Regional: Promoting Sustainable Energy for All in Asia and the Pacific - Sustainable Energy for All Regional Hub for Asia and the Pacific (Subproject C)

Energy / Electricity transmission and distribution - Energy efficiency and conservation - Energy sector development and institutional reform - Renewable energy generation - small hydro - Renewable energy generation - solar

Asia and the Pacific is the region with the majority of the energy poor globally.

ADB can leverage new support through its close involvement with the global initiative formed to respond to these energy issues - the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4ALL). SE4ALL was launched by the United Nations Secretary General in September 2011 to achieve three inter-related goals by 2030: (1) Ensuring universal access to modern energy services; (2) Doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency; and (3) Doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. The SE4ALL Initiative will help to catalyze major new investment opportunities to speed-up the transformation of the world's energy systems, pursue the elimination of energy poverty, and enhance prosperity.

The Asia and the Pacific region faces the twin challenges of energy security and climate change challenges which ADB's 2009 Energy Policy discusses at length and outlines ADB's response: through broadening support for, and accelerating development of, clean energy: renewables and energy efficiency. ADB, through its Clean Energy Program and Energy for All Program has been supporting its Developing Member Countries (DMCs) in promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy access in terms of capacity development, project identification and development, investments and investments facilitation. ADB's annual investment for clean energy has been over $2 billion since 2011.

However, the region requires even greater levels of support. Based on current levels of energy poverty, the IEA states that the Asia Pacific region accounts for 36% of this investment need. In terms of clean energy, ADB has noted in the past that despite a strong appetite for such technologies in developing Asia, and the region drawing in high levels of investment in the sector, this is concentrated in a few countries (PRC and India) and catalyzing financial support is still required in the majority of developing Asian countries.

The TA aims to support the promotion of renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy access in ADB's DMCs in line with ADB's Energy Policy and to achieve ADB's long term strategic goals of sustainable energy development. This will include, but is not limited to, targeted support in selected DMCs for development of road maps, investment prospectus, projects identification and development, investment facilitation and information sharing. By pursuing these targets, ADB will contribute to the achievement of the goals of the global Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4ALL).

SE4ALL targets in Asia

and the Pacific achieved

1. Status of SE4ALL targets and investment readiness reports prepared and updated regularly

2. Capacity-building, knowledge management activities carried out

3. Full-fledged secretariat for SE4ALL regional hub established

CEFPF Secretariat established

Status of Implementation Progress

The TA aims to increase the capacity, maturity, and investment readiness of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) projects and the achievement of SEforALL targets on promoting energy access, renewable energy and energy efficiency in Asia and the Pacific by 2030.

In June 2014, ADB formally became the lead organization for SEforALL in Asia and the Pacific and host to the SEforALL Regional Hub Secretariat, with the support of UNESCAP and UNDP under RETA 7512: Empowering the Poor through Increasing Access to Energy, which closed in 2016. The Regional Hub Secretariat operations continued under TA Subproject C. Under the TA, ADB had initially allocated resources for the Secretariat in the amount of $1.5 million to continue the support for Hub activities. The TA complements existing regional TAs on energy access and other activities under the Clean Energy and Energy for All programs to promote renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy access. Partnerships with other institutions, governments, and private sector organizations will be established to ensure the achievement of the TAs target output, ensure alignment of efforts and facilitate North-South and South-South cooperation on knowledge sharing among ADBs member countries and beyond.

Completed/Ongoing Activities:

Key activities and outputs of the TA are being successfully implemented as below:

Regional Hub Secretariat became fully functional in 2016 and has provided coordination support for the Hub co-convenors ADB, UNDP and UNESCAP, as well as the SEforALL Global Facilitation Team and other SEforALL partner organizations in the Asia-Pacific, such as the Energy Conservation Center Japan (ECCJ), and the Energy for All Partnership. The Secretariat has compiled and facilitated the conduct of focus countries' rapid assessment/gap analysis, action agenda and investment prospectus on sustainable energy under the SEforALL Country Action Process. The Secretariat has also provided support to ADB Operations Departments and SDCC to develop clean energy projects and facilitate investments, specifically in regard to:

" Project design, transaction support and due diligence in Nepal

" Rapid assessments on solar sector development and policy in Pakistan

" Collecting energy sector data and policy information in Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines

" Integration of gender equality and social inclusion for the SARD energy sector pipeline

" Verifying results for output-based aid (OBA) in Cambodia

In 2017, the Hub contributed to the third edition of the SEforALL Global Tracking Framework (GTF), a multi-agency report that monitors country-level indicators for energy access, renewable energy and energy efficiency (EA/RE/EE) and supported an additional in-depth regional report, Global Tracking Framework: Asia-Pacific Progress in Sustainable Energy published by UNESCAP in the same year.

ADB, in partnership with the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore (SEAS) established the Sustainable Energy Center of Excellence (SECOE) in 2015. ADB and SEAS signed a Knowledge Partnership Agreement (KPA) in 2017 to foster improved capacity-building and training, research and development activities on energy in Asia and the Pacific, knowledge sharing and enhancing the delivery of knowledge outputs under RETA 8953. Two knowledge sharing activities have been organized under this partnership from 2017 to 2018.

The TA also supports pilot and demonstration projects that are scalable and replicable, and with modalities that are designed to lead to large-scale programs and have the most significant long-term impacts on increasing access to energy. ADB and the National Electrification Administration (NEA) of the Philippines have agreed to pilot the deployment of solar powered atmospheric water generation (SPAWG) units, procured under TA funding, which extract water vapor from the atmosphere to provide climate-proof drinking water that has no impact on surface or groundwater.

