Broad Goals Under SE4ALL and Work to Date
Introduction:
Building on the UN Secretary General’s Year of Sustainable Energy for All, GSEP has taken as its 2012-2013 theme “Universal Access to Electricity”, with the goal of defining how our organization, its members, and the utility industry broadly might best contribute to meeting this critical global challenge.
• Develop a Range of Standardized Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for Given Regulatory Environments, Recognizing There Are Project-Specifics – The development of standardized PPAs has been highlighted by stakeholders in the electricity access community as a potentially game-changing tool that would help reduce transaction costs and uncertainty associated with the project development process, and unlock access to lower-cost capital – and it is an area that GSEP is uniquely qualified to address. With a membership of the world’s leading electricity companies, GSEP has unrivaled technical expertise and experience with drafting, negotiating, and implementing PPAs, and could play a number of roles in helping to expedite the development of standardized contracts, including convening working groups among member companies to help facilitate template design. These roles offer GSEP the clearest opportunity to utilize the unique skill set of the organization and its member companies to fill critical gaps and make a significant impact to the SE4ALL initiative while helping to define GSEP’s actions over the next several years.
Launched in 2012, the UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Energy For All (SE4ALL) initiative mobilizes action from all sectors of society in support of meeting three objectives by 2030: providing universal access to modern energy services; doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency; and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. The initiative focuses on catalyzing major new investments to speed the transformation of the world’s energy systems, recognizing that energy is essential for economic growth and increased social equity.
The development of standardized PPAs has been highlighted by stakeholders in the electricity access community as a potentially gamechanging tool
Over the past six months, a series of discussions have been held and in-depth research has been conducted to identify the most suitable role for GSEP in helping to expand electricity access. These discussions have included: • A survey of GSEP members on past projects and ideas for building on the strengths and special features of the organization • Interviews with a group of Education for Sustainable Energy Development (ESED) scholars on their experiences with electricity access projects in their home countries, and the challenges and role for GSEP • A Design Lab co-hosted at the Clinton Global Initiative with the UN on strategies and approaches to providing access to energy worldwide • A workshop co-hosted at The World Economic Forum on cross-sector partnerships and business models for expanding energy access • A roundtable discussion in Washington, DC with senior business leaders and investors on ways for GSEP to leverage private sector capital and expertise
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Sustainable Electricity for All
Solar lamps have the potential to transform off- grid communities in developing countries.
Objective and Structure of Report Based on these discussions and the research into the work being done by other organizations in support of SE4ALL, it is clear that there is an opportunity for GSEP to leverage its unique attributes to make a potentially groundbreaking contribution to the efforts to expand electricity access. This report provides an overview of that opportunity.
Duke CEO James Rogers and Kandeh Yumkella, directorgeneral of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), showcase a solar lamp at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in September 2012.
It is organized into three sections: the first offers a review of GSEP’s contributions to date – past activities, the recent work on public private partnerships (PPPs), and the Berlin Commitments – and examines how that work ties into this year’s effort to help expand electricity access. The second section looks at the electricity access landscape, and lays out the opportunity for GSEP to make a unique contribution to help fill critical gaps. The third section lays out a path forward, exploring two specific potential roles for GSEP: • Global Sustainable Electricity Access Fund (GSEAF) – Electricity access projects in developing and emerging economies face the critical challenge of a lack of access to lower-cost capital, which investors are reluctant to provide because of the higher risks of these projects. GSEAF would address this issue by leveraging GSEP’s leadership to combine three components that are critical to the success of electricity access projects – capital, technology, and know-how. A fund management firm – to be determined by GSEP – would oversee the fund and GSEP and its members could play an integral role in the fund by offering technical advisory services to the projects as well as potentially investing directly in the fund. Recommendations to the Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership
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