Thematic Tracks

TRACK 1: Energy and Livable Cities

By 2030, nearly 2.5 billion people will be living in cities across Asia. Such an intensive level of urban growth will present a range of challenges, including vastly increased demand for transportation, housing, and energy. It will also offer a huge opportunity to identify and implement effective mechanisms to improve environmental sustainability in cities, and to provide a high quality of life to citizens. This thematic track highlighted approaches and solutions that make cities more climate-resilient and livable by incorporating more flexible, low-carbon, clean energy systems, and will showcase innovative approaches to urban development.

Cities require reliable energy for efficient water supply, wastewater treatment, solid waste management, housing, logistics, and other essential functions. Presenters in this session shared forward-thinking views, industry insights and concrete examples of how utilities can promote the integration of renewable energy and energy efficiency into urban planning. The discussions centered around efforts by utilities and cities to address the emerging challenges with conventional and transformative technologies in the various urban forms.

Moderator: Virinder Sharma, Senior Urban Development Specialist, ADB

Scene Setter Talk: Stephane Bessadi, Senior Water Utility Specialist, SDCC, ADB

Presenters:

Designing Water/Used Water Transfer and Treatment Schemes to Reduce and Generate Energy
Adrian Marsden, Associate Director, Arup

While water/used water utilities are significant power users, they have the opportunity to generate their own power and design facilities that are more efficient. This presentation highlighted several examples from projects around the world, including the Philippines and UK, where renewable technologies have been made integral elements of capital investment programmes. It also focused on key constraints, typically from regulatory frameworks, that challenge the implementation of such approaches, and recommend best practices.

Future-Proof Strategy for Electric Cooperatives to Integrate More Renewables into their Supply Portfolio
Ville Rimali, Business Development Manager, Philippines, Wärtsilä Corporation

Most cooperatives and private electricity distribution utilities have burdened themselves with too many contracts for traditional, inflexible coal baseload capacity, on top of which they have expensive peaking contracts based on diesel. That leaves little room to contract cheaper and cleaner renewable energy source into their generation portfolio, before existing long-term Power Supply Agreements (PSA) expire. This presentation explored how cooperatives can adopt a strategy of substituting their expiring PSAs with new and cleaner technologies such as solar and wind while using flexible technologies such as engines and energy storage to integrate and manage the load.

Renewable Energy Implementation Toolkit Development and Demonstration in South Asia: Sri Lanka
Qingchan YU, Program Manager of Climate Change, Global Environmental Institute

The Global Environmental Institute has developed a Renewable Energy Implementation (REI) toolkit that helps to evaluate, implements, and scale up renewable energy projects at national and regional levels. The toolkit includes GIS analysis, technology application MCA screening and financial analysis, and has been used to design industrial rooftop solar PV installation projects in China’s Guangdong Province. This presentation provided an overview of the toolkit, which can be used by developing countries in Asia to achieve their climate change commitments.

Tapping the Power of Predictive Analytics to Optimise the Use of Green Energy and Reducing Cost of Energy for Smarter Utilities
Arun Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, Kreate Energy

India needs modern, predictive analytic tools to effectively meet its renewable energy target of 175 GW, and address the challenges of grid balancing, accommodating intermittent renewable generation, and real time transmission line congestion management. This presentation showcased a solution using demand and renewable generation forecasting as the main tool to address increased renewables integration into the grid. In addition, a case study was presented for two renewable rich states (with a RE capacity share of 25%-30% of the total capacity).

The mobility of city residents and goods in Asia today is largely dependent on petroleum fuels that power road vehicles and other public transportation systems. Presenters in this session explored the potential for sustainable urban mobility, and discussed a range of technological innovations, policy and regulatory support, attractive business models and financial structuring that can create an enabling environment for e-mobility.

Moderator: Yong Chen, Programme Officer – Sustainable Urban Energy, IRENA

Scene Setter Talk: Ki Joon, Principal Transport Specialist, ADB

Presenters:

Potential role of Electric Utilities in Supporting Transport Electrification in Sri Lanka
Tisura Gamage, Research Assistant, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka

This presentation analysed the potential role of electric utilities in supporting Transport Electrification (TE) in Sri Lanka. It also compared the outcomes, learning and arguments from the U.S. State Public Utilities Commission Proceedings to Sri Lanka from a qualitative perspective looking into degrees of utility ownership, equity, market competition, innovation, managed charging and social inclusion.

The Philippines – Where E-Mobility Must be Affordable, Income Maximized, and the Availability of Charging Infrastructure Guaranteed
Robin Hughes, Founder, Director, Clean Vehicle Solutions (Asia) Limited

The Philippines government has decided to replace more than 4,000,000 old polluting Public Transport vehicles (PUV). This presentation focused on the challenge of providing a financial mechanism that allows for marginalised borrowers to afford their vehicles, structure the PUV fleet management policy that enables all who wish to participate, and provides a refuelling infrastructure that guarantees an operational range without STOPPING to charge.

Enabling electric vehicles (EV) Charging Infrastructure – Case Study of India
Apurva Chaturvedi, Senior Clean Energy Specialist, USAID

The global electric vehicle sales are on the rise have surpassed 1 million units in 2017. As per the IEA estimates (Global EV Outlook, 2018), there will be about 125 million EVs on the road by 2030. This presentation provided the key insights on business model and approach developed for EESL for rollout EV charging infrastructure in India. It covered pricing strategy, bulk procurement approach to reduce cost, institutional framework, feasibility assessment for selection of locations & business model for scale-up. It also provided the learnings drawn from implementation of a pilot of 30 charging stations across the capital of India – Delhi.

Partnering for Clean Air City Mobility
Gordon Yu, CEO & Chairman, eTouch Innovation Co., Ltd.

This presentation provided an overview of a cloud/RFID based 40-second battery swapping system/platform for electrical two-wheeler (e-bike/e-scooter/e-motorcycle). This system is expandable to compact three or four-wheeler and smart microgrid in the near future for efficient EV and smart municipal power systems.

Blockchain’s Potential for Solar Powered EV Charging Stations
Lathika Chandra Mouli, Business Development Manager, Vertech Capital

Evergo is a blockchain-based, plug-and-play backend system that addresses the challenge of EV charging that can destablize the grid by spiking power demand. This presentation provided an overview of a pilot being trialled in Thailand to test the blockchain’s ability to gather data that indicates the energy supply-demand match. It focused on the best practices to overcome the ‘pilot trap’ for clean energy technologies and the importance of public-private collaboration to achieve speed to market in the region.

The buildings sector is responsible for more than one-third of global final energy consumption. Presenters in this session highlighted the essential role of heating and cooling in the energy profile of cities and discussed technologies, systems, and strategies for moving toward low-carbon space-conditioning of cities. Some of the topics covered included energy-efficient appliances, LED lighting, smart residential and commercial buildings technologies, health and safety impacts, and energy conservation building codes.

Moderator: Sangay Penjor, Director, Urban and Social Sectors Division, East Asia Regional Department, ADB

Scene Setter Talk: Arnaud Heckmann, Principal Urban Development Specialist, ADB

Presenters:

Kevin Lane, Energy Analyst, IEA

Smart Low-Carbon District Heating and Cooling for Seoul
Yunsoung Kim, Research Fellow, Green Energy Strategy Institute

Seoul has a high population density and limited available land, which is a disadvantage for large-scale development of solar PV and wind power. This presentation focused on a smart district energy system that can meet the heat and electricity demand by using co-generation, and multiple regional energy resources with less emission and energy consumption. It also showed some cases of the utilization of temperature differences for energy transfer in district heating; highlighted the potential benefits of smart low carbon district energy system; and discussed what policies are needed to realize the potential benefits.

