Energy For All Investor Forum

BACKGROUND

Despite the concerted efforts of Governments, multilateral and bilateral agencies, and private organizations, there remains 420 million out of 4.4 billion people in the Asia-Pacific Region who do not have access to electricity. Almost 93% of this energy poor population reside in rural areas.(1)

Between 2013 to 2014, public and private, international and domestic finance commitments for electricity in the 20 high-impact countries (2) averaged US$19.4 billion a year. This falls far short of the US$ 45 billion annual investment (3) required to achieve universal energy access by 2030 globally. Even more troubling, the financial commitments for decentralized energy solutions are miniscule, accounting for roughly $200 million per year or only one percent of total trackable finance for electricity committed in 2013-14 across the high-impact countries (4).

To bridge the investment gap, development agencies need to be intentional in enabling private- and public-sector transactions in the energy access sector.

OBJECTIVE

The Energy for All Investor Forum 2018 is an annual regional event organized by ADB that highlights important trends and best practices in the energy access sector. At the center of this event is an investor matching activity wherein bankable SMEs that serve the energy poor are promoted to impact funds, climate funds and other financing institutions. By facilitating private sector investment in this manner, ADB aims to broaden the impact of these SMEs in the Asia Pacific Region. This activity may also result in the adoption of the technologies developed by these SMEs in mini-grids, and other applications in the broader renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors.

The topics discussed in each session are designed to inform and benefit government representatives, investors, financing Institutions, energy access entrepreneurs and other clean energy practitioners.  

(1) ESCAP. 2017. A Global Tracking Framework 2017 Regional Assessment Report: Asia-Pacific Progress in Sustainable Energy, 2017.

(2) Three of these high-impact countries are ADB member countries, namely Bangladesh, India and Myanmar. The remaining countries are DPR Korea and sixteen African nations.

(3) According to IEA (2014) and the SE4ALL Finance Committee Report (2015)

(4) According to the Energizing Finance by SEforALL

EVENT DESCRIPTION

ADB is jointly organizing the Energy for All Investor Forum 2018 with the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore (SEAS) during the Singapore International Energy Week. This activity is part of the capacity building services offered by the Sustainable Energy Centre of Excellence (SECOE), which was jointly established by ADB and SEAS through a knowledge partnership agreement.

The Energy for All Investor Forum will begin with two panel discussions about the trends in the energy access sector.

Session 1 will discuss the services the Energy for All Initiative offers its Developing Member Countries to clarify the local market potential for decentralized energy solutions, and help their Governments enact enabling policies and regulations that encourage greater private sector participation in this domain.

In Session 2, we will ask Energy for All’s Partners to highlight structural barriers against universal energy access that persist in Developing Asia, and what approaches and solutions they have found effective in overcoming them.

After the panel discussions, we will break for lunch and then proceed to Session 3 wherein four companies will deliver an investment proposition to investors and finance institutions in attendance.

AGENDA

Organised by