FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A NEW YEAR FOR CHINESE ENERGY PROGRAMS

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CONTACT
Jeff Swenerton
CRS Communications Director
415-561-2119
jeff@resource-solutions.org

SAN FRANCISCO (FEBRUARY 22, 2010) — The Center for Resource Solutions today announced receipt of a $308,000 grant from the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) to continue its long-running efforts to make renewable energy a significant component of China’s national energy system.

With this grant, CRS enters into its second decade of vital work on renewable and clean energy policies under the China Sustainable Energy Program (CSEP), an effort of the San Francisco-based Energy Foundation. CSEP engages with key Chinese policymakers and research institutions to develop and implement clean energy policies that will yield significant reductions in the environmental damage associated with energy production use and, in particular, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. With the support of the ClimateWorks Foundation and other philanthropic organizations, this effort is now being greatly expanded.

As it has since 1999, CRS and its international team of consultants pursue a diverse array of renewable energy programs and activities, ranging from conducting technical analysis to offering policy support that have been crucial to renewable power penetration. More recently, CRS consultants have also been tracking the development of clean energy-based carbon offset projects certified under global CDM mechanisms.

RAP, like CRS also in its eleventh year of work in China, is managing the new international “best practices network” for the electric power sector, funded by ClimateWorks and which brings together expertise from around the globe to assist countries develop their own clean energy strategies.”

“CRS welcomes its new relationship with RAP to continue our work in China,” said CRS executive director Arthur O’Donnell. “This Lunar New Year will be celebrated globally as the Year of the Tiger, symbolizing courage, boldness and a willingness to take on difficult tasks and to seize opportunities. That seems to me a perfect description of our team’s efforts to encourage clean power in China as a prime means to address climate change where it matters most.”

Headed by Ryan Wiser, consultant and a staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the CRS consulting team also includes: Ole Langniss (Fitchner Consulting); Joanna Lewis (Georgetown University); Ric O’Connell (Black & Veatch); Kevin Porter (Exeter Associates); Amber Sharick (consultant), Shu-jia Ma (consultant), and Jan Hamrin (HMW International). O’Donnell and other CRS staff members are intimately involved with the work of the China team and also provide administrative support.

Among the most important program areas in recent years include the continuing High Wind Penetration project and the associated assessment of the US wind power integration experience. Other areas of program focus include solar photovoltaics analysis and the interactions between climate change policies, international agreements and renewable energy markets. The CRS team was also heavily influential in China’s first national renewable energy law, which took effect in 2006 and saw important revisions in 2009.

During 2010, CSEP work will cover more than a dozen program areas, including:

• Continuing the High Wind Penetration analysis;
  
• Expanding wind integration assistance;
  
• Producing supply curve analysis and energy costs;
  
• Helping develop rational energy pricing mechanisms;
  
• Documenting solar power polices and installations, both for photovoltaics and central station projects;
  
• Supporting local and regional planning efforts for renewable energy deployment;
  
• Bolstering the value of renewable energy as a response to climate change in China;
  
• Supporting the work of Energy Foundation grantees in Beijing and commenting on government policy documents; and
  
• Continuing joints projects for the World Bank and potential new collaborations in support of the recently penned US/China MOU on ways to address global climate change.

 

About Center for Resource Solutions
Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) is a national nonprofit with global impact. CRS brings forth expert responses to climate change issues with the speed and effectiveness necessary to provide real-time solutions. Its leadership through collaboration and environmental innovation builds policies and consumer-protection mechanisms in renewable energy, greenhouse gas reductions, and energy efficiency that foster healthy and sustained growth in national and international markets. For more information about its programs, including Green-e, visit www.resource-solutions.org and www.green-e.org.

About RAP
The Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) is a non-profit organization, formed in 1992 by experienced utility regulators, that provides research, analysis, and educational assistance to public officials on electric utility regulation. RAP workshops cover a wide range of topics including electric utility restructuring, power sector reform, renewable resource development, the development of efficient markets, performance-based regulation, demand-side management, and green pricing. RAP also provides regulators with technical assistance, training, and policy research and development. RAP has worked with public utility regulators and energy officials in nearly all 50 states and a number of other countries; it has worked in China since 1999 and in 2009 began operating in Europe and India.

 

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©2010 Center for Resource Solutions. For more information, see us at www.resource-solutions.org or call 415-561-2100.