APEC Project Proposal |
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| Project No. | EWG 04 2011A |
| Project Title | APEC Peer Review on Low-Carbon Energy Policies (PRLCE) - Phase 1 |
| Project Status | Completed Project |
| Publication (if any) | |
| Fund Account | APEC Support Fund |
| Sub-fund | ASF: Energy Efficiency |
| Project Year | 2011 |
| Project Session | Session 1 |
| APEC Funding | 93,798 |
| Co-funding Amount | 291,926 |
| Total Project Value | 385,724 |
| Sponsoring Forum | Energy Working Group (EWG) |
| Topics | Energy |
| Committee | SOM Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (SCE) |
| Other Fora Involved | Not Applicable / Other |
| Other Non-APEC Stakeholders Involved | Not Applicable |
| Proposing Economy(ies) | Japan;Thailand |
| Co-Sponsoring Economies | Australia;Brunei Darussalam;Canada;Chile;China;Hong Kong, China;Indonesia;Korea;Malaysia;Mexico;New Zealand;Papua New Guinea;Peru;Philippines;Russia;Singapore;Chinese Taipei;United States;Viet Nam |
| Expected Start Date | 20/04/2011 |
| Expected Completion Date | 31/12/2012 |
| Project Proponent Name 1 | Mr. Shinichi Kihara |
| Job Title 1 | Director, International Affairs Division, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy |
| Organization 1 | Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) |
| Postal Address 1 | 1-3-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8931, JAPAN |
| Telephone 1 | (+81) 3-3501-0598 |
| Fax 1 | (+81) 3-3595-3056 |
| Email 1 | kihara-shinichi@meti.go.jp |
| Project Proponent Name 2 | Not Applicable |
| Job Title 2 | Not Applicable |
| Organization 2 | Not Applicable |
| Postal Address 2 | Not Applicable |
| Telephone 2 | Not Applicable |
| Fax 2 | Not Applicable |
| Email 2 | Not Applicable |
| Declaration | Ryo Minami |
| Project Summary | The PRLCE responds to the instructions of the APEC Energy Ministers in their June 2010 Fukui Declaration to “explore mechanisms to encourage APEC economies to set individual goals and action plans for introducing low-emission power sources”. As with the APEC PREE, a peer review team comprised of experts from other APEC member economies and EGNRET will identify barriers to the effective implementation of action plans in the host economy and make recommendations for overcoming the barriers. Low-emission power sources include renewable, nuclear and fossil-fuel with carbon capture and storage. However, this project will put its initial focus on renewable power supply. Because developing economies are less likely to have the capacity to develop actions plans for introducing renewable power supplies than developed economies, this project will focus on developing economies. Two economies have already volunteered to host PRLCEs, Malaysia and Thailand, in the fourth quarter of 2011. |
| Relevance | The APEC Energy Ministers in their June 2010 Fukui Declaration emphasized the message that “Cleaner energy supply also boosts both sustainable development and energy security. Low emission power sources - renewable, nuclear and fossil-fuelled with carbon capture and storage - can allow electricity generation to expand in a sustainable fashion without the risk of needing to be curtailed to cope with climate change. Their deployment should be promoted.” The APEC Ministers also instructed the APEC Energy Working Group (EWG) to “explore mechanisms to encourage APEC economies to set individual goals and action plans for introducing low-emission power sources with assistance from APERC and relevant technology expert groups, building upon the success of the APEC Peer Review on Energy Efficiency (PREE).” This proposal is in direct response to the Minister’s instructions. Due to the growing interest among APEC economies in promoting renewable energy, this project has put its initial focus on renewable power supply. And because developing economies are less likely to have the capacity to develop actions plans for introducing renewable power supplies than developed economies, this project will focus on developing economies. Currently, the development of renewable power supplies is strongly dependent upon government support through fiscal and regulatory policies. As such, it is of paramount importance for each government to specify clearly its long-term policy framework of goals and action plans in order to invite commitment by stakeholders, especially the business and science communities. In addition, clear goals and action plans would also help the government to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the action plans and provide feedback for follow-up actions if there are any setbacks. |
| Objectives | This project is a multi-year project, and seeks the following objectives: · Share experiences and knowledge on best practices for efficient and effective policies to promote renewable power supplies in developing APEC economies, including how to adapt policies and measures which have been successful elsewhere to the unique conditions of each economy; · Encourage developing APEC economies to set individual goals on power supply from renewable resources and to formulate action plans to achieve the goals. Both of these require building the capacity in the participating developing economies to analyze and implement effective policies to promote renewable power supplies. |
