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Energypedia News
Season's Greetings
In 2013 energypedia has had the privilege of engaging with academic institutions, donors, civil society groups and energy practitioners on numerous rewarding initiatives. Thanks to growing commitments across the world, 2013 has seen some great advances made both within and outside of energypedia on the path to making access to modern and sustainable energy for all a reality. In 2014 we will continue to advocate creative collaboration and practical knowledge sharing on www.energypedia.info in order to spark innovation and opportunities to advance the cause of access to sustainable energy for all.
Thank you for being a part of our work! We look forward to what we can achieve together in 2014.
We wish you a happy holiday season and a prosperous New Year!
EnDev Peru Document Index now Online
Energising Development (EnDev) Peru promotes access to energy for lighting in rural and semi-rural areas in different forms, promotes access to energy to cook with, supporting the provision of sufficient and low emission energy with improved cookstoves, access to energy to heat water and access to energy for productive uses. As a result of their work in these areas over the years Endev Peru has published the EnDev Peru Document Index. The document index includes studies and information in Spanish on energy for lighting, cooking energy and energy for productive use.
Energy Sector News
India Clean Cookstove Forum 2013
With the vision of enhancing the use of cookstove technologies, Dr Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New and Renewable Energy inaugurated the India Clean Cookstove Forum 2013 organized jointly by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH operating on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) on 25 and 26 November 2013 in New Delhi, India. With more than 150 participants, the forum was the largest national event on clean cooking solutions that has ever been organized in India. During the event all relevant stakeholders in the Indian cookstove sector – social enterprises, NGOs, foundations, donor agencies, government and financial institutions – discussed potential solutions to the most significant challenges hindering the large-scale adoption of improved cookstoves.
In his speech Dr Farooq Abdullah said “increased use of clean and efficient cookstoves is crucial to reduce the burden of disease from indoor air pollution as well to avoid the overuse of biomass resources. Efficient cooking technologies have a direct tangible impact on the livelihoods of the poor, as they save time and money that previously had to be spent on procuring cooking fuels.” During the Forum, the Minister also launched a new initiative on biomass cookstoves developed under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the United Nations Frameworks Convention on Climate Change to reduce the cost of improved stove technologies to rural customers through the sale of carbon credits.
Following up on the results of the discussions, the Indo-German Energy Programme Renewable Energy Component (IGEN-RE), a cooperation project between MNRE and GIZ on behalf of BMZ will develop marketing and awareness campaigns, as well as pilot innovative mechanisms for end-user financing. Furthermore the development of a web-based platform will be initiated to support manufacturers and distributors of improved cookstoves in creating an open space for knowledge sharing among each other. To create an effective framework to initiate, and support collective efforts towards a large scale adoption of improved cookstoves, this event will be the first in a planned series of yearly events.
SEPS Call for Proposals in Latin America and the Caribbean
WISIONS initiative has launched its second SEPS call for applications in 2013 in which they are looking for project concepts and knowledge exchange activities in Latin America and the Caribbean. This SEPS call is looking for project concepts that demonstrate how to apply small-scale renewable energy technologies to meet energy-related needs and improve energy access for Latin American and Caribbean people. For example, projects might aim to meet energy needs for reliable electricity or heat supply, for food processing and conservation, or for water pumping and treatment. Support for exchange activities shall help to facilitate physical peer-to-peer exchanges between expert organizations (e.g. mutual visits; practical hands-on training, or training workshops).The deadline for submission of applications is 16 January 2014, 4pm GMT.
- Find more information on the application process, criteria and application forms here.
Connecting Rural Cooperatives and Rural Electrification - Renewable Energy Program Indonesia/ASEAN
The Indonesian Ministry of Cooperatives (KUKM) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 12 November 2013 to further concretize their collaboration in the field of rural electrification in Indonesia. Implemented by the GIZ project, EnDev Indonesia, this collaboration will see the strengthening of rural cooperatives in managing and administering their electrification infrastructure. In the initial phase, KUKM provides funding for the construction of ten micro-hydro power plants in ten Regions across Indonesia, while EnDev Indonesia will conduct technical commissioning and community preparation. Primary purpose of the power plants will be to provide reliable electricity to various business activities by the beneficiary cooperatives.
Providing access to electricity for rural communities as means to encourage local economic development shows the greatest impact of rural electrification <programmes. While electricity for lighting, television and other common appliances provides immediate benefits, it is the use electricity for rural businesses where the long-term future of rural communities lies. Businesses employ people. They add value to natural resources. They provide essential services to the community at a lower cost. They attract money into the community and raise overall income levels. They reduce the draining of money from the community. They link the community to neighbouring communities and even to communities much further away. They have a ripple effect by facilitating the development of even further businesses.With the spirit to collaborate in the strengthening of cooperative-based micro hydro power (MHP) projects, the MoU was signed by the Deputy Minister of Production, Ministry of Cooperative and Small Medium Enterprises (KUKM), Drs. Braman Setyo, M.Si., at an event attracting stakeholders from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the Ministry of Marine and Fisheries, BAPPENAS and the Governor for the East Nusa Tengara Province. Within KUKM’s Off-Grid Support Programme, EnDev Indonesia contribution will be on capacity development and technical commissioning. Furthermore EnDev Indonesia will introduce its SMS-based rural support platform to the communities, which allows them to request technical and administrative guidance via SMS. This support aims to improve the performance and enhance sustainability of MHPs through providing advisory services to both KUKM and the beneficiary communities.
- For more information contact: Amalia Suryani; Robert Schultz
