Making It interviews Dr. Osterkorn
Vienna, 14.04.2010 - REEEP International Secretariat
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In Issue 2 of Making It, UNIDO’s new quarterly magazine on industry and development, Marianne Osterkorn was interviewed on the role of policy-makers in promoting clean energy. The interview is reprinted here:
Marianne Osterkorn, Director General of REEEP (Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership) tells Making It about some of the organisation’s experience of 130 targeted projects over the past five years. REEEP is a global partnership that works to reduce the barriers limiting the uptake of renewable energy and energy efficiency, with a primary focus on emerging markets and developing countries.
What does the term “targeted project” mean?
Basically, there are two elements that are critical to ensure the uptake of clean energy in a given country: first and foremost, a country needs stable policy and regulatory frameworks that create the conditions that allow the market to develop. And second, it needs financing and business models that make renewable energy and energy efficiency a bankable prospect, particularly for entrepreneurs. REEEP projects are evenly split between these two types of targeted interventions.
On policy and regulation, you have some clear ideas about what works and what doesn’t. What are your opinions based on?
On experience. About half of the 130 REEEP-funded projects either completed or in progress relate specifically to assisting governments with clean energy policy and regulation. We’ve funded policy projects in places as far-flung as India, Ecuador, and Fiji. The formulation of a Renewable Energy Law in post-war Liberia, the revision of China’s Renewable Energy Law, and a project with the UNDP which led to the passing of a Renewable Energy Law in Kazahkstan last June are three recent examples.
On regulation, we have worked with CRE, Mexico’s energy regulator, to identify new procedures and codes to support renewable energy development. Looking forward, we are currently funding a study by Centre for Renewable Energy Development into how China could meet 30% of its 2030 energy needs with renewable sources, as an input to the government’s five-year planning cycle.
So governments play an important role in the low-carbon transition?
Yes, absolutely. In most developing countries, the energy sector is owned and controlled by the state, either directly or indirectly. And regardless of ownership, the energy sector is always heavily regulated, again by government. So government holds the key to energy transformation. This is a very basic reality that is often overlooked.
What in your view should governments concentrate on first?
The so-called “low hanging fruit” has got to be energy efficiency policy and regulation. This isn’t just something for developed countries. In developing parts of the world, energy efficiency has huge potential to help relieve peak loads and slow the demand increase for new power plants.
What kind of tools work in promoting end-use efficiency?
Standards and labelling are the most effective means. They require little government spending and they are relatively easy to implement. With appliance labelling for example, private households can make an informed choice when buying, and manufacturers have an interest in improving the technical efficiency of lighting, refrigerators and air conditioners. As an example, REEEP supported Africa’s first appliance labelling programme in Ghana. We have also helped to finance the expansion of the APEC Energy Standards Information System (ESIS), so other countries don’t need to start from scratch in developing appliance standards or labelling programmes.
What can sub-national entities do to promote efficiency?
Energy efficiency in buildings is a good example here. Building codes are often local or provincial, and setting low energy consumption standards for new buildings is a good long-term strategy that can begin here and now. REEEP is also working through its Energy Efficiency Coalition (EEC) to set up local stakeholder networks to advance building energy efficiency on the ground. One such network has been created in Mexico, and similar efforts are beginning in China.
On renewable energy, what actions do you recommend to policy-makers?
There really is no one size fits all solution with renewable energy. The solutions here will depend on a country’s geography and climate, local politics and many other variables.
That said, solar water heating (SWH) is now commercially viable in most developing countries. It’s a low carbon energy technology that’s superior to the conventional alternatives and at the same time, is an effective demand side management tool for areas with peak power shortages. Mandating SWH in all new and retrofit buildings can have a huge effect. This is another measure than can be carried out at city or state/provincial level. Cape Town’s efforts in this regard, which have been supported by REEEP, are exemplary.
What other advice would you have for policy-makers?
Well, it would be two thoughts. The first is about rural electrification, for which many countries already have ambitious programmes in place. Here I’d caution policy-makers not to just think in terms of rural electricity, but in terms of rural energy. For example, if electricity is provided for light but there is still a need to gather firewood for heat and cooking, electrification won’t contribute to sustainable development as intended.
Second, in cities and suburbs there is a similar need to think holistically. Renewable electricity generation is one building block here, but waste management and energy efficiency should also be included in one integrated energy policy for an urban area.