducing CO2 emissions now” will take place on Wednesday 16 December 2009, together with EPIA (European Photovoltaic Industry Association) and SEIA (U.S. Solar Energy Industry Association), from 16:30 to 18:00 in the Niels Bohr building. This this important meeting ARE will once again be the voice of developing countries. You are kindly invited to participate.
The exhibition stand will be set up for the whole second week of COP 15, from Saturday 12 until Friday 18 December. Feel free to pass by, to have a little chat with us, to inform yourself and to ask all these questions about rural electrification and renewables that you have been always thinking about. We expect you!
For more information on the side event or the exhibition, please contact c.guerrero(at)ruralec.org.
News from the rural electrification worldOfficial launch of the Second EU Energy Facility’s Call for ProposalsOn 30 November 2009 the European Commission finally launched the Call for Proposals of the Second Energy Facility. It was an important date for the Alliance and its members since the Facility is the only European instrument focusing on access to energy. Moreover, the secretariat has been working very actively to support its development and to direct it towards renewable energies.
Firstly established in 2005 to support access to sustainable and affordable energy services in rural and peri-urban areas in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, the second facility has an increased budget of €200 million. This very important amount will be implemented through two calls of proposals, one of € 100 million in 2009 and another of €60 Million later. 40 Million Euros are earmarked for a pooling mechanism for development banks. This mechanism is supposed to support development banks in financing commercial renewable energy projects.
Further information and all the relating documents can be found here.
Also the European Commission is organising an information session about the Energy Facility on the 18 December 2009 in Brussels. The deadline for registering to this event is the 15 December. For more information contact: Europeaid-energy-facility-helpdesk(at)ec.europa.eu Sustainable Energy Europe Awards 2010!The Alliance for Rural Electrification is pleased to inform you of the opening call for the 4th edition of the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards 2010. These awards granted by the European Commission will be handed over by the European Commissioner for Energy at a prestigious Award Ceremony on the 23rd of March 2010.
The awards comprise five categories:
The Alliance is associated to the European Commission in the framework of the European Sustainable Energy Campaign and we encourage our members and friends to propose their projects to this competition. We believe that it could generate interesting press coverage of your projects in the fields of energy efficiency, renewable energy, clean transport or bio-fuels and boost your company/organization public profile.
The procedure is quite user-friendly. If you have on-going projects, financed and/or implemented by public or private actors and which could fit in one or several of the 5 award categories, you just have to complete the Application Form (here) to become official partner by 15 December 2009. Then, you will be automatically eligible for the competition.
You can find all the necessary information about the awards, the three previous Ceremony Awards winners and the European Sustainable Energy Week here. Please contact directly dc(at)sustenergy.org for any specific question about the awards or the partnership.
"Solar for All" initiative launches contest on innovative photovoltaic off-grid power supply systemsAshoka and Canopus Foundation, initiators of the 'Solar for All' initiative, announce the "Solar for All" competition on innovative low-cost photovoltaic systems and customer financing schemes. The contest aims at manufacturers, PV system integrators, and social entrepreneurs providing sustainable and reliable energy to low income end-users without access to the electricity grid.
"Until today the access to modern energy is constrained by factors such as limited access to appropriate affordable technology, fragmented small markets, prohibitive taxes, and limited financial resources," Prof Eicke Weber, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy ISE and chairman of the jury explains. "The 'Solar for All' initiative wants to meet the technical and financial challenge with a global design contest." The final preparatory work has been concluded in a workshop with the jury hosted by Dipal Barua, managing director of Grameen Shakti, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
"A lot of projects in the past failed because the project developers were not taking an end-user perspective", remarks Peter Heller, Director of Canopus Foundation. "Our contest will motivate key-players to focus on end user needs, enhance modularity, scalability and replicability of PV systems as well as design innovative payment and financing schemes." The winner of the 'Solar for All' contest will be awarded a $250,000 equity investment by Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation. Three of the finalists will also be recognized for innovations in technology, finance and marketing. Participants in the contest could also be supported by a projected $100 million solar investment fund. This new fund, to be established by the 'Solar for All' initiative, will invest across the PV solar value chain, including microfinance support. David Green of Ashoka shares "we want the fund investment criteria to tilt the solar industry in the direction of affordable solar energy for low income communities".
The contest begins on December 1st, 2009 and the submission period ends on April 30th, 2010. For further information go to: www.sfa-pv.org
Contact: Barbara Börner King Baudouin Foundation: Call for nominations for the 2010-2011 King Baudouin International Development PrizeThe King Baudouin Prize rewards the work of persons or organisations which have made a substantial contribution to the development of countries in the Southern hemisphere.
Since its inception in 1980, the Prize has always sought to promote an inclusive view of development. It endeavors to reward innovative and exemplary initiatives which give the local population the opportunity to take their development into their own hands, and are capable of being duplicated elsewhere in the world.
The 2010-2011 Prize of €150 000, will be awarded in the spring of 2011 at the Royal Palace in Brussels. Beyond its financial value, the Prize procures international visibility and promotion for its winners.
To submit a candidate’s file, please complete the electronic form on their website. Nominations must be received by February 1, 2010 and submitted by a nominator, i.e. a person or organism distinct from the candidate. If you have any questions, please contact them by e-mail or call +32.2.549.0273. Rural Electrification and Renewable Energies Events: Incoming appointments25 – 30 January 2010: "Rural Electrification training programme, Planning and Management of Electrification programmes", Hyderabad, India
Held in tandem with the exhibition, the conference will focus on presentations by leading experts on sustainable energy solutions for today and the future. |
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