RP, 2 others get $800 million for energy efficiency projects

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines and two other Asian countries will receive a total of $800 million for energy efficiency or renewable energy programs.

Funding will come from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) for Asia after endorsement by the implementors governing the Climate Investment Funds (CIF). The joint implementors are the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Inter-American Development Bank, International Finance Corp. and the World Bank.

Part of the program include catalyzing private sector investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy through local banks, transmission system upgrades to reduce losses and support renewable energy development, and significant urban transport improvements, with the help of the ADB and the World Bank Group. 

Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines formulated investment plans, which were reviewed and approved by the joint implementors.

The Philippine Investment Plan will use $250 million in CTF co-financing to support government efforts to maintain and increase the country’s large share of renewable energy and to implement the National Environmentally Sustainable Transport Strategy. 

The plan prioritizes activities that will catalyze private sector investment in distributed generation through renewable resources, provide investment support and risk mitigation for the private sector’s entry into energy efficiency and cleaner production sectors, promote solar generation with net metering, and introduce Bus Rapid Transit Systems in Cebu and Metro Manila. 

Including co-financing, the CTF investments in the Philippine should mobilize about $2.5 billion from the government, multilateral development banks, carbon finance, and the private sector.

The Thailand Investment Plan will use $300 million in CTF co-financing to support the government’s ambitious target of a 20-percent share of alternative energy by 2022 and the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 by 15 percent.  The plan prioritizes activities that will catalyze private sector investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency through the government‘s specialized financial institutions and private commercial banks as financial intermediaries, and investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency by state-owned electric utilities as part of a clean energy advancement program.

It will also support urban transformation through CTF co-financing for bus rapid transit and a first-of-its-kind urban GHG (green house gas) reduction action plan to build energy efficiency in Bangkok. The CTF investments will mobilize financing of more than $4 billion from the government, multilateral development banks, carbon finance, and the private sector.

The Vietnam Investment Plan will use $250 million in CTF co-financing for industrial energy efficiency; energy efficiency programs led by energy service companies (ESCOs); initial capitalization of Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Funds; transmission system modernization; direct investment and a risk-sharing facility for private sector renewable energy development; and enhancements to urban rail systems in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The CTF investments will mobilize financing of about $3.195 billion from the government, multilateral financiers, carbon finance, and the private sector.

The three Asian investment plans bring the total of CTF-funded investment plans to nine. Five other countries – Egypt, Mexico, Morocco, South Africa, and Turkey – already have investment plans endorsed and are in the process of development and implementation of projects.