Climargy CEO Alexander Ablaza (at the podium) discusses how co-financing an investment-grade energy audit (IGA) program enables energy efficiency investments during an IEA-ETP event on 9 June 2022 in Sønderborg, Denmark. Seated on stage, from left: Luh Nyoman Dewi, Director, Energy Conservation of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Indonesia; Mada Ayu Habsari, Director of PT Enertec; Ingo Puhl, Managing Director of South Pole; and Edith Bayer, Energy Policy Analyst, International Energy Agency. Seated rightmost in the audience (back to camera) is Sirpa Jarvenpaa, Fund Director, Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership. (Photo: Climargy)
SØNDERBORG, DENMARK, 9 June 2022 – Climargy CEO Alexander Ablaza presented on how an investment-grade energy audit (IGA) program can remove energy service company (ESCO) project investment barriers in an emerging market during a side event of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership (ETP) at the 7th Annual Global Conference on Energy Efficiency.
Ablaza explained that the co-financing partnership of ETP and Climargy bolsters the local ESCO industry by removing the upfront project development risks associated with IGAs. He said, “The understanding of the energy efficiency (EE) project’s risks and economics is sharpened with actual data. Investment decision-making of the host entity or the third-party investor is accelerated. More ESCO project capital flows, allowing them to further pursue their project pipelines. The acceptance of IGAs as standard procedure in energy efficiency project due diligence is further established.”
The IEA-ETP side event was held to address the substantial under-investment in cost-effective EE initiatives. ETP explained that an “EE investment gap” persists, almost universally, across all countries. The reality is that both the number of implementation-ready EE projects, and the availability of financing for such projects remains suboptimal because of the various technical, institutional, and financial barriers.
IEA Energy Policy Analyst Edith Bayer served as moderator of the discussions. Aside from Ablaza, other panelists included Luh Nyoman Dewi, Director, Energy Conservation of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Indonesia; Mada Ayu Habsari, Director of PT Enertec; and Ingo Puhl, Managing Director of South Pole.
Climargy is one of the world’s pioneer private-sector aggregators of ESCO project assets in emerging markets. Climargy’s unique model of mobilizing off-balance sheet capital toward ESCO-led projects is intended to accelerate energy efficiency capital flows in Asian growth markets, initially the Philippines.
The Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership (ETP) is a multi-stakeholder partnership between government and philanthropic partners aimed towards accelerating sustainable energy transition, as guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Agreement. The Energy Efficiency Innovation Window is one of the ETP’s channels for providing early-stage grant financing for innovations in Southeast Asia which help solve the persisting under-investment in energy efficiency.
IEA’s 7th Annual Global Conference on Energy Efficiency brought together ministers, CEOs and other leaders from the international community in Sønderborg, Denmark to drive up ambition on energy efficiency at this critical moment for energy security, affordability and net zero targets. At least 25 ministers attended the event, as well as almost as many speakers from the business and the international spheres.
