U.S. Department of Energy Deputy Secretary Daniel Poneman and Brunei Darussalam Minister of Energy at the Prime Minister's Office Pehin Dato Mohammad Yasmin Umar met upon the occasion of the visit of His Majesty Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei. They agreed that the United States and Brunei will create, and jointly chair, a new workstream of activities on renewable energy power generation to promote and accelerate the deployment of renewable energy technologies in the countries of the East Asia Summit (EAS). Projects proposed include the following:
A public-private dialogue on eliminating policy barriers to renewable energy investment that will hold workshops to identify barriers to overcome, and will bring together potential partners and financing to explore projects.
Dissemination of information needed to make investment decisions: a) results of solar power technology testing at Brunei’s new demonstration facility combined with information from DOE research on performance in different environments, b) mapping for renewable energy resources for areas of ASEAN, and c) making available the resources of the Clean Energy Solutions Center to build capacity and to dissolve barriers to improved access to information.
Research on climate change impacts on hydropower production, a particularly important resource for the ASEAN region, and capacity building on sustainable hydropower development.
This work will be advanced by the U.S. Department of Energy and its laboratories, and Brunei’s Energy Department at the Prime Minister's Office with its newly-established Brunei National Energy Research Institute, with all EAS countries encouraged to participate and to contribute.
This effort responds to the call by President Obama, His Majesty Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei, and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia in November 2012 to “build upon efforts underway in APEC and ASEAN to bring concrete, impactful progress in addressing energy poverty and energy access issues in the region” through the new U.S.-Asia Pacific Comprehensive Energy Partnership (USACEP).