Access to reliable sources of clean and affordable energy has a profound impact on multiple aspects of human development, including reducing poverty and promoting economic growth. Innovative financing programs and policies are critical to helping developing countries to expand access to reliable and modern sources of clean energy. In this webinar-based training, we will cover:

• Energy access and links to development, end-user finance for modern energy, productive uses for energy to support economic development, and enabling environments for project development and investment in clean energy.
• Approaches to investing services and capital in small and growing clean energy businesses in developing countries, including energy enterprise development, finance, and linkages with policy.
• Case studies describing how sustainable energy services were provided to underserved and poor communities via innovative financing.

Panelists

Ellen Morris, President and Founder, Sustainable Energy Solutions, LLC (United States)

Ellen Morris is the president and founder of Sustainable Energy Solutions, a professional services company that promotes the increased use and deployment of clean energy technologies and services as a means to support economic development and reduce poverty in developing countries. The focus is on energy access and links to development; end-user finance for modern energy; gender and energy; productive uses for energy to support economic development; and enabling environments for project development and investment in clean energy. Morris is also the Director of the academic programs on International Energy Management and Policy and Sustainable Energy Policy at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.

H Harish Hande, Managing Director of SELCO-India

Hande co-founded SELCO-Indiawith Neville Williams in 1995. Harish has pioneered access to rural solar electrification for below poverty line families through a combination of customized home lighting systems, innovative doorstep financing, and an understanding of the market needs of different user groups. In 2007, the Schwab Foundation named Harish the Indian Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007. Later that same year he was again recognized for his entrepreneurial spirit when India's prestigious business magazine, Business Today, named him as one of the 21 young leaders of the 21st Century. Dr. Hande earned his Doctorate in energy engineering (solar specialty) at the University of Massachusetts (Lowell). He has an undergraduate degree in Energy Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur.

Philip LaRocco, Founder, E+Co

Philip LaRocco is the founder of E+Co, the leading practitioner of the enterprise-centered model of investing in energy enterprises in developing countries. He specializes in business planning for energy enterprise, projects and programs in developing countries. LaRocco has over thirty years of international experience, virtually all of it focused on the intersection of the public and private sectors. He has reviewed, studied, and critiqued more than one thousand energy for development business and investment plans, and managed the investment in over two hundred of these plans. LaRocco’s key areas of expertise include creation of innovative financial mechanisms, enterprise and energy finance and analysis, small business development and planning, capacity building for entrepreneurs, development of tools and training materials as well as teaching and training trainers, and global and regional energy analysis.