More Dirty Energy for ASEAN

Primary energy demand across the 10-nation ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region surged 70 percent from 2000 to 2016 alongside annual economic growth rates that have recently averaged 5.1 percent. That has spurred ASEAN governments to implement a host of policies aimed at meeting growing demand for energy, including creation of a region-wide ASEAN Power Grid (APG), the ASEAN Post highlights in a recent news report.

Europe-based International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates some $1.2 trillion in capital will be needed to upgrade, modernize and expand power utility grids across the ASEAN region between today and 2040. Foreign investors from China, the European Union, Japan and the U.S., along with multilateral development banks and agencies, such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), are making investments.

China’s ASEAN grid investments dwarf those of others. China has invested USD66 billion in power generation in Southeast Asia since 2003, 48 percent of global foreign direct investment during the period, according to the Post’s report.

Japan has invested more than USD1.5 billion in hydroelectric, solar and wind power projects in the ASEAN region since 2009, while the Export-Import Bank of Korea has invested USD150 million in renewable energy in Southeast Asia from 2009-2016, the Post says.

Unfortunately, most of the investments from China, Japan and South Korea have gone into fossil fuel generation, which adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and contributes to global warming. Furthermore, these investments work contrary to achieving the U.N. climate change and Sustainable Development Goals these nations have pledged to realize.

Looking outside Asia, the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp. has invested more than USD400 million in ASEAN’s power sector from 2009-2016. The USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development, aims to invest USD750 million to strengthen renewable energy capacity across ASEAN member states, according to the Post’s report.

Germany has been the primary European investor in ASEAN’s power sector.

Multilateral banks, such as ADB and the World Bank, have played a big role in terms of ASEAN power sector investment and development. The two multilateral development banks have invested more than USD2 billion and USD1 billion, respectively in Southeast Asia’s renewable energy sector since 2009.

Cover image: United Nations/flickr

Within the GCC, The United Arab Emirates and particularly Dubai leads the region in solar power. The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is the largest single-site solar installation in the world and covers 77 square acres – but only for now. The Park generates 700 MW of power now and the state utility, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) just signed a new expansion agreement to boost production to 950 MW. The site incorporates both flat-panel and concentrated solar power in a single facility. The new deal is the fourth expansion of the project and the new panels will be installed at the lowest cost anywhere in the world – 2.4 cents/kWh.

The Maktoum Solar Park current provides 7% of Dubai’s power requirements and will reach 25% with a total capacity of 5,000 MW by 2030, according to the national plan.

Dubai may be more serious about its commitment to a sustainable future than most people suspect. In February 2019, they hosted the World Government Forum, with thousands of delegates arriving to discuss the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Saudis Go Solar – Sorta…

Saudi Arabia has made huge commitments to solar as the Kingdom apparently decided to exploit the wealth above their sand instead of the wealth below it. But in many ways – it isn’t happening. Sunlight is certainly a natural resource – they only get an average of 45 cloud days each year. The sunny days don’t seem to matter much, though. The price of oil has risen recently, and while that drives most nations to search for alternatives, the Saudi’s will stand pat, and lose interest in their solar projects.

The Kingdom’s commitment to oil is unshakable and they don’t worry too much about any renewable energy reducing the demand for oil:

Oil has never, or at least for the last 30 to 40 years, been a significant contributor to power generation, so renewables come in at a large scale - which will take time by the way - into utilities and stationary applications of energy, [but] does not conflict with the role of oil in the energy mix, [which is] primarily to transform into chemicals.

— Khalid Al Falih, Saudi Oil Minister

Saudi’s plans have been ambitious. A $109 billion solar program was announced in 2012 with the goal of producing a third of the country’s energy needs from renewables by 2032. In 2017, Prince Mohammed bin Salman rolled out a plan to build 210 GW in solar capacity. Then the price increased and interest dropped off. Climate Change couldn’t be bothering them too much. Saudi Arabia still gets 60% of its electricity from burning 1 million barrels of oil each day.