Waste is Cool! How 'First Mile' Waste Solutions can Cool the Smart Cities of the Future
Aditya Sharma, Senior VP, BOSON ENERGY

70% of world’s waste today is dumped or landfilled without energy recovery. However, done right, waste is one of few "fuels" produced everywhere, and perhaps surprisingly, suitable for sustainable cooling. This presentation provided an overview of the next generation of efficient small-scale solutions converting local mixed waste into clean power, heat or greenhouse-gas-free thermal cooling for direct local use. Zero waste, no toxic ash residues.

Impact on Cooling Demand with Building Efficiency Programme
Smita Kudarikar, General Manager, Maharashtra Energy Development Agency

The Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) is an initiative taken by the Government of India to promote energy efficiency in the commercial building sector. The updated version of the code was launched in June 2017. This presentation highlighted the features of the Maharashtra Energy Development Agency building, which is designed to be climate responsive, sustainable and comply with the super ECBC norms, without compromising on the aesthetics and functionality. This has reduced cooling requirement by 30-40% and reduced energy consumption by one-third (~35%).

Demand Response as a Tool to Enhance the Urban Energy System Efficiency
Yang Liu, Senior Fellow, National University of Singapore

This presentation shared insights from a demand response scheme for industrial customers in Singapore. The case study illustrated the benefits of demand response by reducing end users electricity bills, improving the asset utilization rate, and increasing the efficiency of the whole electricity system. Drawing on Singapore's experience, many Asian countries can glean lessons to provide effective financial and incentive mechanisms to reflect the value of demand response.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that nearly 91% of the world’s population lives in places where air quality exceeds WHO guideline limits, leading to serious health issues and in some cases deaths. Presenters in this session highlighted the range of social, environmental, health and safety and climate change benefits that new urban energy systems can offer to urban communities.

Moderator: Na Won Kim, Senior Environment Specialist, ADB

Scene Setter Talk: Bruce Dunn, Director, Environmental Thematic Group, ADB/Clean Air Asia

Presenters:

Strengthening Co-Benefits of Health, Climate Change and Air Quality Improvement in Energy Investments in Asian Cities
Emma Marsden, Senior Environment Specialist/Deputy Executive Director, ADB/Clean Air Asia
Glynda Bathan, Deputy Executive Director, Clean Air Asia

Asia and Pacific has the highest number of air pollution deaths annually in the world. Through a regional technical assistance initiative, ADB assessed the strengths and improvements needed for air quality management in four cities, and made recommendations to mainstream air quality in urban development. This presentation provided an overview of the initiative and also highlighted ADB’s work on improving policies and regulations, supporting targeted investments backed by green financial mechanisms, and appropriate technologies.

Emission Reduction Effect of China’s Carbon Emission Trading Policy: Evidence from 113 Key Environmental Protection Cities
Yifei Zhang, Professor, International Business School

Adopting a carbon emission trading system provides a theoretical way to solve the problem of inefficient allocation of carbon emission rights and may bring huge potentials for energy saving and emission reduction. This presentation explored the emissions reduction effect of carbon emission trading mechanism using DID and PSM-DID measurement methods and city-level data from 11 pilot cities in China, from 2004 to 2015.

Integrating Renewable Energy through Participative Local Energy Planning
Angela Consuelo Ibay, Climate Change and Energy Programme Head, WWF-Philippines

This presentation highlighted lessons learned from provincial energy planning undertaken in the Philippines’ largest off-grid island, Palawan. The planning experience can be used to develop capacity of multi-stakeholder city power development planning groups to harness indigenous renewable energy resources, support clean energy projects, and to enable knowledge-sharing, thereby making cities more liveable.

Soot-Free Transport in ASEAN Countries
Adelaida Roman, Senior Program Specialist/Head, Air and Atmospheric Pollution Cluster, Regional Resource Center for Asia and the Pacific, Asian Institute of Technology (RRC.AP, AIT)

Resource Center for Asia and the Pacific, Asian Institute of Technology (RRC.AP, AIT)
The Regional Resource Centre for Asia and Pacific organized the ASEAN Countries Meeting on Soot-Free Transport, November 2018 to identify common obstacles to implement low-sulfur fuel and Euro 4/IV vehicle emission standards and advance to Euro 6/VI among member states. This presentation focused on current fuel quality and vehicle emission standards by ASEAN countries, opportunities and implementation challenges; implementation of Euro IV vehicle emission standards and roadmap to Euro VI.

Realizing Smart Cities
Anbu Anbumozhi, Senior Energy Economist, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia

This presentation discussed the strategies for realizing the Smart Cities, based on the initiative being undertaken ASEAN Smart City Network (ASCN). The focus of the presentation was more on the proven strategies of converting a city into a smart city. It reviewed what has been done in the major ASEAN cities regarding the energy revolution - energy access, energy resilience; how they conceptualize smart city –depending on the level of development, willingness to adopt and reform.

TRACK 2: Energy and Water Sustainability

Water is one of the most important natural resources that we have. It is critical that we develop an integrated approach to plan for and accommodate the growing, and often interlinked, demand for energy and water. This thematic track focused on the multiple connections between water and energy, including the use of water in energy production systems such as hydropower, offshore wind power, floating solar PV and biofuels, as well as the use of energy in the provision of water and sanitation services. It will take an integrated view of how to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 6 (clean water and sanitation) and SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), and how to address the challenges posed by existing institutional structures, policies, and procedures at the subnational, national, regional, and global levels.

There is a critical need to properly address water supply and sanitation in Asia, as the lack of adequate waste management policies and infrastructure improvements is impacting many watersheds. This session featured discussions on water treatment for water supply, and energy generation from waste, including biogas from sludge digestion.

Moderator: Noriyuki Mori, Senior Water Resources Specialist, ADB

Presenters:

Water Ownership in the Age of Changing Climate Patterns
James Symons, Vice-President, Business Development, APAC, Zero Mass Water

Water, electricity, and food are significant vulnerabilities worsened by climate change. It is this critical to move beyond infrastructure-centric solutions that worsen existing water extraction rates. This presentation provided an overview of Zero Mass Water’s SOURCE Hydropanels, which use sunlight and air to make drinking water. The presentation also provided an update on the eight installation sites that were recently commissioned in the Philippines. This project has proven the viability of the technology, while paving the way for more inclusive, community-based water solution in the Philippines.

Creating Water and Sustaining Life through Carbon Neutral Technology: Creating Fresh Water from Sea Water
David Reavley, Executive Vice President, Global Sales, Solar Water Plc

At present, nearly 844,000 people are without water in any 24-hour period, as a result of which 21,000 children die each day. This presentation provided an overview of Solar Water's innovative technology, which generates fresh water from seawater, supplying multiple societal benefits: for municipalities, agriculture, industry, tourism, saving lives and many more. The solution is carbon neutral and sustainable, utilizing the concentrated power of the sun.

DHouse: A Sustainable Innovation of Passive Traditional Systems of Bahay Kubo, Designed for Urban Resilience
Luisa Daya-Garcia, Architect/Deputy Chairman, LDG Architects/Green Architecture Advocacy Philippines

DHouse is an existing modern shelter built in a flood-prone city. It is designed to address anticipated problems that affect the ecology of the built environment and urban development. The presentation highlighted practical applications through natural ventilation, daylighting, illumination control, indoor thermal control through building envelope strategies brought down the energy consumption by more than 50% from the base case. This presentation also provided an overview of the innovative shelter and how replication of DHouse’s systems and strategies to different scales and type of occupancy multiplies its direct impact on a larger scale to communities and users with the reduction of energy demand and area flooding.

