E-7 group initiates energy project in RI

E-7 group initiates energy project in RI

TORONTO (Reuter): The E-7 group of utility companies said on Tuesday it has initiated energy development projects in Indonesia, Jordan and Zimbabwe as part of a joint implementation program aimed at encouraging sustainable energy development (SED).

But current E-7 Chairman Allan Kupcis, President and Chief Executive of Ontario Hydro, said although the group has managed to initiate the three projects announced at last year's summit in Cologne, Germany, real progress has been hampered by tentative governments in developing countries.

"One of the learning experiences for us is that there is a lag time (from) intent to actually actualizing some of these (projects). We are learning some of the real issues, that when you deal with governments and their concerns about what the outcomes and how the projects are actually implemented, and how they will be credited... those are some very important issues," Kupcis told reporters during a break in the group's two-day summit meeting in Toronto.

The E-7 initiative, made up of large electricity utility companies from Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and the United States, developed the projects in close consultation with utility companies from developing countries.

The Indonesian government gave the official go-ahead to the E-7's project to develop a renewable energy system for remote communities in Indonesia in December.

The official government signing to begin a thermal plant upgrade in Jordan is set for later this month, while the Zimbabwe micro-hydroelectric project is due to commence in the autumn.

"So we have not got any additional projects to those three, we having been working hard as a group to get those three actually moving past the stage of just announcing them," Kupcis said.

The joint implementation program was developed at the 1996 summit to foster cooperation between industrialized and emerging nations to help emerging energy sectors develop in an environmentally responsible way.

Kupcis said the group's main drive this year was to exchange information about successful SED practices being implemented in the sector in an effort to broker the transfer of SED initiatives globally.

He said global deregulation has brought about increased competition in the sector and between the E-7 utilities themselves. But the group remains bound by a common interest in sustainable and environmentally responsible development.

"This dimension of environment issues and sustainable development (is a) path that none of us can afford to give up," Kupcis said.

The group also passed a resolution to work towards the expansion of E-7 membership to include two utilities from each of the G7 group of countries.

Current members include Ontario Hydro and Hydro-Quebec from Canada, Electricite de France, Germany's RWE AG, Italy's ENEL S.p.a., Kansai Electric Power Co and Tokyo Electric Power Co from Japan and Southern California Edison of the United States.

Collectively they produce about 12 percent of the world's electricity.