Financing energy development

The 1990s is likely to be a decade of double growth: in energy demand and environmental protection. This leads the author of this paper to ask the pertinent questions of where the money will come from, and in what form, to finance the growth in capacity to produce this energy and the technology required to produce and burn it cleanly. With a focus on Asian energy markets, this paper first illustrates the problem by describing the rapid growth of energy demand in the region. It describes the growth in Japan as well as China and the fast-growing economies of Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. Energy demand growth rates of almost 5 percent in the 1980s are expected to continue to grow at that rate at least until 2005, doubling today's level of consumption and putting the energy supply system under great strain. Because of the large sums involved, this paper pints out the necessity of inventing new, innovative devices for future fund raising. This will require the participation of institutions such as insurance companies and regional banks that have little experience in the energy field. This paper suggests that these and the established players in energy finance will have recourse to two new approaches: Build-Operate-Transfer and Trustee Borrowing schemes