WCA September 2015

From the Americas

Energy Firmly in agreement on the importance of the smart grid, the USA and China commit to promoting industry engagement Smart grids and smart cities were very much on the agenda during the seventh round of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), which ended on 24 th June in Washington, DC. Chaired by special representatives of US President Barack Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping, and attended by senior officials from across the two governments, the Strategic Track signalled a renewed mutual intention to build on earlier progress in grid-related teamwork. Barbara L Vergetis Lundin, the energy editor of FierceMarkets , reported that, with the aim of expanding institutional capacity for smart grids in the USA and China, the two sides will place greater emphasis on industry engagement and technical assistance. Additionally, the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) will sponsor a second study tour on smart grid this year, building on the success of the first study tour of October 2014 that attracted delegates from American electric utilities and the National Energy Administration. (“US, China Leaders Give Green Light to Further Smart Grid Cooperation,” 25 th June) The top-heavy project and agency titles with which the Washington meeting abounded could not obscure real forward motion in the joint enterprise. Progress was noted on four collaborative efforts by the Climate Change Working Group (CCWG) Smart Grid initiative. These included the Irvine (California) Smart Grid Demonstration project, which showed 60 per cent-plus savings in energy usage and 80 per cent-plus reductions in electricity costs for zero-net-energy homes with smart grid technologies; and the development of functionality and application scenarios for four subsidiary projects in the China-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City. Ms Lundin wrote: “The United States and China also decided to enhance their cooperation on grid modernisation, supporting the China Electricity Council and the State Grid Corporation of China as they conduct a feasibility study and pilot project on big data analytics for the electricity grid.” This project will demonstrate the use of big data analytics to provide run-time tracking and optimisation of power distribution, consumption, and outage management on the smart grid.  The last round of the S&ED produced another noteworthy instance of Sino-American cooperation. The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the National Energy Administration of China (NEA) pledged to share information about regulatory experiences and practices in a series of digital video conference discussions. Topics will include power industry planning, electricity pricing, electricity markets, renewable energy integration, distributed energy development, regulations for network technologies, and – of course – the smart grid.

Two controversial visas The EB-5 programme for foreign investors in US businesses is criticised as an unfair method of allocating ‘green cards’ With the next American presidential election more than a year away, opinion for and against the contenders need not detain us now. But an article this spring in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wisconsin Gov Scott Walker, a presidential hopeful, contained information of more than usual interest on an immigrant investor programme that puts foreign nationals on the path to US citizenship if they commit at least $500,000 to an American commercial project that generates or saves ten jobs over two years. Known as EB-5, the programme is much favoured by Mr Walker despite his strong anti-immigration sentiments. In the view of Daniel Bice, the Journal Sentinel ’s political watchdog columnist, Mr Walker’s embrace of the “deeply troubled” programme is itself troubling, as well as contortionist. Because immigration policy bulks so large in public discourse on the USA, EB-5 warrants a closer look. As noted by Mr Bice, critics have called the “abuse-riddled” programme a device for easing the way to permanent US residence for the affluent and their families, with more than 80 per cent of those in the programme coming from China. (”Critics Call Visa Programme a ‘Scam’ That Sells Green Cards,” 17 th May ) The programme has support from politicians in both parties. David North, a fellow with the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, told the Journal Sentinel that it is not unusual for there to be financial links between local politicians and those benefiting from or directing EB-5 regional centres. He said: “That’s the way it works around the country.” Mr North cited scrutiny and criminal probes into EB-5 in Illinois, Louisiana, California, Texas and South Dakota. In December 2013 the Office of Inspector General for the US Department of Homeland Security, in a scathing critique of the programme, noted incidentally that its administrators were “unable to demonstrate the benefits of foreign investment into the US economy.” Another critic, University of Chicago law professor Eric Posner, called for an end to the “ludicrous” immigration programme. “It’s the worst combination of bad economics, political cronyism, and unfairness,” Dr Posner wrote for Slate . “Among other things, it’s almost impossible to figure out whether a specific investment generates jobs rather than reshuffles them from one place to another.”  Beyond that, in the view of Mr North, the programme is flawed in its premise. He said: “I think it’s immoral, fattening, and otherwise unattractive to sell visas, which is what we’re doing now.” It is difficult to quarrel with that assertion. As observed by the New York Times , the federal government puts applications from EB-5 investors on a fast track to the green card that enables a foreign national to live and

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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2015

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