Transcript Motivation and Objectives - World Resources Institute

PRAYAS
ENERGY
GROUP
Clean Energy, Good Governance &
Electricity Regulation
20 – 21 May 2010
Cape Town
Context
• Forum of regulators from India, Indonesia, Thailand,
Philippines, Singapore in March 2008 in Singapore
– Asian Development Bank program to enhance
effectiveness of regulation in the electricity sector;
Dialogue on clean energy and regulatory governance in
June 2010
• 2010 Forum: major developing country economies of
India, Brazil, South Africa, and Mexico
Regulation and Clean Energy
• Context for electricity regulation
– Global process of restructuring and reform
– Specific country contexts
• Broadening context
– Social and environmental concerns
– Global climate change
• Regulators are stakeholders in international decisions
• Many efforts to grapple with clean energy
Motivation and Objectives
• An exchange of experiences with clean energy
• Explore the role of regulatory governance in
promoting clean energy
• Discuss practical measures to implement
clean energy programs
Tradeoffs and Synergies
• Systems are set up to promote conventional options
– Megawatts vs. “Negawatts
• Promoting clean technology vs. increasing quality access
– Intermittency of many RE technologies
• Tensions between additional costs of clean energy and
affordability
– Reasonable costs?
• e.g. Low cost of coal vs. higher upfront costs of renewables
– Evolving potential of clean energy options
• New technologies e.g. concentrating solar
• Environmental and social impacts of conventional vs. clean
technologies
– Local issues vs. global climate change?
Balancing Interests…
The Importance of Governance
• Regulatory decisions involve judgment
– Incomplete information
– Multiple solutions
– Competing interests
• Needs regulatory credibility (in addition to
technical capacity)
– Robust decision making process
– “input” vs. “output” credibility
Clean Energy and Regulatory
Governance
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Clarity of mandate
Completeness and accessibility of information
Depth of stakeholder engagement
Capacity
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Regulators
Government
Civil society
Industry