Promoting Alternative Energy: Challenges for Donors Dr. Parvaiz Naim Senior Country Advisor KfW Office Islamabad 3 rd International Conference on Alternative Energy & Power Karachi Expo Centre March 28, 2009

Targets By the year % 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 interfacing with local communities for effective utilization of any newly introduced technology

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!