REEEP's very first project in the Southeast Asia Pacific Region has won the National Energy Globe Award for 2009 for the Solomon Islands. The “Pacific Micro Energy Services Company” initiative has brought solar-powered LED lanterns to remote rural households in the Solomon Islands and Kiribati, replacing the default kerosene lighting, which is expensive and has harmful health effects.
This project has already attracted press attention for its innovative barter model, which lets farmers without access to the traditional banking system to trade cassava, dalo, bananas and other crops as instalment payments to pay off their micro loan for their solar home systems. This also brings a real savings in fuel costs: in the Solomon Islands, kerosene will cost a typical household the equivalent of about €0.63 per day, while the value of the crops traded for solar LED lighting amounts to less than half that, at €0.28 per day for the duration of the loan, typically 18-24 months.
This SOPAC (Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission) implemented initiative, funded by the governments of the United Kingdom and New Zealand, has achieved significant up-scaling since the REEEP component of the project closed in January 2009. A local solar entrepreneur in the Solomon Islands, Willies Electrical, was able to leverage further funding from the Solomon Islands’ government and the World Bank, and scaled up this kerosene replacement model to 600 more households, an 18-fold increase on the original project’s 35 households. Beyond this, Willies has another 1410 households who are interested in the LED systems, pending further financing, and is currently in further negotiations with the World Bank.
“This is an exemplary instance of how small and targeted REEEP interventions pave the way for follow-up initiatives, resulting in large impacts. It is also a testament to REEEP’s robust structure and its presence in the region through a Regional Secretariat which gives opportunity to work with regional agencies and develop possibilities for scaling up. For our donors, this demonstrates that funding that is channelled through REEEP is money well invested,” said Marianne Osterkorn, the organisation’s Director General.
“I’ve been able to visit the communities in the Solomon Islands that have had their solar home systems installed. It is truly humbling to be accepted for a day into these communities and to see how much the lives of the people involved have been touched and transformed,” exudes Eva Oberender, head of the REEEP Regional Secretariat, “We commend David Iro (CEO, Willies Electrical) for his ability to inspire the people of the Solomon Islands to come on board with solar power, his tireless persistence and his new ideas, as well as the whole team at SOPAC for helping make it all happen. The National Energy Globe for the Solomon Islands couldn’t have gone to a more worthy project.”
The Energy Globe is one of the most prestigious environmental awards. It is an annual competition with more than 100 nations participating in which outstanding sustainable projects are honoured. The Award is presented at the national and international levels, and concludes with an annual global televised gala. This year, the awards gala will take place in Kigali, Rwanda on World Environment Day, 3rd June 2010.
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Using a combination of technological advances, aggressive policies, and a strong financial position, China’s growth in renewable energy has far outstripped that of most developed or developing nations.
At DIREC, Minister Liu Qi, Vice Minister of National Energy Administration, Peoples Republic of China took delivery of the report from Binu Parthan, REEEP's Deputy Director General.
The report contains a comprehensive review of China’s progress in clean energy to date as well as its plans for future growth through 2020 and recommendations for how to improve. Worldwatch China Program Director Haibing Ma, Climate and Energy Program Director Alexander Ochs, and a team of China-based researchers led by Li Junfeng, President of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association, all contributed to the study.
“We think this report will bring an improved understanding amongst non-Chinese decision makers about the problems and opportunities China faces in the energy field,” said Li Junfeng, REEEP’s regional director for East Asia and Secretary General of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association, “and it also has enhanced the capacity of China’s own energy efficiency and renewable energy experts to advise the country’s top energy decision-makers.”
Report highlights
- In 2009, China surpassed the United States to become the world’s largest market for wind power, housing nearly one-third of the total installed capacity.
- China’s newly added wind power capacity has doubled every year for the past four years. The country added 13.8 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity in 2009.
- In 2009, China’s solar photovoltaic (PV) companies held 40 percent of the global market, with most production being exported to Europe. More than 20 Chinese solar PV companies have successfully engaged in initial public offerings (IPOs), and five of these rank in the world’s top 10 in solar PV production.
- China’s installed solar water heating capacity alone accounts for 80 percent of global installations.
- China is the world’s leading manufacturer of solar water heaters, with domestic production capacity topping 40 million square meters in 2009. Chinese manufacturers now have a remarkable 90 percent of the global market for these products.
- China’s small hydropower capacity is roughly equal to the small hydro installed capacity in the rest of the world combined.
- China reduced its energy intensity (energy use per unit of GDP) by 15.6 percent between 2005 and 2009 and is on target to achieve its 20 percent target by 2010.
- Between 2006 and 2008, China shut down more than 34 GW of small thermal power plants and eliminated nearly 61 million tons of obsolete iron production capacity, 44 million tons of steel production capacity, and 140 million tons of cement production capacity—saving 72 million tons of coal equivalent (tce).
- China’s energy consumption has doubled since 2000, although per capita energy use remains well below the world average: 2.1 tce in China versus 6.6 in developed (OECD) countries and 11.1 in the United States.
- China’s vehicle fleet is estimated to increase by 1 million every month.
- Coal consumption in China has doubled over the past nine years. Consumption of oil tripled.
- China has plans to reduce its carbon emissions per unit of economic output 40–45 percent by 2020.
- According to Chinese projections, renewables should represent 16–20 percent of total energy consumption by 2020, and 40–45 percent by 2050.
A full copy of the report can be downloaded below.
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