WEC's Bi-Monthly Commentary on Energy Issues, 1 August 2008

IMPORTANT REMINDER - BOOK YOUR HOTEL FOR MEXICO CITY NOW!

The organisers of the Mexico City Executive Assembly want to make sure all WEC members are aware of the need to book their hotels for the EA as soon as possible. As noted on the EA website, the Sheraton, which is the headquarters hotel, is only holding the WEC room block until 10 September. After that, they will not guarantee availability of rooms, although they will still offer the special discounted room rate right up until the EA. After 10 September, the Sheraton will accept reservations for our delegates only if the hotel has rooms available. So book your room soon!
If you have questions about hotel bookings, please visit the 2008 EA website:
 www.wec2008mexico.com.

ASIA REGIONAL MEETING, RENEWABLE ENERGY FORUM HELD

A WEC Asia Regional meeting and an International Forum on Renewable Energy took place in Nanning, China, on 21-22 July.
The Opening Ceremony for the two events was held on 21 July and featured major addresses by Mr. Sun Qin, Vice Minister of State Energy Administration of the People's Republic of China, Dr. Chen Zhangliang, Vice Chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Younghoon David Kim, WEC Vice Chair for Asia Pacific and South Asia.
The International Forum on 21 July was based on the theme, "Renewable Energy Development and New Rural Construction in Guangxi Province". Following keynote presentations on the theme, two roundtable discussions focussed on the topics of "Policies, Measures, Marketing Opportunities and Pilot Technologies for Promoting Renewable Energy Development and New Rural Construction" and "Energy-Saving Best Practices and Reducing CO2". In his address, Vice Minister Sun emphasized the importance which the central government places on promoting renewable energy throughout China and reaffirmed the WEC Chinese Member Committee's firm support for WEC activities in the region.
A half-day Asia Regional Meeting on 22 July was chaired by Younghoon David Kim. Progress on the Asia Regional Action plan was reported, including confirmation that the GEEP (Green Eco-Energy Park) Project as the regional flagship project is firmly on track, with an international workshop scheduled for early next year in Mongolia. With regard to WEC regional initiative on Public Private Partnership (PPP), the outcomes of the workshop on PPP held on 20 May in Seoul, Korea, were reviewed. Mr. Yukio Shohtoku, Chair of the TIWG (Technology and Information Working Group) of the APEC Business Advisory Council, participated in the Regional Meeting and suggested that a regular dialogue between WEC and ABAC could prove beneficial to both organisations. He also reviewed ABAC's activities and said he hoped his presentation of these would help identify issues of mutual interest which WEC and ABAC could discuss. As a first step, the two organisations agreed to hold a joint forum on climate change and energy security next year.
Dr Malti Goel (India) gave a brief presentation on a framework for the China--India Energy Summit proposed for early next year. She offered a comparison of key parameters for China and India, suggestions for a theme and ideas for the organisation and agenda of the Summit. WEC Asia members felt the Summit should not be exclusive to China and India and that it might be better to make it more inclusive and call it an "Asian Energy Summit". More discussion will take place in the coming months, with an eye to holding the Summit in early 2009.
Yoshiaki Imaizumi, WEC Director of Regional Programmes, gave a presentation on the FT-WEC Summit scheduled for September, the Mexico City EA coming up in November and the 2010 Montreal Congress. In addition, representatives from Denmark, Korea and South Africa presented their bids for the 2013 World Energy Congress.

 
WEC WEBSITE ENHANCEMENTS

In September, WEC will launch the WEC Energy Careers portal. with a CV database for business and engineering graduates and a job board for WEC member companies to promote their vacancies. This service will aim to address the Human Resources bottleneck as identified in our Scenarios work during the last work cycle. Full details about the Energy Careers portal and how you and your members can benefit from it will be provided in the 1 September EnergyFax.
On 28 July. the Energy Photo of the Year competition was launched on the WEC website. The competition aims to attract a wide range of energy-related photos which WEC can add to its photo library and make available for WEC members to use free of charge. We invite participants from across the WEC network to take part in this competition. Details are available on the WEC website: http://www.worldenergy.org/news__events/wec_energy_photo_of_the_year/default.asp
For further information on either topic, please contact Paul Benfield (benfield@worldenergy.org) in the London Office.

CZECH MEMBER COMMITTEE HOSTS SEMINAR

The Czech Member Committee hosted a seminar at the Prague Electricity Company on 19 June for about 50 of the leading decision-makers in Czech energy. Participants included representatives from government-based institutions, the energy sector and energy-consuming industrial companies.
The main purpose of the Seminar was to inform participants about the outcomes of the Rome Congress, present the findings and recommendations from the 2005-2007 WEC work programme and discuss significant present-day energy issues and the strategy for future energy development in the Czech Republic.
The Seminar was organised under the auspices and in the presence of the Czech Prime Minister, Mirek Topolanek, who gave the Opening Keynote Address in which he presented, based on his own professional energy experience, his view of the energy situation in the Czech Republic, Europe and globally. He noted that as far as the primary energy sources, all options - including coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear energy and renewable sources as well as energy efficiency in production and demand - must remain open. Nuclear, he said, will remain a significant energy source in the country for the foreseeable future. He also noted that it was imperative to inform the public in a timely and transparent manner about energy issues and to explain that sound economic growth for the country and a comfortable standard of living for its people depend on accessible, affordable prices and environmentally acceptable supplies of all forms of energy. In conclusion, he said, "It is necessary to ensure in the future, the same as today, that upon turning the switch on ... the lights will go up ..."
The Seminar was moderated by WEC-CZ Chairman Miroslav Vrba, who introduced the WEC Energy Scenarios to 2050 Study. Presentations were also given by Tomas Huner, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade; Alan Svoboda, CEZ Group and WEC-CZ Vice Chairman; and Peter J. Kalas, Advisor to the Prime Minister.
Through activities such as the Seminar, the Czech Member Committee, an association of Czech energy business entities and academia, continues to maintain its strong position as the representative body of the Czech energy sector, using this position to encourage the transfer of the most up-to-date, innovative ideas and know-how from the global energy sector as well as to facilitate contacts between the Czech government, Czech energy businesses and the energy consuming industry.

NO ENERGYFAX FOR 15 AUGUST

EnergyFax will be taking a "holiday break" after this issue. There will be no EnergyFax on 15 August. The next issue will be distributed on 1 September.

GERALD DOUCET     
Secretary General
World Energy Council     
5th Floor, Regency House,
1-4 Warwick St.
LONDON W1B 5LT
TEL:  (+44 20) 7734 5996