The Iranian End-Run

If the Saudis have hit a bump in their road, their nemesis across the Persian Gulf, Iran has no such problem. Faced with the embargo by from the United States, Iran has found allies and a way to side-step the sanctions imposed on trade – including the development of a large solar-power infrastructure. The Work has gone ahead in spite of renewed US Sanctions as Carlo Maresca teamed up with the EU’s Iranian shell company, INSTEX. Set-up as a French firm, the Italian contractor is doing business with this business entity rather than with Iran directly. Britain, France, and Germany have not violated the Iranian nuclear agreement and suggested the formation of the new company. It’s one of the EU’s main efforts to derail the sanctions and continue doing business with Iran.

In September 2017 construction began on the Blu Terra 2, 10-MW solar farm on Qeshm Island, Iran’s largest island. Six months later, the 20 hectares plant went online. In August 2018, Maresca cleared through the authorization process to start work on a 100 MW PV park between the Damghan and Semnan in northern Iran.

Iran is seen as a ripe market for European solar power and Maresca is just one of the many energy proposals totaling $3.6 billion (US) in Iranian energy development. Switzerland’s Durion Energy AG, teamed up with Germany’s Adore GmbH, to build Iran’s Mokran solar plant in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Province. Solar power in the Persian Gulf is nothing – if not interesting…

The shift from fossil fuels to solar power and other renewable sources is a natural transition. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the Gulf States are prime territories for solar power generation. As solar production increases and greater applications are found across the Gulf States, the costs for the technology globally can only decrease. Applied to the quest for freshwater, solar technology makes desalinization sustainable in terms of energy. In the end, most governments in the region have concluded that there is only one solution – solar power.

UK’s BBOXX Emerges as Key Player in Togo’s Solar-Fueled Electrification Drive

UK-based mobile-pay-go solar energy start-up BBOXX is taking a big step up in class as it expands in Togo as a key partner in the Togolese government’s solar energy-fueled national electrification drive.

Just 27 percent of Togo’s population (~7.5 million) has access to reliable, safe sources of electricity, USAID estimates. That drops to anywhere from 6-21 percent in the countryside. Togo’s government aims to raise national electrification to 50% by 2020, 75% by 2025 and 100% by 2030. Solar energy figures to play a leading role in realizing these goals.

Togo Energy Sector Overview | Click here to view the full-size image. | Source: Power Africa Togo Fact Sheet

Launched in August 2017 with a USD975,000 grant from the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) African Sustainable Energy Fund (SEFA), Togo’s Project CIZO is a strategic plan that aims to meet 50 percent of the West African nation’s electricity needs with solar power by 2030. The European Union (EU) added between €20 million-€25 million in capital via AfDB in mid-October, one of the goals being to install off-grid, home solar energy systems in 550,000 Togolese households by 2030.

“We have been operating in Togo as part of the CIZO initiative since December 2017. So far, we are making very good progress,” BBOXX CEO and co-founder Mansoor Hamayun told Solar Magazine. “To date, BBOXX has improved the lives of 20,000 people in Togo through installing solar home systems across the country. The company’s business activity has created more than 100 jobs in rural areas.”

Togo’s CIZO solar-powered electrification drive

Two structural pillars support and guide Togo’s CIZO project:

• Implementation of a national IT platform to aggregate the instant payment functionality (DESCO, MNO) and the collection of data on the energy needs of their consumption habits and their solvency;

  Building capacity to provide sales, installation and maintenance of solar kits in rural areas.

Furthermore, support from AfDB’s SEFA and other international development banks and agencies will enable a national network of mobile payments agents to be created. Recruitment and training of agents will help build the foundation for so-called PAYGO operations by making mobile, electronic banking and payments services available in remote rural communities, according to SEFA. In addition, solar energy training and education academies will be established across Togo, thereby providing a ready supply of certified, Togolese technicians.

Togo’s government aims to foster construction of 300 mini solar power plants across the country and distribute 500,000 household solar energy kits at a 30 percent discount to the market price as Project CIZO proceeds. EU and AfDB support should help realize that goal, as well as facilitate achievement of Togo’s broader-based national electrification and sustainable development goals.

It’s estimated that Project CIZO will cost the Togolese government approximately the equivalent of some USD1.76 billion. The government intends to raise USD318 million and raise the remainder from private investors.

The EU’s CIZO funding falls within the framework of the G20 Compact with Africa, a sustainable development initiative launched in March 2017. The intent is to recruit participation of Togolese banks in CIZO, thereby facilitating the nationwide solar electrification drive by encouraging private-sector lending to home solar and mini solar power plant customers. Ultimately, the EU aims to provide energy access to 2 million Togolese within five years.

