UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A new report calls for investment
in clean energy to be tripled to $1.2 trillion annually
through 2030 to give more than one billion people worldwide
access to electricity and help prevent global warming.
Adnan Amin, director-general of the
International Renewable Energy Agency said Wednesday
"it's absolutely feasible" that the goal can be achieved,
pointing to major advances in using solar power and other
renewables to power national grids, villages and homes
especially in the developing world.
The report produced by the World Bank and some 20 other
organizations and agencies tracks progress on the
Sustainable Energy for All initiative. The campaign calls
for achieving three targets by 2030: universal access to
modern energy services, doubling the rate of improvement in
energy efficiency, and doubling the share of renewables in
the global energy mix.
According to the report, which was released Monday, annual
global investments in energy will need to scale up from
roughly $400 billion to meet the three targets. Of the $1.2
billion required, it said, between $40 billion and $100
billion annually is needed to achieve universal access to
electricity.
By contrast, the report said, universal access to modern
cooking fuels to replace wood, charcoal and dung which cause
serious pollution and respiratory problems requires just
$4.3 billion a year.
"This is not about charity," Kandeh Yumkella, the U.N.
special representative for Sustainable Energy for All and
CEO of the initiative, said Wednesday. "This is about
markets and investments. We see this as a trillion-dollar
opportunity, not a trillion-dollar challenge."
The initiative is rallying governments, international
institutions, businesses, banks and civil society groups to
help meet the 2030 targets.
"Governments do not have that kind of resource," Yumkella
said. "Only public-private partnerships will generate this
kind of resource flow."
Amin cited the case of Bangladesh where today about six
million homes are receiving light and electricity through
solar power. "They're installing close to 60,000 home units
every month - this is massive growth," he said.
At a three-day forum that runs through Thursday attended by
some 40 ministers and leading figures from business and
international organizations, a number of commitments were
made including by the European Union which said it will
provide grants of over $3.5 billion for sustainable energy
investments from 2014-2020.
China said it would meet its target of providing all people
with electricity by 2015 and said the country will increase
the non-fossil fuel share of its energy consumption from
about 11 percent in 2014 to 15 percent in 2020 and 20
percent by 2030.
Grammy-nominated singer Akon, who started an initiative
called "Akon Lighting Africa" two years ago, told a press
conference Wednesday that he sees energy as "a key of
Africa's development."
The singer, who was born in the U.S. of Senegalese parents
and was reared in both countries, said he set a goal of
bringing solar-powered electricity to 1 million homes in
Africa by the end of 2014 and not only achieved that but is
now operating in 14 countries.
Subscribe to Power Engineering magazine