agencies launched a program Dec. 7 to help renewable
energy and energy efficiency companies market their
products and services overseas.
The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Export
Initiative, the government's first coordinated effort to
expand clean energy exports, will increase trade
promotion, offer new financing mechanisms, and enhance
market access, according to the Commerce Department.
“The Initiative lays the foundation necessary to help
U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency companies
take better advantage of current market opportunities,”
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in a statement. “It
also positions federal government programs to better
support U.S. global competitiveness in these sectors over
the long run.”
The initiative is part of a plan to incorporate clean
energy exports into President Obama's National Export
Initiative, mentioned in his State of the Union Address,
which seeks to double the amount of American exports by
2015 (25 DER A-11, 2/9/10).
Online Portal, Trade Missions
In addition to the creation of an “online portal to
provide renewable energy companies easy access to U.S.
Government export resources,” the initiative will include
an increase in the number of renewable energy and energy
efficiency trade and trade-policy missions, the Commerce
Department said.
The plan include calls for:
• creation of foreign buyers' guides for American
clean energy technologies;
• commitment by the Overseas Private Investment Corp.
to invest an additional $300 million in financing for
renewable resource projects in emerging markets and to
introduce new products to support the exports;
• streamlining of clean energy financing applications
at both OPIC and the Export-Import Bank of the United
States;
• formation of a new subcommittee at the Office of the
U.S. Trade Representative to address market access
barriers facing the nation's clean energy industry in
foreign markets, and
• expansion of USDA's Market Access Program to include
biomass wood pellets.
“Expanding U.S. clean technology exports is a critical
step to ensuring America's economic competitiveness in
the years ahead,” Energy Secretary Stephen Chu said in a
statement.
“The initiatives we are announcing today will provide us
with a better understanding of the global clean energy
marketplace and help boost U.S. exports,” he said.
The initiative was developed through the Trade Promotion
Coordinating Committee Working Group on Renewable Energy
and Energy Efficiency, which includes representatives
from the departments of Commerce, Energy, State, and
Agriculture, as well as the Export-Import Bank, OPIC, the
U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and the Office of the
U.S. Trade Representative.
The initiative, the subject of a report released Dec. 7
by the Commerce Department, comes as the department
formed a Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory
Committee, which had its inaugural meeting Dec. 7.
By Ari Natter
The Commerce Department report on the Renewable Energy
and Energy Efficiency initiative is available at
http://export.gov/reee/eg_
The Commerce Department's Renewable Energy and Energy
Efficiency Export Portal is available at
http://www.export.gov/reee/.
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