Energy Screening Tool and Methodology
Stephane Bessadi, Senior Water Utility Specialist, ADB

This presentation focused on an energy screening tool and how project teams can evaluate and manage the energy impacts of municipal water and wastewater projects, with the aim of ensuring that energy use for these water systems is appropriate, optimal and sustainable.

As populations continue to grow rapidly across Asia, it is important to discuss how to improve the sustainability of irrigation while also improving overall agriculture production, in order to meet growing demand. Presenters in this session focused on solar-based and grid powered irrigation and will highlight energy-saving mechanisms for groundwater pumping and water transmission, including efficient water use for irrigation.

Moderator: Priyantha Wijayatunga (Director, Energy Division, South Asia Regional Department for ADB)

Presenters:

Hydro-Economic Modelling to Address Trade-offs between Food Production and Biofuels: How do We Choose?
Benjamin Lord, Water Resources Engineer, RTI International

Food production, energy generation, and water supply systems are inextricably linked. This presentation highlighted a semi-distributed, global rainfall-runoff model and an economic demand model that can identify trade-offs among competing irrigation, hydropower and urban water supply demands across space and time. Example applications of this framework were presented from the Philippines, Laos, Guatemala, and Brazil.

Using Irrigation Canals to Electrify Remote Villages
Michael Carroll, CEO HeliosAltas Corp.

This presentation provided an overview of the proprietary Helios micro-gird and demonstrate how a combination of micro hydro using a local irrigation canal, PV, storage and Pico grid devices can effectively and economically and cleanly electrify an off-grid community in a few days. This micro-grid concept can electrify remote villages with access to any type of open stream or irrigation canal.

Achieving Energy, Water and Food Sustainability through Agricultural Demand Side Management Elaborated through Case Studies from India
Meghana Jayakumar, Research Associate, The Energy and Resources Institute

Water, energy and food security are three vital sleaze factors that decide the existence and development of a nation. This presentation provided the approach and methodology of study done in Karnataka, that revealed that Agricultural Demand Side Management (Ag-DSM) along with promotion of best irrigation practices with strong policy support can save both electricity and water, creating better food security and a stronger future.

Data-Driven Strategies for Sustainable Deployment of Solar Pumps
Shalu Agrawal, Programme Lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW)

Solar pumps present an opportunity to extend access to irrigation in Asia. The presentation highlighted the Council's multi-pronged research on identifying gaps and solutions to facilitate solar-powered irrigation in a sustainable manner. This ranges from end-users' outlook about solar pumps, financier's risk perceptions and challenges in financing the technology, determinants of sustainability, and a decision support tool to identify locally-suitable deployment strategies for solar pumps.

Water-based energy generation systems such floating solar photovoltaics (PV) offer great opportunities for the clean energy transition in Asia. This session included deliberations on how to scale up floating solar PV technologies supported through favorable policies and delivered at competitive prices, while minimizing environmental and social impacts.

Moderator: Cindy Tiangco, Senior Energy Specialist, ADB

Presenters:

Floating Solar—What’s the Potential in South East Asia? Lessons Learned from the United States
Carishma Gokhale-Welch, Project Leader, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has developed the first national assessment of floating solar technical potential on artificial water bodies in the United States, estimating that 10% of the nation’s annual electricity production could be met with floating solar. This presentation showcased assessment results and highlight how this adaptable methodology could support similar assessments of floating solar potential in South East Asia and worldwide.

Where Sun Meets Water: Latest Global Development Trends Regarding Floating Solar, and Research Updates from the SERIS Floating PV Testbed in Singapore
Thomas Reindl, Deputy CEO, Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS)

In 2016, Singapore launched the world’s largest floating PV testbed, with a total capacity of 1 MWp. This presentation provided an update on the testbed, the current floating PV market and growth potential, cost comparison, and other issues encountered in the testbed and possible solutions for reliable operation.

Making Floating Solar Bankable
Harold Meurisse, Representative Director, Ciel & Terre

Most floating solar projects have been based on recourse financing, due to the lack of standards, and the absence of clear guidelines and good practices. This presentation focused on the impact of the bankability on floating solar economic feasibility, specially the levelized cost of electicity (LCOE). It will also described best practices, quality control and standards to implement in order to unlock such bankability.

Challenges and Opportunities for Floating Solar PV in Asia Pacific
Inaki Perez, Solar Practice Leader, Mott MacDonald

This presentation discussed the challenges and opportunities to improve the bankability of floating solar systems, based on experience in Australia, Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea and Taiwan. Topics included: technology, site conditions and natural hazards, technical complexity of designing, building, and operating on and in water, and environmental, social, health and safety considerations and standards for construction and operation.

Environmental Impacts of Floating Solar Panels on Water Bodies
Ian Jones, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, United Kingdom

Little attention has been paid to the impact that floating solar (aka "floatovoltaics") will have on the water body ecosystem. This presentation showed how the reductions in wind speed, solar radiation and water-air connectivity accompanying floatovoltaic deployment can affect lake physics, particularly water temperature and stratification. The results demonstrate the need to make judicious decisions on floatovoltaic deployment to ensure that environmental benefits are maximised and deleterious effects minimised.

Presenters in this session examined efforts to make hydropower more sustainable, including improved basin planning and management, and the study of environmental flows (EFlows) as a way of mitigating the effects of human developments on rivers and estuaries, and thus managing water resources for long-term sustainability. The session also included discussion of how Asian countries can leverage their “second mover advantage” when developing their offshore wind energy potential by building on European experiences from early generation, and on efforts to improve the sustainability of state-owned utilities in the Pacific region.

Moderator: Aiming Zhou, Principal Energy Specialist, ADB

Presenters:

How Renewables Can Optimize Water-Energy-Food Tradeoffs in the Mekong Basin
Brian Eyler, Director, Southeast Asia Program, Stimson Center

Through deepening solar, wind, and biomass contributions to power mixes in the countries of the Mekong Basin and rethinking how hydropower and cross-border power trade are positioned to meet regional power demand needs, it is possible to achieve a low-impact, low-carbon, and low-cost energy transition AND to conserve the natural resource base of the Mighty Mekong River. This presentation demonstrated decision-making tools and policy pathways for system-scale energy planning and tradeoff analyses at the basin-wide scope, which should be used to deliver this transition.

The Use of EFlows Assessment Outputs in Basin-Planning and Optimisation of Dam Operating Rules
Alison Joubert, Senior Consultant, Southern Waters

Environmental Flows (EFlows) are a vital way of mitigating the effects of human developments on rivers and estuaries, and thus for managing water resources for long-term sustainability. Modern EFlows assessment methods, based on ecosystem-modelling approaches, address the complexity of river ecosystems and their responses to infrastructure projects for development. Using regional examples, the presentation illustrated the scope of the EFlows assessments undertaken, the kinds of information provided, and the different uses made of the information generated in project-specific and basin-wide development planning and restoration initiatives.

Lesson Learned: The Operation of Community-based Micro-Hydro Power of Wangan Aji
Chayun Budiono, Energy Expert, PT Gerbang Multindo Nusantara

Community participation is a key factor for sustainable clean energy deployment. Micro-Hydro Power (MHP) built in Wangan Aji is a success story of community-based clean energy implementation in Indonesia. Wangan Aji was constructed as run-of-river plant, utilizing the irrigation channel of Wangan Aji, Wonosobo, Central Java Province. It consists of 2 (two) propeller turbines with capacity of 70 kW, each. Under its Poverty and Environment Program (PEP) Asian Development Bank (ADB) has assisted the Government of Indonesia to implement MHP Wangan Aji as a pilot intervention.

