Promoting Sustainable Energy in the Developing World
Duke Energy is a member of e8, a worldwide organization of electric utilities founded in 1992 to promote sustainable energy development in the world’s emerging nations.
The 10 members of e8 are among the largest electricity companies in the world, representing Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the U.S.
The e8 companies develop projects that bring clean energy to some of the 2 billion people around the world who — in 2011 — still have no access to electricity.
The member companies also develop training programs to ensure that clean energy projects eventually can be turned over to, and managed by, citizens of the targeted regions.
In 2010, Duke Energy assumed leadership of the organization’s graduate scholarship program and invested in two projects: the construction of a combined wind energy and water desalinization facility in Tunisia; and a training program for energy and finance ministers in Latin America, focused on improving energy investment opportunities in their countries.