Increasing access to energy: ADB decides to launch project for empowering the poor

Asian Development Bank has decided to launch a regional project for "Empowering the poor through increasing access to energy" in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Nepal and the Philippines to increase access to energy to the poor, and current access-to-energy status, which was financed by the Asian Clean Energy Fund under the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility.
According to project report, the proposed Regional - Project Preparatory Technical Assistance (R-PPTA) will build on ADB's earlier support for new approaches under the energy for all initiative by (i) meeting the growing demand among operations departments, including from non-energy divisions, for support in developing more and larger projects to give the poor access to energy; (ii) meeting the strong demand from DMCs for help to increase the use of clean technologies that satisfy the energy needs of the poor and bolster energy security; and (iii) ensuring the crucial support necessary to ensure the relevance and impact of the Energy for All Partnership through its establishment phase and to help it attract more partners and resources.
The TA will be implemented in DMCs where it will have a high impact. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Nepal and the Philippines have been selected based on a number of considerations: the fit with the individual country partnership strategy and ADB's pipeline of projects, interest from operations departments to develop more pro-poor access-to-energy projects, government interest and commitment to increase access to energy to the poor, and current access-to-energy status.
ADB project report pointed out that access to modern and reliable energy services is essential for sustainable development. Modern energy powers more than just economic growth. It also transforms lives by providing better delivery of education and health services, a cleaner and healthier environment, and improved opportunities for women and girls. Numerous studies have shown that access to modern energy enhances progress toward all of the Millennium Development Goals. Improving access to cleaner, renewable sources of energy also strengthens energy security in DMCs and is a key to mitigating climate change.
From 1990 to 2009, ADB provided over $25.8 billion in assistance for energy projects, extending electricity and modern fuels to hundreds of millions of people in Asia and the Pacific. Most of this support went to large power generation and grid extension projects, however, and the energy needs of many of the urban and rural poor remain unmet. More than 800 million of the region's people still have no access to basic electricity services.
Nearly 1.8 billion still cook and heat by burning wood, charcoal, dung and other forms of biomass. Women and children, especially girls, work countless hours to collect these traditional energy fuels and suffer disproportionately from the pollution damage indoor cooking fires inflicts on the health of millions. This widespread energy poverty is hindering progress toward sustainable, inclusive growth.
According to ADB's project report, the DMCs face great obstacles in their efforts to achieve universal access to modern energy. Extending power grids to remote populations with low volumes of electricity consumption is often not technically or financially feasible. Lack of financing is a major impediment. Much evidence show that poor households are willing to pay for energy services but, without access to credit, cannot afford the cost of connecting to the grid or purchasing off- grid energy services prohibitive for many. Longstanding regulations and incentives in some DMCs promote business-as-usual practices by subsidising grid extension and fossil fuels such as diesel and kerosene without offering similar incentives for these off-grid applications that could rapidly expand energy access.
Innovations and cost reductions have made distributed renewable energy technologies attractive for off-grid lighting and electricity generation and many DMCs have adopted regulations to encourage distributed generation. ADB has supported its DMCs in promoting off grid applications where grid extension was not feasible and has backed initiatives to promote cleaner, more efficient cooking technologies. These projects have been successful at a small scale. Due to the widely distributed nature of these projects, the high program costs, and the intensive capacity building required, however, the challenge has been to develop much larger, bankable projects.
Project report revealed that the TA will also support the development large pro-poor energy access projects through the Energy for All Partnership by providing seed funding to the regional secretariat and working groups to establish a pipeline for financing by ADB, other development partners, and the private sector.
Project report disclosed that the TA will be implemented over 3 years from 1 May 2010 to 30 April 2013. The proposed regional project preparatory technical assistance (TA) builds on work under ADB's Energy for All Initiative, which was launched in 2008 and has developed new approaches and methodologies for expanding access to energy for the poor. The TA will promote strategic approaches and partnerships to develop and implement larger projects and programs than ADB has supported in the past to make clean energy more available using modern efficient technologies. These undertakings will be oriented toward the poor.