Using the Second-Mover Advantage: How Asia Could Leverage a Decade of European Offshore Wind Developments
Paul Elsner, Dr, Birkbeck, University of London

Offshore wind energy is maturing quickly and on the verge of becoming one of the most competitive renewable energy technologies. European projects in the North and Baltic Seas have pioneered the industry, and the learning curve has been steep. Progress in project management and spatial marine planning approaches have led to substantial drops in both CAPEX and OPEX. Of central importance in this context is the identification of the best wind resources and to link this data to other relevant parameters such as bathymetry, sea bed condition, distance to terrestrial grid connections and potential conflicts with other marine uses such as shipping and fishing. This presentation illustrated how Asian countries could leverage their “second mover advantage” when developing their offshore wind energy potential by building on European experiences from early generation projects.

A Paradigm Shift for Sustainable Energy in the Pacific
Llyr Rowlands, Director, Energy Infrastructure, Tetra Tech

As large sums are invested in renewable power in the Pacific, the sustainability of these investments is uncertain if the viability of state-owned enterprise (SOE) power utilities is not assured. ADB is assisting utility companies in the Pacific by conducting a comprehensive diagnostic review of their operations and the environment in which the utility operates. The review covers financial management and accounting, operational procedures, maintenance practices, customer billing systems; as well as external factors, such as SOE governance, regulation, and relevant government policies. This presentation focused on the work done by seven utilities in four Pacific countries, and lessons learnt.

TRACK 3: Energy and Rural Poverty Alleviation

Migration to urban areas resulting from overall economic growth across Asia has created a focus on development issues in urban centers at the expense of addressing poverty in rural communities. More than 400 million people across Asia lack access to electricity, especially in geographically remote rural areas, in fragile states, and in small island communities. This thematic track highlighted efforts to improve the quality of life and hasten economic growth in rural areas by increasing access to clean and modern energy services. It also covered efforts to improve financial inclusion for energy access through microfinance.

Asia’s rural populations—from remote mountainous regions to low-lying coastal communities in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) countries and Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations (FCAS)*—are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change: extreme weather events, drought, increased precipitation, rising sea levels, storm surges, and coastal flooding. Presenters in this session examined mitigation and adaptation technologies, energy-efficient and climate-resilient building practices, green insurance products, and innovative motorized water transport for efficient evacuation in the wake of disasters.

*Countries in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations include most (9 out of 14) of ADB’s Pacific Developing Member Countries, as well as Afghanistan, Nepal, and Myanmar. For more information see here.

Moderator: Cindy Tiangco, Senior Energy Specialist, ADB

Presenters:

The Intersection of Climate, Energy, Health for the hope of lasting Peace
Philline Donggay, Director of Storytelling, Greenergy Solar Philippines

In 2017, the Marawi City Siege in Mindanao, Philippines led to months of military combat, which displaced thousands of people and disrupted the city’s electricity and water supply. This presentation provided an overview on the collaborative opportunities to rebuild the city and make considerable gains in health and well-being, climate action, clean energy, and peace.

Enhancing Power Sector Resilience in the Lao PDR: Assessing Vulnerabilities and Planning for Resilience
Yevang Nhiavue, Technical Officer, Ministry of Energy and Mines, Lao PDR

This presentation highlighted the power sector resilience planning activity conducted in Lao PDR, through a collaboration between the Lao Ministry of Energy and Mines and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It also shared the approach and results of a comprehensive, stakeholder-driven vulnerability assessment and resilience action planning process.

The Strategic Mitigation Adaptation and Resilience (SMART) Tool: Integrating Planning Objectives in Southeast Asia and Pacific Countries
Megan Argyriou, Head of Programs, ClimateWorks Australia

Developing long-term, low emissions development strategies provide an opportunity for Asia-Pacific countries highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change to simultaneously achieve other development objectives, including energy and food security, economic resilience and resilience to natural disasters. This presentation focused on the Strategic Mitigation Adaptation and Resilience (SMART) Tool, which was developed to identify these potential co-benefits and trade-offs, and discuss key findings from the SMART analysis undertaken for Pacific Island and Vietnamese country contexts.

Innovative Finance for Sustainable Energy Access: Lessons from the World’s First Result-Based Loans in the Energy Sector – an Independent Verifier’s Perspective
Chitra Priambodo, Director, Castlerock Consulting Pte Ltd

ADB is supporting PLN, the Indonesian state electricity company, with the world’s first result-based lending (RBL) programs in the energy sector to help realize the nation’s goal of sustainable universal electricity access. The loan’s disbursements are linked to the achievement of the program results rather than to upfront expenditures – a complete flip in the approach from traditional project lending – and uses the borrower’s systems, including monitoring and evaluation (M&E), fiduciary, safeguards and other areas. One of RBL’s core strengths is in handling large numbers of small transactions, and in some cases intangible interventions such as behavioural change. In the energy sector it is well suited to support last mile power connections and energy efficiency efforts. Since an RBL program relies almost entirely on the borrower’s M&E system, highly credible independent verification of results is a necessary condition. This presentation described the progress achieved through the financing innovation, the various results verification methods applied by the Independent Verification Agent (IVA), and the lessons learned in supporting and enhancing a power utility’s system to accelerate sustainable energy access.

Hybrid Renewable Energy System in Remote Area of Sumba Island
Elisabeth Rianawati, Director, Resilience Development Initiative (RDI)

Sumba is a remote island in the eastern part of Indonesia. The island electrification ratio of only 24.55% and high poverty rate of 30% by 2016. As such, it has become the pilot project of off-grid renewable energy based namely Sumba Iconic Island (SII). To achieve the goal of 100% electrification rate, various technologies have been studied its feasibility and implemented on field. This presentation discussed the implementation of hybrid RE technology in comparison to singular technology of solar home systems. Three case studies were discussed: village with exclusively solar home system, village with micro hydro plants and solar system and village with wind mill, micro hydro and diesel generators. The presentation also discussed the strength and weaknesses between the hybrid renewable energy system and solely solar home system.

Solar rooftop PV, particularly solar home systems, are well established globally, including across rural communities in Asia. Some efforts to promote solar rooftop have been successful; however, others, especially in remote and island communities, face multiple technical problems, including lack of proper maintenance or equipment replacement. This session highlighted approaches to scaling up solar PV in rural communities and also explored micro-grid and mini-grid configurations to provide economies of scale while ensuring reliable and adequate energy supply to power productive uses beyond household energy requirements.

Moderator: Hongpeng Liu, Director, Energy Division, UNESCAP

Presenters:

Assessing the Impact of Renewable Energy Based Microgrids on Local Development and the SDGs: Insights from the Philippines
Paul Bertheau, Researcher, Reiner Lemoine Institute

The Cobrador Island Solar-Diesel Hybrid Project is one of ADB’s outstanding projects and led to increases in service hours (24 hours per day), affordability (50% tariff reduction), and environmental soundness (share of renewable energy share up to 90%). This presentation focused on the impact of the project on local development and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) through a household questionnaire focusing on socio-economic characteristics, electricity usage patterns, and subjective perceptions of change after hybridization.

Trends in Micro-Grids and Smart Grids to Scale-Up Solar PV in the Pacific
Jaquelin Cochran, Group Manager for the Grid Systems Group in the Strategic Energy Analysis Center, NREL (Clean Energy Solutions Center)

The CESC is partnering with the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility to support the region’s development of micro-grid and smart-grid infrastructure. As governments and utilities in the Pacific Islands work to integrate more renewable energy into their electricity grids, smart grid technologies and micro-grids are emerging as important tools to modernize their energy systems, reduce energy losses, increase energy access and build resiliency. This presentation explored challenges and opportunities from the increasing number of micro-grid and smart grid technologies being deployed in the Pacific. Policy, finance, and technical opportunities were also discussed in support of governments, utilities and energy professionals to further progress towards their ambitious targets for renewable energy and energy access.