| Alignment | Regarding APEC’s key priorities, the APEC Leaders’ Growth Strategy adopted at their 2010 Yokohama meeting, calls for APEC to achieve five growth attributes, namely, balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth. Two of these directly apply to APEC’s energy activities and this project. For Sustainable Growth, APEC needs to adopt a less carbon-intensive and less depletable-resource dependent energy system. For Innovative Growth, the leaders discussed how APEC needs to adopt policies that foster the enabling environment for innovative growth that will be increasingly crucial for future prosperity. They specifically mentioned the need for innovation in new products and services that can enhance progress on critical global issues, including the environment and energy. PRLCE will thus serve as one of the key building blocks of the APEC Growth Strategy. Question 1 already addressed the contribution of this project to meeting the goals of the APEC energy ministers. |
| TILF/ASF Justification | PRLCE Phase 1 is an APEC Support Fund application, and is very appropriate for funding from this source. The program is targeted at developing economies, who will benefit from more renewable power supplies through reduced economic damages from climate change, better air quality, and less exposure to high fossil fuel prices and oil market disruptions. As explained in Question 2 above, building the capacity in the participating economies to analyze and implement effective policies to promote renewable power supplies is a key focus of PRLC. |
| Beneficiaries and Outputs | The most obvious beneficiaries of this project will be the policy makers of the PRLCE host economies who are responsible for renewable power policies. They will gain valuable recommendations on how to improve low carbon energy policies. Other government officials in the host economy will benefit through sharing such information and lessons learned. As PRLCE is expected to contribute to increasing the production of renewable power, the range of other beneficiaries could be very large, including anyone who would benefit from reduced CO2 emissions, cleaner air, less exposure to high fossil fuel prices, and greater energy security. As with PREE, APERC will summarize the findings of each PRLCE in presentations at the APERC workshops held in conjunction with EWG meetings. As discussed in Question 7 above, APERC will follow-up once each year with each former PRLCE host economy in order to determine the implementation status of each PRLCE recommendation. These findings will also be presented at the APERC workshops held in conjunction with EWG meetings. Other APEC economies who are attempting to implement renewable power policies should benefit from this information sharing. |
| Dissemination | · 50 copies of each Peer Review Report on Low Carbon Energy Policies in slight · The target audience comprises APEC officials responsible for low carbon energy · There are no plans to sell any outputs related to this project. |
| Gender | APERC welcomes the participation of women in all aspects of this project. A number of women participated in PREE, and this is expected to be the case for PRLCE as well. APERC will continue to make efforts to ensure that women are well represented on the peer review team, and that women are among the stakeholders interviewed by the review team. Women are major energy users and often involved in the production of energy. Successful renewable power policy needs broad public involvement of women. |
| Work Plan | PRLCE will be built on the experience of the Peer Reviews on Energy Efficiency (PREE), which APERC has coordinated for the past two years. The general design of the PRLCE project will be similar to PREE, except that the focus will be on renewable power supply rather than energy efficiency. As APERC is now preparing draft PRLCE Project Guidelines by consulting with Japan (the overseeing economy) as well as Malaysia and Thailand, the two economies planning to host PRLCE in the fourth quarter of 2011, Draft PRLCE Project Guidelines are expected to be discussed at the next EWG41 meeting and to be endorsed by EWG members in a timely manner after the project is approved by the BMC. Although the PRLCE Project Guidelines have not yet been fully developed, they are expected to be very similar to the existing PREE Project Guidelines, which are available on EWG website at http://www.ewg.apec.org/documents/PREE_Guidelines.pdf. The guidelines will assist in managing PRLCE effectively, and ensure a robust review process. A peer review mechanism is a cooperative voluntary process between APEC member economies, the review team, and APERC, under the auspices of the EWG. Therefore, in the PRLCE Project Guidelines, the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved will be defined in order to ensure good governance and clear accountability. Because of the precedents established by PREE, the process of developing the PRLCE Project Guidelines is not expected to be contentious. It will, however, need to involve a number of parties, and a quality product will require sufficient time. In order to meet the deadlines for proposal submission in Session 1, it was not possible to develop the PRLCE Project Guidelines prior to submission