Chief Renewable Energy Specialist, IFC (International Finance Corporation)

Biography

Dana R. Younger is Chief Renewable Energy Specialist of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), working in the power and renewables team in IFC’s Global Infrastructure & Natural Resources Department. IFC, the private sector lending arm of the World Bank Group based in Washington, D.C., committed $20.4 billion in financing for 560 projects in 103 countries during fiscal year 2012. IFC financed more than $1 billion in renewable energy projects during fiscal year 2012. This includes 22 separate renewable transactions totaling >$420 million within his Department. He has also been involved in wind and solar energy projects for more than 25 years. Recently he helped mobilize financing for two wind projects in Mexico totaling >300 MW as well as some 2,000 MW of wind projects in other developing countries including: China, India, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Turkey, Pakistan, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Jordan, Brazil, Chile, and the Dominican Republic, as well as other renewable energy projects. He helped IFC finance a pioneering 1 MW grid-tied solar PV project in the Philippines in 2000 that has been in successful operation since 2005. More recent solar projects include solar PV manufacturing investments in China and the Philippines, off-grid solar PV concessions in Senegal, and numerous utility-scale, grid-tied ground-mount and rooftop solar PV projects in: India, Thailand, Bulgaria, the Philippines, and Sub-Saharan Africa totaling >250 MW. He has also helped build IFC’s portfolio of clean energy private equity funds totaling >$350 million in 17 funds and has been involved in the formation of the recently launched IFC Catalyst Fund, a $280 million “fund of funds” for climate related investments. Mr. Younger also acts as lead business developer for large grid-tied renewable energy transactions with a special emphasis on wind energy, solar PV, Concentrating Solar Power (CSP), Concentrating PV (CPV), as well as run-of-river hydro, geothermal, and biomass power projects. He served for over ten years as IFC’s Executive Coordinator for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and still plays a key role in mobilization of concessional financing from the Clean Technology Facility (CTF) and other similar sources for suitable IFC projects and programs. He has authored articles on “Solar energy finance opportunities in key emerging markets” in EUROMONEY’s International Power & Utilities Finance Review 2012/2013; “Post-crisis financing for emerging-market renewable energy projects” in EUROMONEY’s International Power & Utilities Finance Review 2010/2011; and “Renewable energy finance in emerging markets” in EUROMONEY’s International Power & Utilities Finance Review 2006/2007. He represented the President of the World Bank Group and IFC’s Executive Vice President on the G8 Renewable Energy Task Force (2000/2001). He is an acknowledged international expert on renewable energy who speaks frequently at international wind, solar, geothermal, and renewables conferences and is quoted regularly in trade publications and the mainstream press.