links for 2010-01-07

• NewNet News – World Bank Clean Technology Fund to drive $5.6bn into solar development
  The World Bank Clean Technology Fund has approved financing of $750m, which together with $4.85bn from other sources, will be used to accelerate the global deployment of concentrated solar power (CSP).

  [It] would invest the $5.6bn in the concentrated solar power programmes of five countries in [MENA] including Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. The fund will take the form of a multi-donor trust fund to facilitate deployment of low-carbon technologies at scale.

  The fund has approved an investment plan [to] support the deployment of around 1GW of concentrated solar power generation capacity. The proposal is [for] 11 commercial-scale power plants over up to five years to attract private sector interest.

  The plan also involves supporting the associated transmission infrastructure in the Maghreb and Mashreq for domestic supply and exports, as part of Mediterranean grid enhancement, and leveraging public and private investments for concentrated solar power plants.

  (tags: MiddleEast mediterranean energy electricity solar EU egypt algeria morocco jordan tunisia)
• 'Free to speak out' in Egypt – washingtonpost.com
  – "WHAT IS the U.S. position on democracy in Egypt? The American ambassador in Cairo, Margaret Scobey, was asked [..]. She said: "In my time in Egypt, I have noticed that many Egyptians are very free to speak out. The press debates so many things."
  [..]
  – Here, it seems, is a genuine opportunity for the United States to press for democratic change. U.S. officials say that they have, in fact, been raising the elections in bilateral discussions with Cairo. But there has been no public indication that the administration supports Mr. ElBaradei's call for a genuinely competitive election. Instead, questions about democracy are answered with the sort of other-worldly rhetoric delivered by Ms. Scobey — and funding for democracy programs in Egypt has been cut by 60 percent. That is a shame. The United States has sponsored education and economic development in Egypt for decades, without changing the country much. If the Obama administration neglects Egypt's elections, it, too, will fail. "
  (tags: egypt democracy united-states polict humanrights)