Rome: Leaders from the world’s major electric industry associations issued a joint statement on October 11 outlining their shared objectives and calling for more consistency and stability from policy makers in government. The statement was one of the products of the 2011 International Electricity Summit in Rome, Italy.
The organizations issued a joint statement re-affirming their common mission: “To provide economic and reliable electricity; to create a low-carbon future coupled with sustainable economic growth.”
It encouraged greater electrification and modernization of power systems. The leaders also stressed the importance of paying attention to how policy affects the investment climate: “To support and encourage these investments, electric utilities need a stable, long-term investment climate. Participants in the Summit agreed to urge their governments to create this investment climate by putting in place consistent energy, environmental and economic policies. Inconsistent, multiple, overlapping government policies that increase the cost of electricity are likely to result in resistance from customers and could slow economic recovery.”
Detailed comments were organized under the following headings:
• Expand electricity’s role in moving to a low-carbon future
• Preserve supply-side initiatives for reducing carbon emissions
• Create transparent policies for renewable energy
• Increase public understanding of the benefits of nuclear power
• Continue developing advanced thermal power generation technologies
• Encourage the development of modern power transmission and distribution networks
• Increase the potential of energy efficiency
• Create reasonable policies addressing the climate change issue, and
• Global efforts of the electric power industry.
Participants included the Edison Electric Institute of the United States, EURELECTRIC, the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan, the Canadian Electricity Association, the Energy Supply Association of Australia, together with representatives from CIER (representing South and Central America and the Caribbean) and the State Grid of China (SGCC).
For more information, see
www.eei.org/newsroom/energynews/Documents/ 2011InternationalElectricIndustryLeadersApproveJointStatement.pdf.