Scaling Up Renewable Energy II (SURE II) FY 2021 Annual Report

SURE II employs leading technical experts to work one-on-one with developing country policymakers, training, mentoring, and empowering them with data and knowledge. The program provides support under six tasks: Strategic Energy Planning, Competitive Procurement of Renewable Energy, Grid Integration of Renewable Energy, Circular Economy of Renewable Energy, Renewable Energy Technology and Innovation Fund, and Knowledge Management and Coordination with Other USAID Projects and Initiatives. SURE II coordinated closely and seamlessly with SURE I, which is in its final year of implementation. The program's objective is to provide USAID Missions with high-quality and timely field support to scale up renewable energy. To achieve this, SURE II is increasing awareness of the program among USAID energy staff and promoting buy-in for SURE from bilateral and regional Missions and USAID/Washington. In Ecuador, SURE II is performing an energy assessment to document and analyze key challenges related to energy efficiency, conventional energy, and the use of renewable energy sources in Ecuador's energy sector. The program is working closely with USAID to build on the information compiled in a previously commissioned desk review of Ecuador's energy sector, conducting field work, holding meetings, and drafting a final assessment report. The objective of the assessment is to identify high-leverage programming opportunities for USAID in Ecuador's renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors. SURE II also works with power utilities to accurately forecast medium- and long-term energy demand and identify shortfalls, enabling them to develop or procure an optimal energy mix and achieve economically sound, long-term decarbonization goals. The program provides strategic support, including integrated resource and resilience planning, renewable energy generation forecasting, distributed energy resources planning, flexibility analysis and planning, geospatial planning, and transmission and grid development planning. SURE II also trains energy planners on energy modeling tools. To support the integration of higher shares of renewable energy, SURE II hosted a webinar series on strategic energy planning, including a webinar on Systems Planning to Scale Up Renewables and a workshop on Grid Modernization Planning. The program also provides a full range of services to prepare for, design, and implement auctions, making sure that partners are supported in every step of the process. SURE II works with policymakers to develop a regulatory framework that attracts private investors. The social impacts of renewable energy projects are typically not taken seriously until problems arise that cause substantial delays or imperil the project, which can often lead to harmful outcomes for the local community and financial losses for the developers. SURE II's 2021 white paper, Auction Design and the Social Impact of Renewable Energy Projects, discusses different types of social impacts, presents an overview of auction design elements and outside measures that address social impacts, and offers high-level recommendations to deliver projects that have positive impacts on local communities. In the Philippines, SURE II experts provided bridge support to the Department of Energy (DOE) between October 2020 and March 2021, before handing over project activities. The DOE plans to centralize competitive procurement of renewable energy at the national level for the first time for all distribution utilities.