66 MAKALE / ARTICLE Speaking at the financing forum in Bonn6, he pointed to an, as yet, cautious approach to new energy technologies and projects: !here is now interest but not enough financing actualiy going on. Part of this is due to a conventional power 'hangover' from the rash of failed IPP investments in many markets in the 1990s, which has lef! investors particularly risk-averse to the power and utilities sector generally. There is also a series of risks that are assessed in any project. The 'new' energy technologies have a higher perceived risk, as investors are stil working their way up the learning curve. Risk assessment experience, as well as risk management and insurance tools, should start to reduce this risk, but this will only follow actual investment experience, and commercial track record. A further issue tor investors and lenders is projeci scale - something weli known to small and medium- sized project developers. 20 Euro miliion is the minimum size of project !hat a bank like fortis is likely to consider, due to transaction costs. There is also a set of technical issues which increase uncertainly and perception of risk in the medium term. in the UK, tor example, the capacity of the electricity grid and the distribution networks to 'lake' a growing contribution from DE and cope with different voltage characteristics is a case in point. Graham Meeks, Director of Policy Development at Climate Change Capital, a specialist merchant bank concentrating on low and zero carbon Technologies, says it is stil not clear who is going to pay tor any required upgrades or configuration of the grid and network. This adds to concern that !here may be future additional costs that could reduce projeci returns. THE FINANCING CONTINUUM What this iliustrates is the more fundamental challenge of remoulding 'conventional' energy approaches or financing tools to renewables or DE. Sonntag O'brien and Usher point out that the very different technologies- in scale, upfront cost and payback times, infrastructure, fuel supply risk (e.g wind data, biomass supply) and so on- require new thinking, new risk management approaches and new forms of capital, some of which are only now being developed as mainstream financiers and risk managers are getting involved. As there is finance available, a diagrammatic summary of the financing gaps is useful to focus on wast is required to get from project idea to commercial reality- what O'Brien and Usher refer to as the 'finance continuum'- see Figures 1 and 2. To look at how solutions are being developed, in developing countries in the off-grid market, projeci development and second stage low-return 'seed' capital, together with local smali enterprise development and entrepreneur support, are vital but not easily available. This is particularly so as the creditworthiness of entrepreneurs may be difficult to establish as they may not hava a commercial record, leaving banks unwiliing to risk capital, and entrepreneurs shouldering ali the 'pioneering' risk. One innovative approach to this is in South Africa where, under the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP)7- an initiative to build 'multistakeholder' momentum into accelerating the RE and energy efficiency uptake, a sustainable energy financiers network was established. This was on the basis ofa meeting in February 2004, organized by RAPS Finance8, of around 25 financiers- public and development finance, smali scale enterprise-focused finance intermediaries like E&Co9, as weli as commercial banks like Standard Corporate Merchant Bank. The value of Exchange within 'the sector', particularly between players already engaged in different stages of financing, or with an interest in investing in sustainable energy, was seen as valuable. With an aim of increasing dela flow, feedback both to projeci developers developing business plans and looking tor the appropriate lenders or investors, and policymakers developing the mechanisms tor delivering the South African renewables target, were seen as valuable outputs. Other financiers operating in developing countries are starting to create new types of funds to fili gaps- using commercial finance experience and tools. For axample, Rabobank's lndian Renewable Energy Enterprise and Development Fund (IREED) is a response to the lack of equity in the renewables sector in lndia, despite a significant market potential. Established by Rabo lndia Finance Limited and BTS lnvestment Advisors, it is using professional investment and management expertise to raise a 30 doliars miliion private equity fund for the sector. in the remote, off-grid market- in one projeci, the Himalaya Rural Lighting lnitiative10finance professionals are developing new financial approaches that leverage smali amounts of investment capital to create credit facilities for farmers' co-operatives tor the purchase of solar lanterns. INCREASED LENDING FOR RENEWABLES lnternational Financial lnstitutions (IFls) and Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) play an important, it currently undersized, role in leveraging and underwriting finance going into sustainable or DE systems. There has been much, justified, focus on the relative scale of lending going into conventional energy, compared to the 'new energy technologies'- now there are the signs of change. During the Bonn conference the World Bank made a nod in this direction by commiting to icrease its renewables investment by 20% per year for the next five years, amounting to an estimated additional 200 dollars miliion per year by the end of that period. However, it is worth noting that the Bank made a single 200 doliars million loan to Turkey alone for renewables investment- channeliing the money via the lndustrial Development Bank of Turkey and the Turkish Development Bank11- suggesting that different approaches are possible. The Bank's private sector lending arm, the IFC, has already stated it is interested in cogeneration and DE options in developing countries12. Also during the Bonn conference, the European lnvestment Bank (EIB) announced that it would lend up to 50% of its total lending tor European electricity generation to renewables by 2010amounting to around 700 Euro miliion a year. The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is also moving in this direction: I ENERJİ & KOJENERASYON DÜNYASI ♦ "Kojenerasyon: Yüksek Verim, Temiz Çevre, Enerjide Yeniden Yapılanma"
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