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BBOXX’s recipe for success in Togo

A Power Africa partner, BBOXX has agreed to distribute 300,000 home solar kits across the country to introduce solar power in Togo, according to USAID. BBOXX is confident it will fulfill, if not exceed, expectations as a company and in helping Togo realize CIZO’s goals. “On average, people completely off the grid in the developing world spend USD14 per month on candles, batteries and kerosene. Those on unreliable grids spend USD150 per month and another USD150 for a one-off connection grid. BBOXX customers completely off the grid spend USD6 per month for a solar home system which provides them with energy for lighting, small appliances and mobile phone charging,” Hamayun said in an interview. He added that BBOXX pay-go home solar energy systems come with the added benefit of having been proven reliable and come with comprehensive customer service. And in addition to generating emissions-free, renewable energy with zero in the way of fuel costs, customers pay for smart-metered energy as it’s used and they are able via mobile payments services. The young company’s business model has been implemented and proven successful in other African countries facing similar rural electrification challenges, Hamayun pointed out. BBOXX got its start, and has been proving its ability to build and operate a mobile, pay-go home solar network based on marketing, distribution and sales of digitally networked home solar power kits, devices and small household appliances in Rwanda, where it has been operating since 2013.

BBOXX’s Pulse cloud-based task management platform

In Togo, BBOXX’s mobile pay-go, home solar PV-battery energy storage systems are already supplying sustainable, emissions-free electricity to 26,000 households. Its home solar energy kits and low-power, energy-efficient household electrical and electronic products are being sold in some 20 local shops, employing around 100 Togolese, according to the company. “As a company, we place a great deal of emphasis on formal training of employees, ranging from customer service, digital skills and technical training,” Hamayun said in an interview. “This is how we ensure that our distributed workforce has the necessary knowledge and skills to do their jobs effectively. We want to empower our employees to achieve even more and we are heading in the right direction.” Being awarded Great Place to Work certification added credibility and legitimacy to this. It also boosted employee morale and aids BBOXX’s recruitment and hiring efforts, Hamayun pointed out. “We know this approach works, as in Rwanda, where we have operated since 2013, we have been awarded with the ‘Great Place to work Certification’ - a globally-recognised stamp of approval for an excellent workplace culture.”

Technologically, Pulse, BBOXX’s cloud-based task management platform, plays a core, key role in the company’s expansion efforts. “We face the challenge of managing scale as customers, products and employees are dispersed across a range of remote locations,” Hamayun said. Pulse streamlines BBOXX’s business processes and enhances customer service, which makes for an efficient, smoothly run operation, he explained. “Pulse ‘gamifies’ and ‘digitalizes’ our entire sales and service management, automating tasks for sales agents, technicians, call centres and our supply chain,” Hamayun said. The cloud-based platform incorporates “Big Data” analytical capabilities, “allowing us to have an accurate picture of performance quickly and uses machine learning to enable predictive analytics. For example, Pulse uses product monitoring to predict failure and allows the operational team to proactively support customers, automatically schedules field tasks for staff and much more,” he added.

Some big boosts

BBOXX received a big boost in late October when France’s EDF announced it would partner with BBOXX in its efforts to energize Togo. “By teaming up with BBOXX in Togo, the EDF Group has embarked on a new stage of development of its off-grid activities in Africa, which has been constantly speeded [sic.] up since our Ivory Coast subsidiary, Zeci, was set up less than two years ago,” Valerie Levkov, EDF’s senior vice president in charge of Africa and Middle East, stated for a press release. “We are proud to work with a partner like BBOXX, which shares our commitment to low carbon energies. The partnership that has just been set up fits in with the EDF strategy CAP 2030, whose main purpose is to triple our activities outside Europe.”

Boosting BBOXX’s expansion in Togo further, private equity investment company Bamboo Capital Partners will join with BBOXX and EDF by investing an undisclosed amount in BBOXX’s Togolese DESCO (Distributed Energy Service Company) via its BEAM investment platform. The capital is to finance and accelerate BBOXX Togo’s growth.

BBOXX has also been able to raise capital locally through Union Togolaise de Banque. That “has made financial matters more straightforward for us, and it will boost our expansion across the country,” Hamayun said.

