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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Remarks by Ambassador Harriet C. Babbitt
U.S. Agency for International Development
Deputy Administrator
International Conference on Accelerating Grid-Based Renewable Energy Power Generation for a Clean Environment
Lewis Preston Auditorium, The World Bank March 7, 2000
Thank you, James, and good morning to all.
It's a tribute to the future that a conference entitled "Accelerating Grid-Based Renewable Energy Power Generation for a Clean Environment" could draw so many people and so much attention.
I am proud that the U.S. Agency for International Development is a co-sponsor. We strongly endorse all efforts to encourage cooperation and better share our resources and capabilities. USAID already conducts cooperative activities with the World Bank's Energy Sector Management Program, the Global Environment Facility, and the Asia Alternative Energy Program. We all share the same goals: to provide for sustained increases in energy supplies in ways that protect the world's environment and biodiversity.
Without cooperation and the sharing of resources and capabilities - which this conference can encourage and accelerate - these goals will be impossible to achieve. USAID has long recognized the important role of energy production in its development mission. Additional energy is a vital element in our efforts to help developing countries improve the health, education, agriculture, transportation and economic opportunities of their citizens.
But the wrong choices in how that energy is produced and used can ADD to the difficulty of meeting those goals. Our priorities are to help developing countries get the energy they need without damaging the environment on which their futures depend.
Developing countries' energy use will overtake that of industrial countries in the next 20 years, and is expected to account for three-fourths of the increase in global energy use between now and 2050. Renewable energy can help make developing countries more self-sufficient -- making additional debt less necessary -- create direct opportunities for local employment, and help limit net greenhouse gas emissions.
Our agency has been involved in encouraging efficient renewable energy for the past 15 years. This fiscal year, we will spend more than $18 million on renewable energy related activities.
USAID works on two fronts to help build a strong, sustainable renewable energy infrastructure:
First, we partner with the public and private sectors from the United States and our host countries, and with the community of multilateral development institutions, to create policies that encourage the development and use of renewable energy.
Second, we work with these partners to build the human capacity to plan and manage these energy applications over the long term.
During the last two fiscal years, efforts by our Washington-based renewable energy program led to the production of nearly 200 megawatts of electric power from:
- wind;
- environmentally responsible hydropower;
- geothermal energy;
- biomass generation, and
- over 4,000 solar photovoltaic systems in Brazil, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Guatemala and South Africa.
These programs have contributed to nearly $800 million of increased financial commitment to renewable energy projects:
- In Nepal, our Mission facilitated two privately developed run-of-river power plants scheduled to place 96 megawatts of new generating capacity onto the Nepali national grid this year-- eliminating power outages that had become routine for 3 million Nepalese citizens. The new $98 million Bhote Koshi project represents the largest U.S. energy investment in Nepal.
- In India, USAID activities to reduce the technical, financial, economic and institutional risks associated with biomass energy systems resulted in the installation of 270 Megawatts of generating capacity from commercial biomass. More than 1.5 million Indians have benefited.
- In Brazil, the impacts of USAID's aggressive Brazil Energy Program have been dramatic. BEP has worked on the restructuring and privatization of the electric sector and supported pioneering programs for renewable energy and energy efficiency.
In 1999 alone, USAID support led to the installation of 15 megawatts of new capacity from wind energy systems for rural communities, and to the development of an investment package for 293 megawatts of small hydro projects. The BEP assisted in drafting renewable energy legislation resulting in the enactment of nine new laws and leveraged $382 million for clean energy projects in Brazil.
In Central America, USAID's most recent assistance is part of our commitment to further the Guatemala Peace Process and the recovery from Hurricane Mitch. Our technical assistance has helped to leverage hundreds of thousands of dollars of support from Dutch and Canadian development agencies, the European Union, and international NGOs for basic rural energy services from renewable energy.
The good news from these numerous examples is that they demonstrate effective cooperation among bilateral donors, NGOs, and multilateral institutions. The bad news is that we are talking about select projects, not the systemic changes that are required to accelerate renewable energy. It is the systemic change -- which Jim Wolfensohn emphasized earlier -- that we hope this conference will address.
If I sound proud of our contributions, it's because I am. I'm also delighted with the Administration's plans for the future.
President Clinton's recently announced initiative for "Clean Energy for the 21st Century" grew out of a study which looked at future global energy needs. The study estimated that energy technology markets in developing countries will total $4-5 trillion over the next 20 years and reach $15-25 trillion dollars over the next 50 years. The independent commission concluded that any meaningful deployment of clean energy technologies internationally would require a long-term, integrated effort that focuses on public-private partnerships.
Last month the President submitted his plan for the first year of this five-year initiative to the Congress. It calls for an additional $100 million to build on existing U.S. efforts to promote renewable energy development and other clean, energy-efficient technologies.
One of the long-term goals of President Clinton's Initiative is to develop integrated renewable energy technologies with the potential to power the full range of energy services for the 2 billion people in developing countries that do not have electricity now.
The President has repeatedly stressed his strong belief that one of the great challenges of the next several decades is to get rid of the idea that you need to pollute to grow your economy. Developing countries today need not repeat all the costly mistakes made by industrialized countries during the Industrial Revolution.
USAID is determined to help developing countries leapfrog polluting technologies and make efficient use of renewable energy resources.
The request that I make to all of you this morning is to keep President Clinton's initiative in mind as you meet over these next two days. We need your help in developing ideas and activities that can make this important initiative a success -- and allow us to help millions of people in developing countries have better lives through clean, renewable energy.
We look forward to working with all of you.
Thank you.
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
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Last Updated on: July 12, 2001 |
