Does US-AID use, and encourage the use of, small wind systems and other renewables?
With a few exceptions, such as the project in Morocco, the U.S. Agency for International development (US-AID) has continued to rely on diesel generators and grid extension in its projects. Even though sustainability is often a key project goal, AID Missions have been very low to incorporate competitive renewable energy systems into their projects. Few of AlD’s fifty-odd overseas Missions have the technical staff to implement new technologies, so the conventional approaches win out by default. Although AID missions will spend nearly $500 million on energy projects this year, almost all of it will all be with fossil fuels. There has been some solid improvement in renewable energy project activity at US-AID, but clean energy is just not a priority. Another barrier is an attitude among many managers at US-AID that aid and trade don’t mix. These people believe that trade promotion should not be factor in developing foreign assistance projects, even when there is a clear benefit to the proje