The Government of Togo and state institutions are also facilitating BBOXX Togo’s efforts. The company is working with La Poste, which has the largest distribution network in the country, to sell and distribute its solar home systems and other small electrical, consumer products, such televisions and radios, Hamayun explained. BBOXX is also opening shops within La Poste’s distribution outlets, he added.

Building the Foundation for the Grid Edge-Centered Renewable Energy Web of the Future

LO3 Energy recently announced it will work with the Energy Web Foundation (EWF) to advance development of data standards and the systems architecture for an open-source, blockchain-based, distributed energy resources trading and management platform. The results should help rationalize a nascent market and technological ecosystem that has been undergoing rapid fragmentation and diversification.

A small but growing number of proprietary, blockchain-based distributed energy transaction systems have emerged over the course of recent years in response to fast growing deployment of distributed solar and other renewable energy resources. Developing industry-wide standards for data, exchanges of data, and peer-to-peer, distributed energy transaction processing and management would provide the technical common ground and rules needed for distinct platforms to communicate and interact with one another seamlessly and securely, thereby serving as a catalyst for further development and growth of distributed renewable energy capacity worldwide.

LO3 Energy was one of the first young start-ups to capitalize on the promise of blockchain-based, peer-to-peer distributed energy trading and transaction management with the launch of the rooftop solar PV, battery energy storage-based Brooklyn Microgrid in New York. The company has been expanding rapidly, but cautiously, since. That includes launching Exergy, which LO3 describes as “a distributed ledger system combining software and hardware layers, a token system for permitting data, and an architecture that advances market design and technology in tandem.”

Exergy brought LO3’s strategic developments in alignment with those of EWF, a global, nonprofit blockchain energy industry association launched by Grid Singularity and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) in 2017. As the organization explains, EWF aims to construct a shared, open-source digital infrastructure capable of “unleashing blockchain’s potential to accelerate the transition to a decentralized, democratized, decarbonized and resilient energy system.”

Solar Magazine spoke with LO3 Energy founder and CEO Lawrence Orsini and EWF’s Peter Bronski to learn and share more regarding the two organizations’ collaboration – how and why it came to be, where it’s at, where it’s going and what achieving their shared vision and goals portend for the future of energy production, distribution and use.

Standardized, open-source blockchain energy data and UN Sustainable Development Goal 7

Issues related to scalability, processing speed and energy usage have been hindering deployment of production-scale, industrial-strength blockchain distributed energy systems platforms. Both LO3 Energy and EWF are finding ways to work around those issues.

EWF has developed and adopted a “proof of authority” methodology that achieves the consensus required to verify that prospective, new blockchain energy transactions are authentic and comply with specifications. That’s one of several key innovations that resolve the scalability, processing speed and energy consumption issues associated with “proof of work” blockchain protocols, such as that used for Bitcoin trading and transaction management. The Ethereum Wire Protocol and associated Ethereum Virtual Machine number among the principal tools LO3 Energy is using to build Exergy. LO3 licensed and modifies them so as to accommodate the high frequency and very large numbers of micro-transactions likely to be seen across large networks of distributed energy systems, such as those utilities might operate, Orsini explained in an interview. Along with other tools, those efforts encompass resolving the issues related to scalability, processing speed and the network platform’s own energy consumption that hinder adoption of other blockchain platform variants. “Exergy, or any distributed energy management system for that matter, revolves around the data, just as the Internet did in its early days. There’s an immense rise in the amount of data that needs to be communicated as the amount of distributed renewable energy continues to increase and markets evolve. We need a global set of distributed energy standards and a platform that everyone can access and use,” Orsini told Solar Magazine.

Orsini recently addressed this topic and its significance in terms of realizing United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 – universal access to sustainable energy – while speaking at a conference at UN headquarters in New York City. “It was really heartening to see that many world leaders agree that this is the future of energy, and how engaged they are in the physics of the grid and how physical assets need to be managed. That includes the financial implications for some of the largest companies [power utilities] in these countries,” Orsini said. As disruptive as the rise of distributed renewable energy, energy storage and smart grid technology can be, it needn’t, and shouldn’t, destroy the power utilities we know today, Orsini added. “Some are very passionate about getting to 100% renewable energy, but that isn’t possible given existing grid models and infrastructure. It’s going to be difficult to get to 50, much less 100 percent,” according to Orsini.

