Energy and Climate Staff Explore Low-Cost Assessment Tool for Renewable Energy Technologies
Monday, July 13, 2009
Energy professionals and practitioners from project developers and financiers to policy makers often find that it is time-consuming and costly to conduct quick assessments or feasibility studies on renewable energy investments due to various reasons, including intensive data needs on climate and unfamiliarity with modeling of new renewable energy technologies.
The Clean Energy Project Analysis Software known as RETScreen has been recognized by many energy professionals and decision-makers as an unparalleled decision support tool to reduce transaction costs associated with assessing and developing clean energy projects, such as wind, combined heat and power, and small hydro. The tool is available free of charge in more than 30 languages and has more than 200,000 users worldwide as of mid July 2009.
Sponsored by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) and CanmetENERGY of Natural Resources Canada, two workshops on RETScreen accommodated high interest from World Bank Staff. The workshops were held earlier this year in the World Bank Headquarters, Washington D.C.
“This training aims to equip staff with tools for analyzing on-grid and off-grid photovoltaic projects on energy production, costs, emission reductions, financial viability, and risk,” said Amarquaye Armar, ESMAP Program Manager. “In turn knowledge acquired during RETScreen training enhances staff skills in analyzing energy investments to maximize benefits for clients.”
Staff and consultants attending the workshops gained hands-on experience in a computer lab of capacity and functionality of the excel-based tool for renewable energy projects.
Jessica Lin, Energy, Transport and Water Department says, “RETScreen training is one of the most valuable courses that I have had since joining the energy sector. Not only did I learn how to use the RETScreen software, but by working through the PV and wind examples, I was able to ground truth with some of my installation assumptions.”
Dimitrios Zevgolis, Climate Change Specialist, Global Environment Facility one of the participants with prior knowledge of RETScreen said, “Often I use RETScreen to run pre-feasibility studies for energy projects.”
Meanwhile, Luiz Maurer, Senior Energy Specialist, Africa region said he would give the RETScreen software directly to energy clients so that they could also better understand the technical details of an installation, prior to or in place of hiring very costly consultants.
ESMAP is co-sponsoring a series of in-country RETScreen training workshops in China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, to be held in September 2009. By engaging developing country energy practitioners in the training workshops, ESMAP expects to help build local capacities of assessing renewable energy projects and policies faster and at a lower cost.
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