A portion of TA resources supported the Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) in 2017 and 2018. ACEF is one of Asia's premier energy networking and knowledge-sharing events that is being organized annually by ADB with sponsorship from the Korea Energy Agency (KEA) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) at ADB Headquarters.

In April 2016, the scope of the TA was expanded to support a full-fledged clean energy coordinating unit with additional funding support from the Climate Change Fund (CCF). The CCF supports the fund administration and management of the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility (CEFPF) that helps facilitate the increase in clean energy investments. The Energy Sector Group, Sector Advisory Service Cluster (SDSC-ENE) of the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department manages the CEFPF Secretariat. The Secretariat manages funding support for low-carbon development, thus catalyzing greater clean energy investments in the region by facilitating clean energy project applications by the ADB regional departments and private sector operations departments for funding by CEFPF and monitoring results and indicators for clean energy investments and projects. The Fund secretariat in coordination with the SDSC-ENE takes the lead in the following:

(i) reviewing/assessing and processing of fund applications for clean energy project preparation and financing;

(ii) coordinating and tracking potential clean energy investments in projects and project progress;

(iii) supporting energy and non-energy divisions implement clean energy projects;

(iv) supporting the conduct capacity building and knowledge sharing activities in renewable energy and energy efficiency, etc. contributing to the achievement of energy targets; and

(v) supporting non-energy divisions develop clean energy components in their projects.

Planned Activities:

It is planned to conduct the following activities with funding support from the Asian Clean Energy Fund.

" Knowledge products on the following themes and topics will be prepared by ADB or jointly with regional partners under this TA: (i) distributed renewable energy (RE) generation; (ii) energy efficiency (EE) including but not limited to demand-side EE in buildings, industries, and appliances; (iii) mini and off-grid systems; (iv) energy access, such as in urban areas; (v) enabling environment for small-scale RE, EE and energy access; (vi) and, results of pilot projects implemented under the TA. Specifically, ADB, under the TA plans to co-publish a report provisionally entitled _Asia and the Pacific Renewable Energy Status Report_ with REN21 and UNESCAP. The report will map the current range of renewable energy development across the region to showcase it to stakeholders both within and outside the region and to global investors and potential promoters of renewables. Mapping the region's status of renewable energy will not only provide information for potential investment, it will also present concrete evidence of the economic and social benefits in countries where uptake of renewables has lagged.

" The SEforAll Hub Secretariat will continue to provide support for consolidating regional data and perspectives to the GTF and other knowledge products published by SEforALL.

" The TA will support additional pilot testing of innovative distributed renewable energy, energy efficiency improvement technologies, and business models for energy service delivery. Pilot projects may include replicating and enhancing pay-as-you-go financing models in other DMCs based on lessons learned from the two projects implemented in India; increasing electricity access through nano-grids such as community-based solar home systems; and, improving and applying business models in other DMCs used in various projects. These pilot projects are envisioned to support a robust pipeline of projects for operations departments including non-sovereign operations.

" Online resources on energy in the Asia-Pacific region will be enhanced under a knowledge partnership with UNESCAP by jointly enhancing UNESCAP's Asia-Pacific Energy Portal (www.asiapacificenergy.org), which provides a free and user-friendly tool for stakeholders (DMCs, equipment providers, consultants and ADB officers) to better understand energy systems in the context of Asian and Pacific countries. A Geospatial Specialist is being planned to be engaged to collect data from ADB DMCs on current electric power transmission systems including cross border infrastructure and produce the Portal's interactive maps. The portal compiles energy indicators, policy documents and infrastructure information for countries in the region which will assist ADB and its DMCs to facilitate research, analysis, and informed decision-making within the Asia-Pacific region's energy sector and assist ADB regional departments identify potential infrastructure investments in DMCs.

" The Hub Secretariat will continue to support the SEforALL activities in the Asia-Pacific. Among its additional deliverables are the organization of joint studies and workshops with partners, on topics such as energy efficiency with the Energy Conservation Center Japan (ECCJ), and an Investor Forum with SEAS under the SECOE partnership. It will also organize deep-dive workshops at the 2019 to 2020 ACEF and other meetings/events to facilitate partnerships among regional stakeholders to the global efforts of SEforALL including thematic accelerators and platforms (e.g. various renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency, mini-grids, etc.).

" The TA will augment resources to support the ACEF 2019 to 2020, which is expected to draw over 1,000 participants per year from the public, private, civil society and academic sectors. The TA will likewise continue to support capacity building in clean energy under the knowledge partnership with SEAS. Two knowledge sharing events are planned to be co-organized with SECOE, under the KPA with SEAS, during the Singapore International energy Week in October 2019. Potential topics for these events are currently being discussed with SEAS.

" Finally, the ADB-led SEforALL existing website (energyforall.asia) will be further enhanced and expanded to serve additional functions: (i) a database of private entities working in sustainable energy across the Asia-Pacific, with a focus on SMEs offering smaller-scale/distributed solutions, as well as mentoring and financial services; (ii) an easily accessible repository of sustainable energy knowledge products (including multimedia) created by ADB and partners; (iii) a platform for promoting capacity building and knowledge sharing events; (iv) a platform to disseminate sustainable energy news relevant to the Asia-Pacific, including communications from ADB.