Promoting Alternative Energy:

Challenges for Donors

Dr. Parvaiz NaimSenior Country Advisor KfW Office Islamabad

3rd International Conference on Alternative Energy & Power

Karachi Expo Centre March 28, 2009

20-20-20 Targets

By the year 2020

• 20% reduction in GHG emission

• 20% reduction in Energy Demand

• 20% share of RE in Energy Consumption(EU March 2007)

By the year 2050

Carbon-Neutral Power Supply(Euroelectric March 2009)

Donor interest growing!

$500 million/year available for RE

Top 3 sources:

• KfW ($180 million)• World Bank ($110 million)• GEF ($100 million)

(World Watch Institute, USA)

Why Off-Grid options?

• Donors supported WAPDA unbundling; discouraged tariff subsidies

• DISCOs run as corporate entities; prefer feeding profitable localities

• Far-flung areas largely on their own

• Donors see off-grid options

as good solution for improving

access to electricity

Electrical POWER

• Myth: Electricity improves livelihoods opportunities

• Reality: True only when

sufficient electrical power

available for

productive use

Space lighting only.. counter productive?

• Villagers make maximum use of daylight

• Electrical space light push working hours beyond normal daylight hours

• Increased workload on women

• Need for careful assessment

of technology influence on social changes

Best example

• Solar-powered pumps used for groundwater extraction (no storage batteries used)

Lesson-1: Assess Needs

• Solar communal system of lights difficult to manage

Imbalanced use

drains power

e.g in Balochistan

Lesson-2: Matching components

• Higher voltage PV panels can fry the batteries, bust bulbs (e.g in a 100-Solar Home Project Ali Pur Frash, ICT)

• Lack of Charge Controller ( e.g Parking Area light system across the street from PM House)

Lesson-3: Know your battery

• One R&D institution refused to evaluate locally manufactured batteries when the local industries were eager to provide free samples for such tests,

even when provided with

test procedure and

observation recording protocol

… that too in Urdu Language!

Know your battery

Lesson-4: Charge thy batteries well

• Use hybrid Battery Charging System making use of sun, wind and/or fossil fuel based electrical generator for recharging batteries in cloudy season.

• Storage battery-based system should be seen as an Interim arrangement until a more robust system becomes available.

Lesson-5: User Friendliness• Systems difficult for women to manage

must be avoided – e.g in biogas plants, heavy steel floating drum is difficult for women in a household to service. Fiber glass or fixed dome tech better

• System requiring periodic repair & maintenance by a highly qualified person should be avoided; in small scale projects, it is not cost effective to engage staff with high remuneration demand.

Lesson-6: Situation specific solution

• No need to break vertical fall of water to set up a Canal Flow system (e.g Kaplan turbine in Taxila)

Donors’ Challenge - 1

• Supporting technology identification appropriate for meeting expressed needs of a given community

• Community Acceptance of

introduced technology

Donors’ Challenge - 2

Finding partner organizations having:

• (a) Technical expertise• (b) managerial expertise, and • (c) experience in interfacingwith local communities for effectiveutilization of any newly introducedtechnology

Donors’ Challenge - 3

• Ensuring that the introduced technology is sustained by the communities

beyond the life of the

donor-supported project

Donors’ Challenge - 4

• Ensuring that the total sum of economic benefits to the target families due to the introduced technology

weighs more than

simply distributing

the funds in cash

to the families!

Take-home Message

Until a perfect solution is found….

Take-home Message

Until a perfect solution is found….

MARCH ON!