Transactive, distributed energy networks, utilities and power sector regulators

Electric utilities and the power sector are among the most highly regulated industries worldwide. In the US, for example, utilities earn a regulated rate of return based on the capital they invest to expand, operate and maintain their capacity to distribute and in many cases, generate, electrical energy. To date, generation has been effectively centralized – concentrated and flowing out from large-scale coal, natural gas, other fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. The more energy customers consume, the more in the way of profits utilities earn. The advent and growth of digital, distributed solar, wind and other renewable energy technology is rendering such models obsolete in terms of technology, the distribution of energy generation capacity and economics. Essentially, utilities need to be paid to optimize grid assets and increase grid utilization, not build more grid, Orsini elaborated. “Distributed renewable energy is terrific for the world, but we don’t have the infrastructure, much less the business models, that are required...Some core, regulatory issues will have to be solved that result in different ways for utilities to earn profits. In order to get to 100% renewable energy we need transactive grids that value energy in real-time. And we need battery and thermal energy storage – large banks of stored energy as infrastructure – in order to get there,” Orsini said.

With Exergy, LO3 is intent on building the common data standards and systems architecture for that vision to be realized. So is EWF, which has launched a live, test version of Tobalaba, its blockchain-based, distributed energy trading network platform. Some 70 EWF affiliates are building applications based on Tobalaba protocols and specifications that reside higher up the network systems architecture stack and participating in simulated distributed energy transactions on the platform in real-time. Both EWF and LO3 Energy’s distributed data standardization initiatives, in turn, are being guided by developments at the IEEE’s transactive energy interoperability standards working group. “Broadly, there is alignment around everyone needing this data, so even our own Web developers are building on top of that. There are over 200 blockchain distributed energy solutions developers testing not only Exergy, but working to develop projects alongside EWF’s Tobalabla,” Orsini explained.

The Energy Web Foundation’s Tobalaba

EWF aims to launch an industrial-strength, full-length, commercial version of Tobalaba in February 2019, Bronski told Solar Magazine. “Real things are being done with it today,” however, he noted. “What you see via the [Tobalaba] dashboard is real-time use of the network. Real validator nodes and real applications have been and are being built and tested there.” EWF affiliates and Tobalaba network participants are all private, corporate entities of one type or another. They range from major, global energy companies and power generation and transmission-distribution utilities to renewable energy and clean-tech companies, blockchain and other software systems development start-ups, Bronski explained. The range of activities and uses to which Tobalaba test network participants are putting the software applications they develop is expanding. “Some are looking at blockchain and the energy web to directly balance and manage electricity grids. Others are using it for EV [electric vehicle] charging. Others are using it to buy and sell SRECS [Solar Renewable Energy Credits] in the US, or the equivalent, Certificates of Origin, in Europe,” Bronski said.

Digital DNA for a decentralized, renewable energy future

At a fundamental level, Tobalaba is meant to provide data and communications infrastructure needed for transactive, peer-to-peer distributed renewable energy trading and transaction management. That’s what EWF and LO3 Energy’s collaboration focuses on. “Say, for example, a homeowner with a rooftop solar energy system is producing more power than he or she consumes, so he or she decides they’d like to sell some of that surplus to a neighbor, or to a utility grid operator. Or perhaps a homeowner would like to buy emissions-free solar energy but for one reason or another doesn’t have their own solar PV system.”

Traditionally, their ability to do so would be determined by a utility that buys and sells large quantities of power and energy – megawatts and megawatt-hours. Blockchain-based, peer-to-peer transactive energy systems foster greater market participation by opening up opportunities for small-scale energy producers and consumers (at the kilowatt scale) to transact with each other directly, Bronski explained.

What’s motivating these companies to allocate time, effort, capital and other resources to participate in Tobalaba’s development? “I think many of us in the energy blockchain community see a ‘greenfield’ market opportunity here, and have an interest in realizing the multiple benefits,” Bronski said. Further along this line is the motivating idea of accelerating innovation and fostering standardization and blockchain energy systems’ interoperability, which are paramount in participants’ minds. “EWF’s place in that hierarchy is building that common, core platform that everyone can use,” he added. The fundamental premise underlying the EWF initiative is that existing blockchain systems platforms aren’t suitable when it comes to applying them to energy.

Therefore, EWF’s mandate is to build the the core platform for blockchain energy applications and systems that will be available to anyone, whether they’re inside or outside the industry.

