The ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) in collaboration with the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE), Thailand, organised the first workshop on energy efficiency (EE) financing mechanisms and innovative possibilities to accelerate EE Investment in ASEAN. The Workshop was held on 17-20 December 2018, Bangkok, and attended by 30 participants from eight (8) ASEAN Member States, namely: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. In addition, representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Thailand Refrigeration and Air Conditioning NAMA (RAC NAMA), EU Switch-Asia Programme, as well as United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (United Nations ESCAP) also joined the workshop.

With the support of international experts–Kevin Hor, Victor Ablainza and Dr. Verena Streitferdt–ACE provided technical support to ASEAN Member States (AMS) as part of the ASEAN Cooperative Project on Financing Mechanism Design for EE Projects Implementation (ACPFMEE), funded by the Japan-ASEAN Integration Funding (JAIF). The project aims to support AMS in developing EE financing mechanisms that are suitable for each AMS depending on their current status and financial institutions availability. The overarching goal of the project is to assist AMS to achieve their regional 30% energy intensity (EI) reduction target by 2025.

Mr. Sarat Prakobcat, the Director of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency Promotion, DEDE, Thailand, welcomed all distinguished participants and speakers to the Workshop. In his address, he emphasised that EE financing will play a key role to bring forth investment in EE measures and accelerate the implementation of energy-efficient technologies.

The workshop provided a platform for all participants to exchange information related to regional/national legislative frameworks including practical and operational experiences related to implemented EE fund and/or mechanisms in AMS, such as tax incentives or energy performance contracting. Also new and less conventional EE financing methods that could be adopted in the future were introduced such as EE insurance or EE carbon financing using a blockchain approach.

The site visit on the last day provided participants with an opportunity to listen to the experience of Summit Motor Manufacturing Thailand regarding retrofits financed by the Thailand EE revolving fund. Summit Motor Manufacturing were even kind enough to share the cost of EE retrofits in Thailand as well as other internal operational issues in delivering successful EE projects at their factory.

Throughout the workshop, participants supported the idea to develop a regional insurance scheme to support EE financing, and a regional real time carbon tracking registry to be hosted by ACE, to enable the proliferation of energy service companies and carbon trading. The participants have also expressed their willingness to further develop one or two EE finance mechanisms in their countries and present their progress in the next workshop in March/April 2019. (RJPS.  All photos credit:  ACE)