of this proposal. Two PRLCEs are planned in Malaysia and Thailand in the fourth quarter of 2011, which have been confirmed by high-ranking government officials in both governments. Both economies have hosted PREE’s in the past, and based on this positive experience, have volunteered to be early hosts for PRLCE. With each economy, an initial step will be to more precisely define the scope of the review. For each PRLCE, a peer review team will be formed by APERC in consultation with the host economy. The peer review team may include experts from other APEC economies, EGNRET and international organizations. The review team as a group is expected to have experience across a range of policy and technical issues related to renewable power supply. They should also be a diverse group, including members from several different economies, women and, if possible, the private sector and NGOs. Ideally, experts from previous host economies and experts from the next host economy should be included to ensure the continuity of the peer review process. Finally, they should be selected considering their expertise on the issues and concerns which the host economy would most like the review to address. Prior to the review team’s visit to the host economy, the host economy will prepare a background briefing book for the review team outlining the status of the renewable power sector in the host economy, as well as the economy’s renewable energy policies and programs. At the same time, the host economy will determine the issues and concerns they would most like the review to address, which in turn should guide the host economy’s selection of stakeholders who should be interviewed by the review team. The stakeholders may be policy makers and government officials responsible for renewable power policies, representatives of the private sector, industry associations, academia, or NGOs. The peer review team will visit the host economy and interview the stakeholders selected by the host economy. After their visit, the peer review team will prepare a preliminary draft review report. The draft review report will then be reviewed by the host economy and possibly modified by the peer review team in response to the host economy’s comments. The draft review report will be presented to EWG members for their consideration and approval at the next EWG meeting. Deliverables of PRLCE will include a Peer Review Report on Low-Carbon Energy Policies for the host economy, which will include identification of barriers to the effective implementation of action plans and recommendations for overcoming the barriers. The report may cover a variety of issues including overall goals and strategies, regulatory framework, grid access, research efforts, subsidies and taxation, data collection and monitoring, education, etc. |
| Risks | In designing PRLCE project, APERC has consulted with the government officials who are responsible for renewable power policies on the present status of their strategic goals and action plans. APERC has also consulted with experts from APEC EGNRET, as well as international organizations such as IEA and ADB on the challenges and barriers to effective policy implementation. APERC plans to continue to consult with these experts as the project moves forward in order to manage the risks which may be involved in implementing the project. The key risks to the success of the project are: a) Lack of sufficient information on the renewable power situation in the host economy. Unlike many other aspects of energy, data on electricity supply is generally good in most economies. There may also be previous studies related to the renewable power sector in the host economy which may contain valuable data and insights. It is critical that the peer review team has access to both kinds of information so they can make the best-informed recommendations possible. This information should be summarized in the background briefing book for the review team if the review team is to conduct the peer reviews on a limited time schedule. APERC will minimize this risk by closely coordinating with the host economy and asking them to provide relevant data and information well in advance. b) Lack of diverse perspectives when conducting the peer review. A variety of perspectives, including not only government, but also the industry and financial sectors as well as NGOs, is essential to comprehensively examine renewable power policy issues and to make useful recommendations to tackle deficiencies. APERC will minimize this risk by working closely with the host economy to arrange opportunities for as many as possible of the relevant stakeholders to meet with the review team. c) Lack of renewable power policy experts participating in the peer review team. There is expected to be a limited number of renewable power policy experts from APEC economies who are available to voluntarily participate in the peer review team. To solve this problem, APERC will develop a register of renewable power policy experts as APERC developed the list of energy efficiency experts for PREE by coordinating with the chair of EGEE&C. APERC will also work closely with the chair of EGNRET to ensure that the available renewable power experts join the peer review team. |
