Future Energy Leaders Program
Detailed program — Monday, September 13, 2010

Developing countries will need more and more energy to fuel their economic and social transformation. The discussion at this session will focus on demand growth trends and the particular challenges posed by a few representative countries. The objective is to share experiences, and debate challenges and solutions.

Nearly two billion people in the world have no access to electricity and many more lack reliable energy supplies. Energy poverty is probably the most important barrier to development for almost half of the world population. How can we eradicate it?

As the world’s population expands, more and more people are living in Mega-Cities with populations numbering over 10 million. These large urban communities, both old and new, urgently need investment in clean and efficient energy supply infrastructure. They also have specific requirements for the secure and reliable delivery of energy, including energy for the transport systems.

From tightly regulated national energy markets to liberalised, largely unregulated international marketplaces, over the years trade in energy has been conducted under a very broad regulatory umbrella. What are the best ways of regulating local monopolies, setting energy prices and tariffs for transport and distribution? How do geopolitics affect energy trade? How can these and other interdependent factors be managed globally?

Energy resources are not evenly distributed around the world. To build an efficient energy supply system, most countries must rely on energy exchanges with their neighbours and others. Regional integration of national energy systems can reduce global energy supply costs and increase security and reliability of supply. However, achieving regionalisation and globalisation of energy markets requires new infrastructures as well as a new mindset in politics, economics, and society as a whole.

The energy needs of a country or a region require a broad range of products and services. Ideally, such a complex energy system must operate as a single entity, where weaknesses and strengths are in balance. This is not always the case, as different components sometimes seem to be operating on their own, focusing on short-term goals and failing to coordinate their development with other parts of the system. How can closer compatibility between all the elements that make up an energy system be achieved through integration and harmonisation?

To ensure adequate response to increasing energy demand in the future will require more energy resources as well as more infrastructure, investments, logistics, manpower, expertise, and other inputs. The numerous links in the energy production chain can become overwhelming bottlenecks, hindering global progress if each component, is not addressed properly.