The energy transition is transforming markets across Europe and North America. But in the emerging markets of Asia, Africa and Latin America, the story has barely begun. This is where the real opportunity for renewable energy lies. Operating in these regions is not always easy, though. Apart from obvious challenges in terms of transparency and ease of doing business, emerging market regulatory frameworks are often less than ideal. Grid infrastructure may be frail or incomplete, which can be both an incentive and a barrier for renewable energy development.  

Supply chains may be immature, resulting in skills or equipment shortages on projects. And finally, finance is a problem. There is a lack of flexible financing for the small-to-mid-size projects that can bring greatest benefit to rural communities, for example.

These challenges, along with a longstanding dominance of coal and gas in the energy sector, make it hard to gauge how far and how fast emerging markets will embrace low-carbon generation sources. As leaders in the energy industry, it is important we try to understand the dynamics at work.

This event will aim to identify the keys to sustainable growth in emerging markets. Major discussion points will include:

• How do we facilitate investment and improve investor confidence in emerging markets?
• What can we do to improve the supply chain and upskill local workforces?
• How do we deal with regulatory and grid infrastructure constraints?
• To what extent can we learn from established sectors such as gas?

‍

Participants:

• Lisa Pinsley, Director and Head of Africa Energy Infrastructure, Actis
• Rael McNally, Director, Emerging Markets, BlackRock
• Seamus McCabe, Vice President, Green Investment Group
• Tatiana Preta, Managing Director, Project Finance, Global Corporate & Investment Banking, MUFG
• Javier Chavarria, Managing Director and Head of Latin America, Northland Power
• Andy Evans, CEO and Co-founder, Oceanex Energy
• Chakradhar Byreddy, Director, Renewables - Asia Pacific, UL
• Cristian Algar, Director, Renewables - Europe and LATAM, UL

‍

To find out what we learnt from this wind investment boardroom, read the report now.