Reimagining Puerto Rico: The Mini Gird Transformation
Kyle Datta, Board Member, PREPA Transformation Advisory Council

PREPA has developed a power system transformation plan calling for separating the territory into eight autonomous minigrids that would operate independently in the event of a major catastrophe. This presentation covered the core elements of the PREPA plan, the underlying thought process, other approaches under consideration in California, and how this applies to the coastal and island areas in Asia.

Women-Centric Mini-Grid Enterprises in South Asia: Micro Hydropower in Nepal and Pakistan
Ranisha Basnet, Community and Energy Advisor, Energypedia UG

Renewable energy mini-grids are becoming a widely accepted solution for cost-effective and reliable energy access. Hydro mini-grids in Nepal and Pakistan reveal that the long-term sustainability of projects is dependent on whether they are run as enterprises that generate revenue that is re-invested into the project. Our experiences show that women-centric approaches to mini-grid ownership, management, and productive end use result in longer-lived micro hydropower systems. This presentation provided an overview of two women-centric energy access projects. In Pakistan, the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme has facilitated women to become shareholders of enterprise-based mini-grids. This has resulted in women being at the center of decision-making and having the right to receive profits and/or shares from the sale of electricity. In Nepal, the UNDP Renewable Energy for Rural Livelihoods Program has developed women-owned productive end use, while facilitating grant-dependent projects to become self-sustaining, enterprise-based mini-grids. Our efforts show that SDG 7 (Access to Energy) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality) have a clear opportunity to be addressed hand-in-hand.

Energy access for poor rural communities is dependent on three core pillars: appropriate renewable energy technologies, effective distribution channels, and affordable financing. Microfinance institutions (MFIs), in partnership with pro-poor energy product suppliers, can offer financing and built-in distribution channels to their existing clients, most of whom are women. Presenters in this session highlighted efforts to improve financial inclusion for energy access through microfinance and will discuss how investments in clean energy can improve productivity, create jobs, and enhance livelihoods for poor rural families, and especially for women.

Moderator: Niki Armacost, Managing Director, Arc Finance

Presenters:

Creating Clean Energy Entrepreneurs through Affordable Financing
Rakesh Dubey, CEO, S V Creditline Limited

SVCL initiated financing e-rickshaws in FY 2016-17. This presentation provided an overview of the financing program and its impact. The loans, coupled with easy repayments, has helped the rickshaw drivers manage their finances well and acquire an affordable asset. More than 300 families are progressing well through this intervention.

Sustainable Business Models for MFIs to Deliver Renewable Energy
Raymond Patrick Serios, Assistant Director for Strategic Projects, Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation, Inc.

This presentation highlighted NWTF’s success story on achieving scale and sustainability for its solar program focusing on two aspects: demand generation through marketing and education by dedicated program officers, and product support (technical support, inventory management, returns, distribution) through partners and suppliers.

How Microfinance Helps Individuals Climb the Energy Ladder
Sanaullah Fathi, Business Leader – Asia & Pacific Greenlight Planet

This presentation provided an overview of Greenlight Planet and ASHI’s collaboration on green lending to help their clients improve their quality of life through energy access. ASHI's clients who have invested in solar products report longer study time for their children, ease in accomplishing domestic chores, and higher safety factor.

Universal Access to Energy – the Future
Mayukh Choudhury, CEO, Milaap Social Ventures

As of 2018, India claims to have achieved 100% electrification across all states. This does not necessarily translate to continued supply of power for all and calls for more reliable sources of energy. However, this will result in a shift of consumer demand to grid-connected devices and systems. This presentation focused on the need for loans with larger ticket sizes; from the $50 solar lantern, to the $200 home system and $ 10,000 microgrid for neighborhoods. These macro trends, pave the path, and also the challenges for those working in energy access, for the product/service providers, and for the financiers.

Rural poverty is almost synonymous with energy poverty—without access to modern energy services, there is little opportunity for economic advancement. Access to modern clean energy allows for more productive end uses, job creation, longer productive hours, and cleaner water and sanitation, among other benefits. Presenters in this session shared their experiences from across Asia in the use of renewable energy technologies in specific end use applications, in households, and across development sectors.

Moderator: Olly Norojono, Director, Energy Division, Pacific Department, ADB

Presenters:

Attaining Universal Energy Access for Social Change: Evidence-Based Strategies to Achieve Economic and Social Transformation
Lana Zaman, Associate Economic Affairs Officer, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

This presentation drew on impact evaluations from the Asia-Pacific region to explore the demonstrated impacts of energy access on income, education, women’s empowerment, inequality, and poverty alleviation in real-life settings. It also discussed what made some access programs successful–not just in terms of achieving access–but also in terms of ensuring that access leads to tangible socio-economic benefits.

Social Enterprise Reducing Women’s Domestic Workloads and Providing Light in Sumba, Indonesia
Sarah Hobgen, Co-Founder, Sumba Sustainable Solutions

Local start-up Sumba Sustainable Solutions is partnering with rural women to reduce their domestic workload using solar-powered corn and rice mills in remote villages in Sumba, Indonesia. The mills are coupled with household Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) solar light and phone charger systems in a sustainable social business model currently servicing 2500 customers. This presentation focused on the experience of the PAYG mechanism and the impact on the society at large.

Tackling Inclusion and Scale to Reach the Last Mile for Rural Poverty Alleviation: Key Insights from Asian Examples in the PPEO 2018
Pooja Sharma, Energy Thematic Lead in the South Asia Office, Practical Action

This presentation discussed key insights from a detailed analysis of at-scale energy access programmes in India and Nepal from the Poor People’s Energy Outlook (PPEO) 2018. It highlighted contrasting approaches to programme design and propose a set of metrics to assess inclusiveness by gender, remoteness and poverty. In addition, it provided an overview of barriers which can limit the scale of delivery or prevent rural communities making the most of access to electricity.

Clean Cooking in Bangladesh: The Need to Better Engage Financing, Innovation, and Women in the Solution
Amit Jain, Senior Energy Specialist, World Bank

The World Bank, in partnership with Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), has launched an Improved Cook Stoves (ICS) program in Bangladesh. This presentation focused on the role that women play in sensitization of the cooking related emissions issue, generating awareness and disseminating the solution. It will discussed how finance and technology innovation impact the adoption rates of large scale clean cookstove programs.

Going beyond Solar Home Systems
Venkat Rajaraman, CEO, Cygni Energy Pvt Ltd.

This presentation highlighted a 48V DC solar home system that can power appliances up to 500 watts. It also provided an overview of the firm's experience in taking such systems to the customers, the effect of monitoring and the opportunity to up-sell based on their need and the challenges with last-mile distribution through microfinance institutions.

Track 4: Energy and Innovative Finance

There is a massive financing gap between current practices and the resources required to meet Asia’s clean energy targets. This thematic track drew on the experiences of project developers, entrepreneurs, governments, investors and ADB staff in identifying new niches and areas where catalytic finance can make a difference—through the support of new technologies, business models, and financing tools and mechanisms.

Developing countries across the globe are making an aggressive push toward a low-carbon economy and have set national clean energy targets. However, to achieve their targets, they will require huge capital investments and innovative mechanisms to unlock new sources of financing. Presenters in this session discussed global and regional trends in the emerging ways of doing business in financing green and clean energy infrastructure.

