Session 4.2: Increasing Private Sector Investments

May 29th, 2022

This session will cover the power of transparency to promote competition and scale-up of private sector investment in clean energy; the importance of models to enable private finance in power grid transmission development in Asia; a review of the drivers of private investment in renewable energy by source of financing; case studies of structured finance to scale up adoption of decentralized energy and climate solutions; and a newly developed guide that can help translate existing climate commitments into an investment pipeline and an enabling environment that will unlock private finance.

Track Chair: Pil-Bae Song , Senior Clean Energy Advisor (Consultant), ADB
Moderator:Jiwan Acharya, Principal Energy Specialist, ADB

Program

Time (Manila) Activities
10:30 - 10:40 a.m. Introduction to the Session, Speakers and Panelists

  • Jiwan Acharya, Session 4.2 Moderator
10:40 - 11:10 a.m. Presentations (10 minutes per speaker)

    Enabling private finance in power grid transmission development

  • Randi Kristiansen, Economic Affairs Officer, UN ESCAP
  • In order to achieve mid-term sustainable development goals and long-term Net Zero Emission goal investment in the power sector needs to increase significantly. This includes investment in grids in order to facilitate the integration of variable renewable energy. Transmission grids in the Asia-Pacific region are mostly financed by the public sector, however in order to reach the needed levels of investment all sources of finance must be unlocked. In this presentation we will look at different models that could allow for private finance in the transmission sector, what is needed to implement them and examples of where they have been applied.

    Financing green energy: Unlocking private investment in renewable energy

  • John Beirne, Vice-Chair of Research and Senior Research Fellow, Asian Development Bank Institute
  • The drivers of private investment in renewable energy are assessed by source of financing, namely asset finance, corporate R&D, public markets, and venture capital and private equity. In particular, controlling for macroeconomic and financial market conditions, the role of public policies on renewable energy (public investment in R&D, feed-in-tariffs, and tax incentives) in leveraging private investment is examined for a sample of Asian and other economies.

    Case studies: Structured finance to scale up adoption of decentralized energy and climate solutions

  • Marga Manzo, Investment Director, SunFunder
11:10 - 11:45 a.m. Panel Discussion

  • Randi Kristiansen, Economic Affairs Officer, UN ESCAP
  • John Beirne, Vice-Chair of Research and Senior Research Fellow Asian Development Bank Institute
  • Marga Manzo, Investment Director, SunFunder
  • Session Moderator:  Jiwan Acharya
11:45 - 11:55 a.m. Q&A from the Audience

  • Jiwan Acharya, Session Moderator
11:55 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Closing/Wrap-up

  • Jiwan Acharya, Session Moderator