| Monitoring and Evaluation | APERC will need to follow-up with each PRLCE host economy at least once a year to understand the extent to which the peer review team’s recommendations are being implemented. In the case of PREE, APERC has been doing this and has presented some of the findings at the APERC workshops held in conjunction with each EWG meeting. APERC will do the same for the PRLCE once each year. It is fairly straightforward to contact the appropriate officials in each former PRLCE host economy and ask them about the current status of each PRLCE recommendation (which will be listed in a numbered list in the PRLCE final report). The findings can be summarized in a short slide presentation. Some other good indicators of project success are the number of renewable power policy experts who participated in the review team, the number of stakeholders who were visited by review team, and the number of recommendations made by the review team in each Peer Review. The written report of each PRLCE will, itself, be a good indicator of whether the project is on track, since it will summarize the peer review team’s findings. The quality of the report and its findings should be self-evident as the report on PREE are. A final indicator is whether there are economies who are volunteering to host subsequent phases of PRLCE. Since PRLCE participation is voluntary and demands a significant resource commitment on behalf of the host economy, the fact that there are further economies who wish to host a PRLCE is a solid indicator that the program is providing value. China, Philippines, Viet Nam and Chinese Taipei have expressed their interests in hosting PRLCE. |
| Linkages | APERC will keep in contact with the chairpersons of relevant APEC fora, such as EGNRET and the Low Carbon Model Town Task Force to ensure that we are making full use of their resources and are not duplicating any of their activities. APERC will also consult with international organizations such as IEA, ADB, WB, etc, as well as take full advantage of interaction opportunities at the APERC workshops held in conjunction with EWG meetings and APERC’s own annual conferences. The PRLCE project builds on the PREE project, which also employs a peer review mechanism and also addresses developing clear goals and action plans, and identifying effective policy approaches. Over the past years, there have also been many EWG projects addressing wide range of topics related to new and renewable energy technology. While these projects focused on technical aspects of new and renewable energy development or individual policy measures and programs, PRLCE will address the whole range of renewable power policies. For these reasons, PRLCE is different from previous efforts, and will avoid duplication of previous EWG projects. APEC is the only forum where leaders, ministers and working level government officials in the Asia-Pacific region share knowledge and coordinate activities related to sustainable development and energy security. As such, it is the most appropriate forum to be studying the many issues involved in implementing renewable power, |
| Sustainability | APERC will follow-up at least once a year with each former PRLCE host economy to determine the current status of the review team’s recommendations. If the recommendations are not being implemented due to lack of capacity, it may be appropriate to consider implementing a Follow-Up PRLC, similar to the proposed Follow-Up PREE. The results of this informal survey should also be useful in helping APERC modify the design for subsequent stages of the project to make the project more effective. More generally, APERC, as coordinator of PRLCE, can provide continuity between this PRLCE Phase 1 and subsequent phases as it has been providing continuity of multi-year PREE project. In future phases of the multi-year PRLCE project, APERC will be able to draw on its experience with what worked and did not work in prior PRLCE phases, as well as prior PREE phases, to improve the design of subsequent phases. |
| Project Overseers | Other Project Overseers: Ms Reiko Eda Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan |
| Cost Efficiency | APERC will provide in-kind support to PRLCE by its researchers and officers at no cost to APEC. The peer review panel members from APEC member governments will also support the project at no cost to APEC. As mentioned in Question 8, a number of studies and research projects have been conducted by EWG on new and renewable energy technologies as well as a few projects addressing policy issues to promote them. This project, however, offers maximum value to APEC through providing a comprehensive review of the renewable power policies in the host economies and sharing the information obtained through this exercise among policy makers across APEC economies. To maximize the cost-efficient use of resources, the project will seek to involve experts who were engaged in these past EWG projects. These experts from member economies will be requested to participate in the peer review team and provide input from diversified perspectives, drawing on the results of the previous studies and research projects. |
| Drawdown Timetable | Not Applicable |
| Direct Labour | Not Applicable |
| Waivers | Not Applicable |
| Are there any supporting document attached? | No |