UK LCEP, PE2 eye cooperation for ESCO sector development
QUEZON CITY, 5 December 2019 – The Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2) met earlier today a visiting mission of UK Prosperity Fund’s ASEAN Low Carbon Energy Programme (LCEP) to continue discussions on possible collaborative opportunities to support the accelerated development of the energy service company (ESCO) sector in the Philippines.
The UK-LCEP delegation was represented by William Hudson of Carbon Trust, Thomas K. Dreessen, a seasoned international ESCO expert, and Laurie B. Navarro. PE2 president Alexander Ablaza represented the non-profit alliance of energy efficiency market stakeholders.
During the discussions, Ablaza identified some immediate ESCO market gaps that will need to be bridged: [1] DOE will need to craft responsive ESCO certification guidelines; [2] ESCOs will need to de-risk upfront investments in project preparation such as the costs of level-3 energy audits and the preparation of robust measurement and verification plans, and develop in-house capacities to prepare investment-grade projects for debt and equity investors; [3] Aside from the training and certification of energy conservation officers and energy managers under the new Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C) Act, the ESCO industry will need trained Certified Measurement and Verification Professionals (CMVP); and, [4] PE2 needs to develop and adopt PE2-standard performance contracting templates. The LCEP team will look into these market gaps and see how their project activities can be planned to respond to the immediate needs of the local ESCO market.
PE2 has a continuing conversation with LCEP for various barrier removal interventions in the EE&C market. In earlier meetings in July and September 2019, PE2 was pleased to learn that LCEP was interested in removing persistent policy barriers that prevented ESCO performance contracting and public-private partnership (PPP) transactions for energy efficiency projects implemented in the public sector.
The UK Prosperity Fund through its Foreign and Commonwealth Office has awarded a 3-year program called the ASEAN Low Carbon Energy Programme (LCEP) to Ernst and Young with Carbon Trust, a UK consulting company as one of the LCEP delivery partners.
Carbon Trust informed PE2 that LCEP will provide policy support, capacity building and technical assistance to facilitate green finance flows and improve the regulatory, policy and practical conditions for energy efficiency measures in Southeast Asia. It will support five broad types of activity: [1] Capacity building of government, institutions and business; [2] Policy reform of energy frameworks and standards; [3] Market development by strengthening connections between project developers and investors; [4] Raising awareness of available technologies to increase the uptake of energy efficient products and services; and, [5] Partnership coordination and commercial ventures.
The Carbon Trust is leading the delivery of the energy efficiency component of the LCEP across five countries: Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
