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Dear Clean Energy Colleague,
ACEF 2015 got off to a great start today with five deep dive workshops (DDWs) and the 8th Asia Solar Energy Forum, all with great turnouts. The auditoriums were at capacity and in some presentations, there was standing room only. Here are some impressions from today’s events.
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Antonio Lopez Martinez of ADB at the Minigrid DDW
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Antonio Lopez Martinez, ADB: Hybrid Renewable Minigrids: Their Potential for Expanding Energy Access and Reducing Diesel Dependency
With 1.3 billion people without reliable access to electricity, there is a huge market and opportunity for development, but also a major problem to overcome. Hybrid Minigrids are just one solution, but we need to change our approach to take into account the end-user’s perspective. In the past, we have been looking primarily at the technologies needed to make minigrids viable, and suitable financing sources; however, we also need to look at the users, and their needs, to develop sustainable models for the future.
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Anthony Jude of ADB talks about solar technologies and markets
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Anthony Jude, ADB, Chair of Asia Solar Energy Forum (ASEF)
Today we are discussing the importance of solar energy, and the opportunities for investment in solar, and the new technological developments. There is a disconnect between policy and financing, and Governments can do more to encourage investment in solar and renewables. If countries remove subsidies and create a level playing field for solar and renewables this will accelerate the trend toward grid parity. Floating solar panels have shown great potential and pilots have been successful in Korea, Japan, India and Brazil. We need five to six years’ experience testing these new technologies to better understand technical issues that may emerge. There is the issue of evaporation and erosion and degradation of efficiency of floating panels over time, and some flexible latest generation solar panels provide better resistance to salt water corrosion.
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Dan Whyner of USAID on the importance of transport in clean energy
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Dan Whyner, USAID Regional Development Mission for Asia: Financing the Next Generation of Transportation Solutions for Asia
Transport needs to remain a central issue to discuss at ACEF in the future, as Asia is leading the way with mass growth of transport demand in urban areas and increased interest from foreign investors. The types of solutions discussed here will be transferred to cities across the world, including in Africa and South America. New innovations in transport solutions are coming out of Asia.
We are talking about solutions in large cities, such as Metro Manila and Bangkok, and there are important lessons we can draw from the issues that mega-cities are experiencing now. These include gridlocked traffic, long commutes and lower air quality. We can transfer innovative solutions that have grown out of the crisis in large metro areas and apply these to secondary cities, bypassing some of the worst mistakes made and installing and designing a more humane solution with the benefit of a greater quality of life for urban citizens.
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Peter Lilienthal of HOMER Energy on the future of minigrids
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Dr. Peter Lilienthal, HOMER Energy: Modelling Hybrid Renewable Microgrids with the HOMER Software
There is enormous potential for minigrids in Asia and Pacific island nations, and in fact in every nation with an unreliable grid. Minigrids are the future. When it comes to modelling, the Homer software can be tailored to be a very accurate and responsive tool. Today’s presentations gave a bird’s eye view and general perspective for practitioners, with lots of shared lessons learned. Homer is a very useful tool, when you are trying to get right balance of technologies. It helps us to perform an accurate energy demand survey during the design phase.
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Soma Dutta of Energia discusses gender sensitive approaches to energy access
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Soma Dutta, Energia: Unlocking Energy Access Impact, Investment, Scale and Sustainability through Gender-Sensitive Approaches
The key message from today’s DDW is that we need to create room for more innovation. Women in developing countries are driving micro-enterprises, and are either setting them up or heavily involved in small businesses. Women reach networks that remain otherwise inaccessible to business investors: for energy access to reach the most vulnerable people, we need to invest in women, as countless studies have shown that money in women’s hands is redirected primarily towards social investment. If the education of girls is a high priority for energy access, we need to promote approaches that help women increase their income.
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Peter du Pont of Nexant, and ACEF Co-Chair
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Aaron Leopold of Practical Action
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Bodie Pulido of EVEE Inc. on his ambitious plan to transform Jeepneys
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ACEF participants warm up on Day 1
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Download the ACEF App!
We recommend that you download the smart phone app for ACEF to help plan and stay connected through your mobile device. You can review and set your schedule, stay updated throughout the week, and connect with others in the ACEF community right from your mobile device. It is the quickest way to check on what’s happening in the schedule!
All ACEF participants can download this Smart phone/tablet App for free. Please follow the instructions below to download the App:
- Download the Guidebook App on your smart phone or tablet through the App store.
- In the search box, type in “Asia Clean Energy Forum 2015.â€
- Tap “Get this Guide†to download the guide.
For more support, please check out this tutorial. With this Smart phone/tablet App Participants will be able to peruse the entire ACEF schedule, check out the different Deep Dive Workshops, learn about the Keynote Speakers and Thought Leaders attending ACEF, and develop a personalized schedule for the week, all from a mobile device.
If you are at ACEF 2015, and missed a session, there is a touch screen outside the auditorium with all of todays’ presentations ready to download. All the presentations will also be made available on the website, after ACEF.
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