The foundation for the transactive energy grid of the future

User interfaces and software applications are one level above, or closer to the end-user, than what EWF is building, Bronski emphasized. Running end-user applications is incumbent on having a digital DNA on which they can run. “That digital DNA is what EWF is building,” he said. “Figuring out how to standardize all the grid-edge telemetry data that’s needed to manage the transactive grids of the future is really important work,” LO3’s Orsini added.

It’s not something to be developed by one company in isolation. Just like the Internet, this [the transition to decentralized, renewable energy] is a global phenomenon. All the machines and devices involved have to know how to access, speak and communicate with each other.

Asked if the distributed, renewable energy transition was progressing as fast as is necessary or he would have thought, Orsini said: “It’s happening faster than I thought but slower than I’d like.”

Commonly shared rules, specifications, guidelines and mechanisms are needed to accelerate the distributed, renewable energy transition, he continued. “And there have to be incentives so that key stakeholders make use of those mechanisms and data makes its way to a platform in a form that is valuable,” Orsini said. The Green Button data initiative in the US is an early example, but it doesn’t go far enough, Orsini added.

There’s some data on there, but it’s doesn't fully realize the value of the data. There has to be a means of valuing and monetizing it so as to have an impact on business models of industry stakeholders.

The data could be of value to just about anyone or any organization that consumes, produces, distributes or otherwise makes use of energy. “It could be improving the products or services of an inverter manufacturer, a solar panel manufacturer or a company that provides smart home equipment, appliances, devices or services – today’s Samsungs, for example,” Orsini said. “But you need to put that standardized data on to a platform and deliver a data service to enable all that.”

The Market-Makers “De-Risking” Clean Energy Development in the Caribbean and Central America

The USAID Clean Energy Finance Facility for the Caribbean and Central America (CEFF-CCA) recently held a webinar during which a group of “market-making,” clean energy pioneers explained what they’re doing to help build a structural market framework and spur development of local, environmentally friendly, renewable energy and energy efficiency projects across the region.

Satellite image of Hurricane Katia (left) making landfall over the Mexican state of Veracruz, Hurricane Irma (center) approaching Cuba, and Hurricane Jose reaching peak intensity on September 8, 2017. | Source: Wikimedia Commons

June 1 marked the start of another Atlantic hurricane season in the Northern Hemisphere, raising concerns regarding the vulnerability of Caribbean and coastal Central American nations faced with another round of extreme weather events. The landfall of three major hurricanes in 2017 – Harvey, Irma and Maria – accounted for nearly all the 2017 season’s damages – a record amount of at least USD282.16 billion. Another major hurricane, Nate, was the worst natural disaster in Costa Rica’s history.

The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season also sparked a concerted effort on the part of governments and public and private sector organizations not only to restore grid power in places most affected, but to begin the work of designing and building the foundation for an electricity generation and distribution system that will prove more reliable, resilient, accessible, affordable and environmentally friendly. Solar Magazine listened in on CEFF-CCA’s webinar to gain and share insights regarding the multilateral, public-private partnership’s latest efforts to realize a region-wide, clean energy transition.

A three-year, USD10 million program to spur the clean energy transition in the Caribbean and Central America

Implemented by ECODIT, CEFF-CCA is a three-year (2015-2018), $10 million grant program supported by USAID, the US Dept. of State, the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). CEFF-CCA grant program participants are effectively serving as clean energy market-building pioneers in the Caribbean and Central America.

The first CEFF-CCA webinar, which took place in June, zoomed in on some of the program’s innovators and change-makers – organizations that have capitalized on CEFF-CCA grant funding and other resources to introduce new clean energy technology, new modes of operation, or new business models and applications that are fostering clean energy access in the Caribbean and Central America. The focus of the second webinar shifted to program partners that are in effect erecting the “scaffolding,” or “structural framework” critical to the creation of vital, robust markets, whether they be for clean energy or any type of product or service. Furthermore, via CEFF-CCA USAID is helping pioneering clean energy finance companies and institutions safely navigate and pass through the so-called new technology, start-up and market-building “Valley of Death,” CEFF-CCA Chief of Party Jorge Barrigh explained during the webinar’s introduction. Executives representing clean energy finance and investment groups, a strategic market consultant and a market, customer, engineering and technical services consultant active in Central America and the Caribbean made presentations during the July 23 webinar. So did an executive from a Honduran university program that’s emerging as a hub for renewable energy development market research and development assistance.

