Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Energy
in South-East Asia

Building on the initial discussions, which took place around the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg in August 2002, the World Energy Council (WEC), through the British Energy Association (WEC UK Member Committee), has agreed with the UK Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) to partner on the establishment of a Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Energy (CESE) in Manila. The partnership is supported by the Philippine Department of Energy and the Energy Council of the Philippines (WEC Philippine Member Committee) will host the CESE.

The CESE in Manila is the first WEC Centre of Excellence in Asia-Pacific, and it provides an example of the action and results oriented approach to achieving the goals of energy sustainability identified by the World Energy Council as

The CESE concept has been developed along the lines of 'Type 2' partnerships/initiatives agreed at the WSSD (i.e. voluntary, 'self-organising' co-operation programmes initiated by governments, international organisations and other major groups). The partnership will demonstrate how a close and business-led collaboration on the ground can provide benefits to the partners and to the community at large.

To reach its objectives, the CESE will:

• pro-actively promote and support sustainable energy concepts and technologies, power sector reform and management techniques;
• promote business-friendly policies;
• provide local market information and analysis.;
• work together with the Philippines industry representatives to identify and develop opportunities to deploy sustainable energy technologies and techniques;
• work together with the DOE and local governments in the Philippines to develop new concrete projects;
• serve as a clearing house for information about business opportunities in sustainable energy;
• disseminate concepts of best practices in the priority sectors;
• communicate the benefits of sustainable energy technologies and power sector reform to policy decision-makers and other stakeholders;
• undertake market research for new project development.

The CESE will focus on:

• Renewable Energy Resource development and technology transfer;
• Introduction of Cleaner Fossil Fuels Technologies;
• Power Plant performance improvement;
• Power Sector Management and Market Reform'
• Energy Efficiency.

The CESE will develop and maintain an interactive website that will have the necessary functionality to allow users to contribute actively to its contents, register new project opportunities, technologies and initiatives, submit inquiries, participate in online discussions, etc. The website will be linked to the WEC's Global Energy Information System (GEIS), the DTI/TPUK and DOE sites. The first activities within the CESE work programme, which will commence in early 2004, will include:

Catalogue of Best Practices
Focusing on renewable energy, power generating plant performance improvement and clean coal technologies, a catalogue of successful case studies will be developed, primarily based on the Philippines experience, and as relevant on other South-East Asian countries. The best 2-3 cases in each area will be selected, examined in detail and used as models for replication wherever feasible.

Renewable Energy
The CESE will identify a few projects in renewable energy and bring together potential partners interested in developing these projects together. In the Philippines, the network of affiliated energy centres will be tapped to assist in identifying opportunities for this activity. To facilitate identification, development and implementation of potential projects, the CESE will draw on the information and practical guidance included in the WEC Handbook on Renewable Energy Projects.

Cleaner Coal Technologies
The CESE will conduct face-to-face meetings with the top management of potential users of clean coal technologies in the Philippines and hold workshops and presentations of these technologies. Experts representing the establishing partners will be invited to play an active role in these activities.

Energy Efficiency in Production and End-Use
Drawing on the well-established benchmarking methodologies developed by the WEC Performance of Generating Plant Committee (PGP) and best practices used by the member companies of the establishing partners, a series of general presentations and company-specific workshops will be held to demonstrate the potential economic and environmental benefits of improving power plant availability. On the global scale, these benefits are estimated at US$80 billion per year and a corresponding reduction of GHG emissions by at least 1 Gigatonne (10⁹) CO₂e.

In December 2004 a Seminar on Enhancing Energy Independence through Renewable Energy was held in Manila.

The Philippines: Culture, People, Economy and Energy
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The UK DTI Technology Programmes

• Cleaner Coal
• New and Renewable energy