Moderator: Vandana Gombar, Editor - Global Policy, Bloomberg BNEF

Presenters:

AIIB’s Sustainable Energy Strategy and Financing
David Morgado, Senior Energy Policy Specialist, AIIB

This presentation included a brief introduction to AIIB, it's Sustainable Energy Strategy, energy investment portfolio and products focusing on clean energy and renewables, in addition to innovative project case studies.

Financing Hybrids – Creating PPAs That Cover Integration of Renewables, Storage and Thermal
Malin Ostman, Manager, Project Development, Wärtsilä Development and Financial Services

One of the key challenges to project finance of hybrid projects is creating IPP business models that are tailored for such projects. This presentation discussed key aspects of designing hybrid PPAs that fully cover the integration of different assets–and show how to create an IPP business model for hybrids that will deliver competitive and reliable clean energy to off-takers, bankability to financiers, and an acceptable risk structure to developers, investors and contractors.

The Moral Hazard of Renewable Energy and Alternative Fuels Tax and Economic Incentives
Kelly Hewitt, Principal Planning & Coordination Specialist, ADB

A change in government, strategy, or budget greatly influence public policy. This presentation focused on how acknowledging possible public policy change up front is a necessary part of an investor’s risk assessment. It also discussed the moral hazard of banking on the non-bankable.

Unlocking International Crowd-Investment for the Indian Clean Energy Market
Bhaskar Deol, CEO, Mynergy Renewables

The crowd-investment industry is rapidly growing, driven by persistent low interest rates in developed countries. This presentation focused on an innovative model that focuses on small and medium clean energy enterprises, considered risky by banks. It also discussed lessons learned from the execution of crowd-financing for projects, and shared best practices for navigating complex regulatory and compliance requirements, risk mitigation, and stakeholder management in a fast-evolving business landscape.

Facilitating the region’s energy transition to a low-carbon economy will require innovative public finance mechanisms, particularly those that can be structured to leverage private sector financing. This session included discussions of how the public sector can support the expansion and development of clean energy financing. It also included an overview of green public procurement and how to scale up green financing, as well as a result from IEA’s recent World Energy Outlook 2018, which highlight the fact that 70% of energy infrastructure is financed through public sector investments.

Moderator: Pradeep Tharakan, Principal Climate Change Specialist, ADB

Presenters:

UK's Support for Green Finance
Camilla Fenning, Head of the South East Asia Climate and Energy Network, FCO, UK

This presentation focused on how the UK and City of London has established itself as a predominant centre for green finance, by establishing the right policy framework and ambition. Her presentation will give the particular example of offshore wind – the UK, thanks to green finance, produces nearly 40% of global output. It also covered how the UK contributes to the international green finance landscape, such as thought leadership and development funding, including in Asia. The presentation shared examples and lessons from the UK experience and establish read-across and ideas for Asia as it takes on the huge challenge of shifting to a low carbon future to try to avoid the impact of dangerous climate change.

Scaling Renewable Energy Investments
Gavin Templeton, Head of Sustainable Finance, Green Investment Group, Macquarie

A pioneer in green investment, the Green Investment Bank was established by the UK Government in 2012 and was the first institution of its kind in the world. Now renamed the Green Investment Group (GIG), and part of Macquarie Group, it finances infrastructure projects which are green and profitable. It’s track record, expertise and capability makes GIG a global leader in green investment dedicated to supporting the global green economy. This presentation discussed the history and design of the institution, and how the green investment bank model could be applied in Asia.

Malaysia: Measures by the Public Sector to Support Financing for Renewables
Wei-nee Chen, Chief Corporate Officer, Sustainable Energy Development Authority, Malaysia

This presentation described measures taken by Malaysian government to support financing of renewable energy, including the feed-in tariff (FiT), net energy metering, and large-scale solar. The presentation also described a Renewable Energy Transition Roadmap (RETR) 2035, which is being developed by SEDA and will lay out a plan to further decarbonize Malaysia’s electricity sector.

Financing Green Energy Infrastructure in Indonesia
Darwin Djajawinata, Project Development and Advisory Director, PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur

Overview of Energy Efficiency Financing Mechanisms in ASEAN and an Innovative Streetlighting Example from the Philippines
Rustico Noli D. Cruz, Head, Program Development and Management I Department, Development Bank of the Philippines
Verena Streitferdt, Green Finance Consultant, Pertiwi-Consulting

The ASEAN Center of Energy initiated a project funded by the Japan ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) to support the exchange among ASEAN member states of innovative energy efficiency (EE) financing mechanisms. This presentation provided an overview of EE finance mechanisms in the region and shared the example of an award-winning LED streetlighting lending approach in Tacloban City, Philippines, which uses energy service providers and maintenance service contracts. The lessons learned from the JAIF programme provide some ideas to other Asian countries how to support EE

As we continue to drive the clean energy transition, it is important to discuss how to finance large-scale renewable energy projects. Presenters in this session covered best practices in financing of solar parks, floating solar projects, solar rooftop and residential solar business models, and battery storage and virtual power plants. The session also included discussions of financing of offshore wind projects.

Moderator: Jackie B. Surtani, Director Infrastructure Finance East Asia, Southeast Asia & the Pacific, ADB

Presenters:

Powering Utility-Scale Renewable Energy Projects in Africa, Asia and Middle East
Anand Rohatgi, Business Partner, Synergy Consulting

The presentation highlighted the key trends and nuances in the financing of renewable energy projects across the Africa, Asia and Middle East region. It provided details on various structures (park/non-park based), procurement strategy and other enablers to promote development of renewable energy in these regions and also included alternative emerging avenues of funding available for utility scale renewable energy projects.

Extending Innovative Finance to MSMEs for Large-Scale Solar Rooftop Distributed Generation
Hemant Nandanpawar, Senior Director, Ernst & Young LLP
Somesh Kumar, Leader - Power and Utilities, Ernst & Young LLP

While it is easy for large developers to access finance, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) face huge challenges due to their balance sheet and creditworthiness issues. This presentation provided an overview of innovative products that have been developed to mobilize finance for a large-scale solar rooftop deployment project in India. It included discussion about certain successful solutions, challenges faced as well as the products that can be useful for the entire Asia region.

Barriers and Enablers to Renewable Energy Financing and Investment for Grid-connected Wind and Solar
Bansari Saha, Senior Director, ICF

Wind and solar are undergoing a global revolution with rapidly increasing installations driven by a range of technical, economic, regulatory, and institutional drivers. Recent work under the USAID, US-APEC Technical Assistance to Advance Regional Integration (US-ATAARI) project, found that countries throughout Asia are setting ambitious clean energy targets but for many countries progress towards those targets is not keeping up. This presentation discussed the work which found four key drivers for attracting clean energy investment: technical (e.g., grid integration), economic (e.g., feed-in-tariffs), regulatory (e.g., support for IPPs), and institutional (e.g., local financing). It also discussed findings of how for some countries these drivers can enable clean energy investments whereas in other countries these drivers can be barriers to clean energy investments. In addition, it covered examples of successful investments resulting from enabling policies for several countries examined in the work: Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Viet Nam, Indonesia, and Mongolia.

Liability Risks for Clean Energy Projects
Briony Eales, Knowledge Management Specialist, Asian Development Bank

Liability risk is a key climate risk affecting financial stability. Litigation trends reveal that liability risk arises in three broad ways: (i) rights-based action, (ii) compensation claims, and (iii) increased regulatory action. This presentation provided an overview of recent litigation trends and the nature of liability risk helps energy projects establish practices that may minimize liability risk exposure and boost attractiveness to investors.

