Page - 156 - in Clean Water Using Solar and Wind - Outside the Power Grid

156 Clean Water Using Solar and Wind: Outside the Power Grid Some activities require specific expertise and knowledge in the wind sector that are not necessarily available locally at the initial stages of development of the sector. Initial activities in the project planning phase include site selection, technical and financial tasks. 12.3 FINANCING Financing is a key issue and financing research and development for small-scale operations of both energy generation and water operations needs more attention and funding. There is a risk that interest is focusing on large-scale operations. Lack of investment may be the biggest barrier to universal access to clean water systems powered by renewable energy systems. Multilateral institutions like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) provide important funding to further develop and deploy renewable energy projects. There are also other important institutions like Deutsche Bank’s Universal Green Access Program (UGEAP) for Africa. They work with local financial institutions that enable local banks to extend medium- and long-term loans to distributed renewable energy companies and initiatives. It is still not recognised everywhere that water and energy operations must be handled simultaneously. The delivery chains of water and energy are mostly managed in ‘silos’, where the silos not only represent professions and sectors but also different institutions. It is apparent that our infrastructures of energy and water should be designed and operated in a more integrated way. This challenge goes all the way up to government agencies and ministries. The Malaysian government may serve as a good role model due to its Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water. Collaboration between stakeholders has also to be strengthened. The UN Sustainable Development Goals of clean water and clean energy for everybody are clear and their connection should be better recognised (see 2.1). 12.3.1 Funding in rural areas Experiences of rural electrification have been reported in, for example, IEA (2013). It is obvious that some kind of subsidy system (where the end users do not pay the real cost of power) is needed in rural areas with Downloaded from https://iwaponline.com/ebooks/book-pdf/520710/wio9781780409443.pdf by IWA Publishing user