Small and medium-sized investors and consultants attended the Dialogue Workshop in Washington, D.C., December 4-5. The theme was “Scaling up Clean Energy — How can the Norwegian Private Sector be Involved?”
1/10/2008 :: It was the fifth year the Norwegian Embassy organized the workshop between Norwegian companies and The World Bank Group in D.C., and interest in this workshop increases each year.
The Norwegian ambassador to the United States, Wegger Chr. Strømmen, was impressed by this year’s attendance. According to Ambassador Strømmen, the Norwegian participants’ expertise in clean energy, hydro power and energy efficiency is very timely and there should be ample opportunity for continued dialogue and exchange of knowledge between the Norwegian companies and especially the International Finance Cooperation (IFC) which focuses its work on private-sector investments.
Svein Aass, the Executive Director for Norway at the World Bank, says that Norway’s private sector and the IFC make a good match when it comes to clean and renewable energy.
IFC’s Executive Vice President and CEO Lars Thunell, welcomed Norwegian private sector and said: “As a leader in the energy sector, especially renewables, Norway is an attractive partner for IFC.” Thunnel continued by saying: “IFC is keen to partner with Norwegian companies as we seek opportunities to increase clean energy investments in developing economies.” He mentioned that IFC already provide financing to Statkraft Norfund Power to support hydro projects in Asia and Latin America, and Norwegian technical expertise has helped develop IFC’s portfolio of infrastructure investments and carbon finance projects. Thunnell wanted to discuss how IFC can support the Norwegian private sector in deploying products, skill, and innovative approaches to scale up clean energy solutions and he said “Norway brings expertise in hydropower, wind and bioenergy as well as solar energy. New Climate friendly technologies such as carbon capture storage and wave energy are other areas where IFC and Norwegian companies can collaborate.” Companies present like ENSI, Scatec Solar, Rainbow Power AS, and SN Power welcomed this message.
Jannick Lindbæk, a former Executive Vice President of the IFC (1994–99) and a participant at the Dialogue Workshop, emphasized the priority that the Norwegian government places on private sector development in developing countries. He said that Norwegian competence in this field must become better known. According to Lindbæk there is a “strong demand for clean energy solutions and with Norway’s high profile on climate change this should be good business for both Norway and the environment.”
Camilla Røssaak, first secretary at the Norwegian Embassy and responsible for this year’s workshop, said that the main focus of the Dialogue meeting was to reinforce cooperation between Norwegian companies and investors and The World Bank Group: “We want to make the Norwegian expertise well-known to the decision-making bodies in the WBG. We hope that the Norwegian participants see the opportunities that the WBG has to offer, and also that their attendance at the Dialogue Workshop will form part of a long-term strategy for future cooperation with the World Bank.”
The Dialogue Workshop was organized in cooperation Norad and the Bank-section of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Camilla Røssaak & Lina Tørum