Developing a Direct Power Purchase Agreement (DPPA) Mechanism in Vietnam
Gary Zieff, Principal Energy Advisor, USAID Vietnam Low Energy Emissions Program (V-LEEP)

Corporate entities with facilities in Asia are increasingly interested in procuring renewable power to meet sustainability targets, hedge against power price volatility, and add resiliency to their power supply. This presentation described a stepwise approach to Direct Power Purchase Agreements (DPPAs) policy development proven effective in Vietnam: (i) forming consumer coalitions; (ii) building awareness of the benefits of DPPAs; (iii) determining legal and regulatory requirements for DPPAs; (iv) aligning DPPAs with power market and renewable energy policies; (v) building the technical and operational capacity needed to facilitate DPPAs; and (vi) building credibility through pilot projects.

It is a major challenge to cross the “Valley of Death” as an entrepreneur and to develop a company that can showcase positive results and demonstrate the ability to expand capacity to make impactful gains in the market place. Presenters in this session highlighted the challenges and risks faced by start-up companies in the clean energy industry and provided examples of how to overcome these obstacles.

Moderator: Andrew Jeffries, Director, Energy Division, South East Asia Regional Department, ADB

Presenters:

Vignesh Nandkumar, Partner, ASPADA

NEPRA : Rising from the Ashes
E.N. Venkat, Partner, Aavishkaar

Within three months of raising its Seed Round of capital, a startup (Nepra) encounters the Cliff Of Death following a fire that reduced its facilities to ashes. What follows is a story of resilience and determination by the promoter team and investors as they rebuild the enterprise from scratch not only for survival but also to significantly accelerate and scale the business. Nepra, which has today, established itself as India’s leading dry (recyclable) waste management company, has scaled 30x since Aavishkaar’s initial investment and is now positioned to scale another 50x in the next 5 years! A ringside view of the investment and its evolution from the eyes of the investor!

Key Factors to Attract Impact and Venture Capital in Early Stage Clean Energy Businesses
Bence Szegedi, Vice President, Susi Partners

Using real life examples in the solar and energy efficiency space in South East Asia, the presentation highlighted key factors which make business attractive to Impact/VC investors.

Developing Partnerships for Sustainable Clean Tech Financing in South-East Asia
Cecile Dahome, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Sevea

The "missing middle" or "valley of death" is a common cause of clean tech start-up stall, as early-stage companies need to access debt and equity in the $20,000 to $500,000 range while typically lacking mature internal capacity, skills, financial literacy and access to traditional investment. This presentation discussed learnings from the development of an Uberis Capital impact investment fund aiming to tackle this challenge. This fund works in partnership with Sevea to provide operational and strategical support to investees to reduce the “early stage” risk and foster sustained growth.

TRACK 5: Clean Energy Trends and Directions

Significant advances in clean energy are being achieved, and are in part driven by improved research and collaboration across Asia, and internationally. These advances help accelerate the deployment of clean energy technologies, by bringing down costs and improving operational efficiencies. Rapid advances in commercializing applications such as long-term energy storage and renewable heating and cooling are also needed to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and to go “beyond Paris.” This thematic track highlighted leading-edge research into new and innovative clean energy technologies and systems. Presenters in this track also described the technologies and market trends that are driving the clean energy revolution, their fundamental drivers and the outlook for the future.

The global market for solar photovoltaics (PV) is expected to grow by a dramatic 65-fold by 2050, due to technology innovations and policy incentives. Presenters in this session covered experiences and practices in PV development, incentives and policies, new business models and investment approaches, future PV technologies and applications, and new and emerging PV technologies.

Moderator: Jerry Yan, Professor of Energy Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology

Presenters:

009-2019 China’s National Solar Photovoltaic Policy Framework: 10 years of Lessons Learned
Frank Haugwitz, Director, Asia Europe Clean Energy (Solar) Advisory Co. Ltd.

Frank Haugwitz, Director, Asia Europe Clean Energy (Solar) Advisory Co. Ltd.
This presentation illustrated China’s lessons learned of its 2009-2019 PV policy from an enabling framework perspective. It presented the country's solar journey and describe how the market evolved with different mechanisms, including FIT scheme, subsidy, mandatory trading scheme. VAT tax rebates, land-use fees, guidelines for green financing, etc.

Ocean Sun - A Unique Solution for Floating Solar
Are Gloersen, Director Asia, Ocean Sun AS

Ocean Sun is a novel approach to the emerging floating solar industry based on Norwegian photovoltaic and maritime competence. This presentation provided an overview of Ocean Sun technology, its operational pilots in Norway and Singapore, and current installations in several sites around the world with ASEAN as a main target area.

Blockchain’s Potential to Support PV Investment and Grid Integration
Andrea Lora, Senior Technology Consultant, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Does distributed ledger technology, specifically blockchain technology, have a role in helping the Asia’s countries increase PV investment and grid integration? We believe that Asia is a high-potential market in which to push the limits of blockchain’s capabilities in the power sector, particularly less-developed countries where there are potential benefits of working in an unbuilt environment—a technological “white space.” Challenges notwithstanding, blockchain has shown the potential to help overcome obstacles that keep millions of people in the dark worldwide. This presentation covered thought-provoking applications of the technology in both advanced and emerging economies—with potential implications for meeting electrification goals in the developing world—and a case study of a proof-of-concept for wholesale electricity clearing and settlement we are currently developing in a transitioning power market in the Country of Georgia.

Mapping Opportunities for Utility-Scale Renewables: The Southeast Asia Renewable Energy Data Explorer
Aloysius Damar, Research Analyst, ASEAN Centre for Energy

The RE Data Explorer is an innovative web-based platform that allows users to visualize and analyze spatial data on solar and wind energy resource, technical potential and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) across the ten ASEAN member states. This presentation highlighted the capabilities of this platform to support data-driven decision making as they relate to informing the planning process—including the establishment and realization of regional renewable energy goals.

Solar Energy: It's Not Just Electricity
Shishir Seth, Senior Consultant, International Solar Alliance

The presentation acknowledges the role Solar Energy has played in transforming the Electricity sector around the globe and its indispensability to the cause of displacing high emission intensity technologies from the electricity sector, in light of the global commitment under COP 21 of UNFCCC. The presentation attempted to analyse the impact of deployment of solar energy in achieving the sustainable development goals. The argument was elaborated upon through some case studies on innovative deployment of solar energy/Solar PV, which directly furthers the achievement of sustainable development.

While oceans have proved to be a promising source of clean energy, they have not gained popularity or become a mainstream source of renewable energy, as have wind and solar. The session provided an overview on developments in commercializing ocean energy generation and related end-uses, such as offshore wind, marine floating solar, ocean biomass, in-stream tidal conversion, and cleaner marine propulsion.

Moderator: Dan Millison, Consultant, ADB

Presenters:

Achieving 100% Renewable Energy Using New Offshore Floating Solar Technology
Harald van Hoeken, Director, Oceans of Energy

This year The Netherlands will showcase the world’s first truly offshore floating solar project at open sea, 12 km offshore from The Hague. This presentation provided an overview of the patented offshore, integrated PV-system that is designed for modularity and to cope with rough sea conditions including corrosion, wind and waves up to 13 meters high.

Making Brownfields Blue: Catalyzing Sustainable Investment in the Ocean Economy with Rigs-to-Reefs
Emily Hazelwood, Co-Founder, Blue Latitudes

Offshore energy development has led to the installation of thousands of offshore structures in the world’s oceans, including about 1,400 in Asia, most of which will be decommissioned in the near future. Many of these platforms are home to some of the most productive ecosystems on the planet, making decommissioning via removal and on-shore disposal environmentally detrimental, and needlessly expensive. This presentation described the Rigs to Reefs (RtR) program which is a replicable and scalable solution that can catalyze sustainable ocean resource development.