MGM-Innova raised some USD75 million for an initial private equity fund – MGM Sustainable Energy Fund I – and is investing that capital in the development of energy efficiency and distributed, renewable power generation projects across the Caribbean-Latin America region, from Colombia to Mexico, Senior Managing Director Patrick Doyle explained during the webinar. About 60 percent of the fund’s capital is invested in energy efficiency projects while distributed, renewable energy projects account for about 40 percent.

Orsini recently addressed this topic and its significance in terms of realizing United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 – universal access to sustainable energy – while speaking at a conference at UN headquarters in New York City. “It was really heartening to see that many world leaders agree that this is the future of energy, and how engaged they are in the physics of the grid and how physical assets need to be managed. That includes the financial implications for some of the largest companies [power utilities] in these countries,” Orsini said. As disruptive as the rise of distributed renewable energy, energy storage and smart grid technology can be, it needn’t, and shouldn’t, destroy the power utilities we know today, Orsini added. “Some are very passionate about getting to 100% renewable energy, but that isn’t possible given existing grid models and infrastructure. It’s going to be difficult to get to 50, much less 100 percent,” according to Orsini.

MGM-Innova financed deployment of a 192-kWp hybrid solar PV-diesel generation and distribution system at Red Frog Beach.

Among other clean energy projects in its portfolio, MGM-Innova financed deployment of a 192-kWp hybrid solar PV-diesel generation and distribution system at Red Frog Beach, a residential island community in Panama’s Caribbean Bocas del Toro province, as well as financed deployment of a solar PV system and energy efficiency upgrades, including new water chillers and an air-conditioning system, for the Hotels and Language Institute in Costa Rica.

Filling in a huge financing gap

A huge financing gap exists for clean energy project development across the region, even more so when it comes to projects that combine energy efficiency and distributed, renewable power generation, Doyle explained. “Finding financing for projects smaller than USD500,000 is very difficult, and there’s a lack of capital for projects ranging from USD500,000 to USD5 million.” “It has been a real challenge to identify smaller projects and put equity capital to work,” Doyle said during his webinar presentation. “USAID has been a key partner enabling us to do that...Getting lenders, or even development banks, to finance these types of projects really hasn’t been done up until this point. We’ve been working with USAID to figure out the best way of aggregating projects that in most cases we have financed with equity capital.” MGM-Innova is nearly finished raising another USD70-75 million for a second regional clean energy investment fund. CEFF-CCA grant funding has been a key facilitator in that it lends credibility and legitimacy, as well as capital, to both the new fund and MGM-Innova as an organization. “With the CEFF-CCA funds, we’re ready to move forward and close our next fund. The focus is similar [to the group’s first fund] – energy efficiency and small, distributed renewable energy, but we’re also setting aside 15 percent of the capital for projects in Southeast Asia,” Doyle explained. Relying wholly on equity, generally speaking, leaves projected returns on investment (ROI) short of the 10 percent minimum project equity investors require, Doyle added.

A glaring lack of debt financing

All of MGM-Innova’s clean energy investments to date have taken the the form of equity capital. There’s a huge gap, and need for debt capital, as well, a point made by both Doyle and HREM CEO and President Jorge Alvarado during the webinar. Both MGM-Innova and H-REFF are working with USAID to find ways of overcoming that, Doyle noted. As helpful as it might well be in fostering banks and investors to enter or step up their clean energy financing activities across the region, a “cookie-cutter” approach to project development just doesn’t work, Barrigh highlighted during the webinar. “There’s a need for creative approaches, especially when it comes to energy efficiency and integration of renewable energy generation into the energy efficiency market space,” added Alvarado. Opportunities exist, and they’re not limited to project developments at hotels and resorts, but can be found among institutions, such as banks and hospitals, according to Alvarado. CEFF-CCA funding and partnership is enabling HREM and MGM-Innova to add their project finance pipelines by enabling the venture capital funds to identify new near-term opportunities and address the cost hurdles, Alvarado said. Being local and small, “scale becomes an obstacle when it comes to rolling out these technologies,” however, Doyle added. In part, that’s what MGM-Innova is using CEFF-CA funding to address, he noted.

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