CPI

Ouarzazate I Concentrated Solar Power, Morocco

Ouarzazate I is a 160MW Concentrated Solar Power plant in Morocco, generously supported by a subsidy from the Government of Morocco and concessional capital from international development banks. Ouarzazate I only makes economic sense if it contributes to the development of a commercially-sustainable regional Concentrated Solar Power market. Projects like Ouarzazate I play a crucial bridging role but, in order to scale-up projects like these, costs need to fall and revenues need to grow. This will require careful design and considerable political support from national and international players. Early experience from Ouarzazate  I, such as the public-private partnership model used to engage key players, can help inform future projects.

Program Solaire, Tunisia

Program Solaire (Prosol) is an incentive program that promotes residential solar water heaters in Tunisia. In the early 2000s, the deployment of solar water heaters remained low due to fossil fuel subsidies. The Tunisian government had attempted to discontinue the fossil fuel subsidies, but a public outcry caused policymakers to abandon this course of action. Prosol sought other strategies to increase installations of solar water heaters, and succeeded in increasing installations fivefold. Importantly, the Prosol program is paying for itself; avoided fossil fuel subsidies are more than covering government support for solar water heaters.

Walney Offshore Windfarms, United Kingdom

Walney Offshore Windfarms (WOW) in the U.K., the largest offshore windfarm in the world in 2012, faced financing challenges because of the risks associated with this immature though promising technology and the escalating European debt crisis. Through a combination of U.K. policy support and innovative financial engineering, the project was successful in attracting nontraditional investors including a pension and a private equity fund.

About the San Giorgio Group case studies

In October 2011, Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and the World Bank Group, in collaboration with China Light & Power (CLP) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), hosted the inaugural meeting of the San Giorgio Group, a new working group of key financial intermediaries and institutions actively engaged in providing green, low-emissions finance.The mission of the San Giorgio Group is to provide valuable insights on how to scale up climate finance and spend available resources more wisely.

To this end, Climate Policy Initiative is examining a series of case studies to determine how the use of public money can catalyze and incentivize private investment in low carbon technologies, and to draw lessons for scaling up green finance.