Solar Powered Boats: The New Paradigm of Eco-Friendly Water Transportation and Sustainable Tourism
Julien Melot, CEO, Azura Marine Pte Ltd.

Millions of small boats roam the Asian seas, most often propelled by outdated engines with high fuel consumption and environmental impact. This presentation explored pragmatic and efficient eco-alternatives to polluting boats and provided an overview of Azura Marine's first solar powered sampan "Surya Namaskar" launched in Bali, Indonesia in 2017.

From France to the Philippines: Pioneering Tidal Stream Energy
Jean-Christophe Allo, Head of Business Development, SABELLA

The San Bernardino Ocean Power Project is an transformative initiative carried out by H&WB (a Philippines project developer) and SABELLA (a French technology developer) to develop ASEAN’s first commercial power plant deploying in-stream tidal turbines. This presentation highlighted key aspects of the program and discussed the technical, economic, social and environmental stakes (decarbonization, energy security improvement, cost competitiveness, entailed economic development, environmental and social acceptation) of ocean energy in the Philippines.

Blue Innovation using OTEC and DOWA from Asia-Pacific
Yasuki Ikegami, Deputy Director and Leader of OTEC Division, Institute of Ocean Energy, Saga University, Japan

An Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) and Deep Sea Water Application (DOWA) have been strongly focused again on the important one solution for expected for saving the earth and Sustainable Development Golds (SDGs) . In recent years, the technology and business have been internationally advanced to a new stage. The OTEC system produces the power from the ocean thermal energy. The typical advantage of the OTEC is the stable power generation rather than other renewables such as solar PVs and wind mills. And, OTEC could be produced the by-products and job creations using the discharged deep seawater. The OTEC facility at Kumejima, in Japan, was launched in 2013 and is continuously operating using the advanced technology, as international forefront. There are the highest potential of OTEC in the seas of Asia-Pacific. This presentation showcased the feasibility of contribution on SDGs using OTEC and DOWS in Asia-Pacific.

With increased urbanization and rural development, waste generation and agriculture biomass will continue to increase at exponential rates. Presenters in this session provided the latest data and information on technologies for extracting energy from waste products; new biomass conversion technologies; biochar from biomass and solid waste; gasification and pyrolysis; waste to biochemical products and materials; integrated system solutions for optimal use of bioenergy and waste, and examples of smart policies and incentives.

Moderator: Stephen Peters, (Senior Energy Specialist (Waste to Energy) for ADB)

Presenters:

Plastics to Power™, Conversion of Marine Debris and Non-Recyclable Waste to Power and Clean Water
Adam Aleksander, President, PtP Energy Systems, LLC

This presentation discussed a propriety Plastics to Power conversion technology to produce power, clean desalinated water, and industrial process heat to shore-side communities, while eliminating marine debris, coastal plastic thrash, biomass, municipal non-recyclables, and semi-hazardous waste. The barge or land based system, combined with digitized collection, can service a wide geographic or community area.

Rice Straw to Biogas: A Ground-Breaking Pilot in the Philippines
Craig Jamieson, Director, Straw Innovations Limited

For every kilogram of rice, a kilo or more of straw is produced as a by-product. There are currently few commercial uses for rice straw, so around 300 million tonnes of it is simply burned in the field each year across Asia. This presentation highlighted an innovative 1,000m3 pilot plant in Laguna, Philippines, to demonstrate rice straw collection and processing to make biogas (methane) as a clean cooking fuel. It also provided lessons learned as well as conditions needed for replication at scale.

Development of Community Based Hybrid Renewable Energy in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija
Ruth P. Briones, President/CEO, Greenergy Solutions Inc.

This presentation highlighted the development of a community-based renewable energy system: a 10-MW solar farm co-located with 5.0 MW Biomass project with organized people's participation.

Implementation of WtE as a Sustainable Urban Energy Solution in Sri Lanka
Thusitha Sugathapala, Senior Lecturer, University of Moratuwa

This presentation provided a national perspective on waste to energy (WtE) as a sustainable urban energy solution in Sri Lanka. It also discussed challenges related to waste collection, composition, heating value, quantity, transport distance, expertise, finance, land, etc.

Nearly half of global final energy consumption is used for heating and cooling applications, including industrial processes. This offers a huge opportunity to tap renewable energy for heating and cooling households and industries. Similarly, there is a need to leverage energy storage technologies beyond just batteries for electric vehicles. Presenters in this session examined various applications for high-efficiency and renewable-based heating, cooling and storage and highlighted recent technology and market developments.

Moderator: Kapila Perera, Vice Chancellor, University of Moratuwa

Scene Setter Talk:
Global Energy Transformation and the Crucial Role of Renewable Heating, Cooling, and Storage
Nicholas Wagner, Programme Officer, IRENA

The global energy transformation requires a holistic energy system transition not just for electricity supply, but also a deep and fundamental change to how heat and cooling energy services are provided - all within the larger context of balancing energy supply and demand. This scene setting presentation drew on the International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) recent Global Energy Transformation report and detail a view on how this transition can be scaled up quickly and affordably. It highlighted how the transition can be driven by an important synergy between increasingly affordable renewable power technologies and the wider adoption of electric technologies for end-use applications and it also touched on some of the key topics around balancing energy supply, which will increasing come from variable sources such as solar and wind, and end-user demand.

Presenters:

Powering Existing Thermal Power Plants with Renewable Energy
Hans-Henning Judek, CEO, J.E. Access Ltd.

This presentation used the mothballed Bataan nuclear power plant as an example to illustrate that it is possible to operate the turbines of these plants with renewable energy, when thermal batteries act as an intermediate storage.

Second Life Battery - Repurposing Retired Industrial and Passenger EV Batteries for Rural Communities
Chih-Ting Lo, President, EELO Solutions Inc.

Batteries are the most expensive component of an electric vehicle (EV). Giving retired EV batteries a “second life” in rural communities with distributed mini grids to store renewable power or to displace diesel in diesel-renewable hybrid systems is an innovative approach to provide clean power, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower the cost for all parties. This presentation demonstrated the opportunity, discuss the main challenges and barriers, and outline technical and business solutions that can piloted and scaled up.

Renewstable®: Clean, Firm and Stable power
Mathieu Geze, Head of Asia Business Development, HDF Energy

Intermittent power can have difficulties integrating into small- to medium-sized grids, such as those in grid islands in South-East Asia. This presentation provided an overview of Renewstable® power plants that facilitate the integration of renewable energy on small to medium sized grids. It also highlighted a case study in French Guïana, in which HDF Energy will deliver to the grid a stable power supply, 24/7, with a 140 MWh storage capacity.

De-risking Geothermal Production Well Drilling through Cutting-Edge Science
Dr. Peter Leary, GeoFlowImaging

This presentation highlighted a solution, using science-based imaging of geothermal flow systems to reduce or eliminate the high sunk-cost of geothermal well drilling decision-making. It also provided an overview of a pilot project planned for an operating geothermal field in Indonesia that shows how deployment of this technology will help geothermal developers identify with a high-level of accuracy “where to drill”, greatly reducing the risk, uncertainty and cost of geothermal exploration.

Innovative Wind System with Compressed Air Storage
Charles Madson, President, AALTAMERICA/AALTAFIL INC.

This presentation provided an overview of the Madson Wind System (MWS) and MWS Air-Steel Battery, which uses wind energy and high-pressure, compressed air energy storage. The system has been evaluated by departments and colleges, and the comany has collaboration agreements with the College of Engineering of the University of Arizona and the University of Makati.