LUXEMBOURG: German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, the euro zone’s most influential official, said he was confident that Greece will win sorely needed funds at bailout talks on Thursday.
“I remain confident that we will find an agreement today on the payment of the latest tranche (of Greece’s bailout),” Schaeuble said as he arrived for talks in Luxembourg to discuss the delayed Greek bailout with his eurozone counterparts.
Although Athens will likely have to wait for a long-desired agreement on debt relief, officials said it would at least receive more “clarity” on debt commitments down the road.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde and the euro zone’s 19 finance ministers are meeting in Luxembourg with hopes riding high that the talks will secure the release of the latest tranche of Greece’s €86 billion ($97 billion) bailout agreed in 2015.
Bitter disagreement between Germany and the IMF has held up the payout of a fresh tranche for Athens to meet €7 billion of debt repayments due in July.
“It’s a question of goodwill and it’s a question of willingness. If everyone around the table makes a very slight and positive move in the right direction we should be able to find an agreement today,” said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.
The IMF, which took part in Greece’s two previous bailouts, has long insisted that more debt relief be part of a deal.
“I think that the IMF has to make their decision in or out,” said Hans Joerg Schelling, Austria finance minister.
“It is important for Greece for an access to (borrow money on) the markets and therefore in my opinion they have to say yes or no,” he said.
Debt talks could begin as early as October, he added.
Germany ‘confident’ of Greece bailout deal
Germany ‘confident’ of Greece bailout deal
‘The future is renewables,’ Indian energy minister tells World Economic Forum
- ‘In India, I can very confidently say, affordability (of renewables) is better than fossil fuel energy,’ says Pralhad Venkatesh Joshi during panel discussion
- Renewables are an increasingly important part of the energy mix and the technology is evolving rapidly, another expert says at session titled ‘Unstoppable March of Renewables?’
BEIRUT: “The future is renewables,” India’s minister of new and renewable energy told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
“In India, I can very confidently say, affordability (of renewables) is better than fossil fuel energy,” Pralhad Venkatesh Joshi said during a panel discussion titled “Unstoppable March of Renewables?”
The cost of solar power has has fallen steeply in recent years compared with fossil fuels, Joshi said, adding: “The unstoppable march of renewables is perfectly right, and the future is renewables.”
Indian authorities have launched a major initiative to install rooftop solar panels on 10 million homes, he said. As a result, people are not only saving money on their electricity bills, “they are also selling (electricity) and earning money.”
He said that this represents a “success story” in India in terms of affordability and “that is what we planned.”
He acknowledged that more work needs to be done to improve reliability and consistency of supplies, and plans were being made to address this, including improved storage.
The other panelists in the discussion, which was moderated by Godfrey Mutizwa, the chief editor of CNBC Africa, included Marco Arcelli, CEO of ACWA Power; Catherine MacGregor, CEO of electricity company ENGIE Group; and Pan Jian, co-chair of lithium-ion battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology.
Asked by the moderator whether she believes “renewables are unstoppable,” MacGregor said: “Yes. I think some of the numbers that we are now facing are just proof points in terms of their magnitude.
“In 2024, I think it was 600 gigawatts that were installed across the globe … in Europe, close to 50 percent of the energy was produced from renewables in 2024. That has tripled since 2004.”
Renewables are an increasingly important and prominent part of the energy mix, she added, and the technology is evolving rapidly.
“It’s not small projects; it’s the magnitude of projects that strikes me the most, the scale-up that we are able to deliver,” MacGregor said.
“We are just starting construction in the UAE, for example. In terms of solar size it’s 1.5 gigawatts, just pure solar technology. So when I see in the Middle East a round-the-clock project with just solar and battery, it’s coming within reach.
“The technology advance, the cost, the competitiveness, the size, the R&D, the technology behind it and the pace is very impressive, which makes me, indeed, really say (renewables) is real. It plays a key role in, obviously, the energy demand that we see growing in most of the countries.
“You know, we talk a lot about energy transition, but for a lot of regions now it is more about energy additions. And renewables are indeed the fastest to come to market, and also in terms of scale are really impressive.”
Mutizwa asked Pan: “Are we there yet, in terms of beginning to declare mission accomplished? Are renewables here to stay?”
“I think we are on the road but (its is) very promising,” Pan replied. There is “great potential for future growth,” he added, and “the technology is ready, despite the fact that there are still a lot of challenges to overcome … it is all engineering questions. And from our perspective, we have been putting in a lot of resources and we are confident all these engineering challenges will be tackled along the way.”
Responding to the same question, Arcelli said: “Yes, I think we are beyond there on power, but on other sectors we are way behind … I would argue today that the technology you install by default is renewables.
“Is it a universal truth nowadays that renewables are the cheapest?” asked Mutizwa.
“It’s the cheapest everywhere,” Arcelli said.
