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The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) announced today that it has established a special advisory committee of U.S. exporters and representatives of related trade associations and a non-governmental organization (NGO) to assist the Bank in expanding its support for U.S. exporters in renewable energy industries including the solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and biomass sectors. The creation of the Renewable Energy Exports Advisory Committee is consistent with the Bush Administration's National Energy Policy to increase exports of market-ready U.S. technologies that provide efficient sources of energy and maintain a clean environment.

The Bank also announced that former Deputy Secretary of Energy W. Henson Moore, who is currently president and chief executive officer of the American Forest and Paper Association, will chair the advisory committee.

Ex-Im Bank has a long history of supporting renewable energy exports, such as solar panels to an electric utility in rural Argentina, a geothermal power plant in the Philippines, and wind power systems to buyers in St. Lucia and China. This advisory committee will help Ex-Im Bank to fulfill our objective of increasing our support for renewable energy in emerging markets, said Ex-Im Bank Board Member Dan Renberg, who oversees the Bank's environmental exports program.

Renewable energy plays a critical role in providing sustainable energy development throughout the world. This committee, representing the diverse sources of renewable energy, will focus on how to maximize the strength of Ex-Im Bank in support of the efforts of U.S. companies that are trying to compete globally, Moore said.

Committee members were selected for their ability to provide specific, transaction-related advice on how the Bank can modify its existing programs, add new financing products and improve outreach to U.S. renewable energy exporters and foreign buyers. The 12-member committee includes three representatives of small and large renewable energy companies that have utilized the Bank's financing products. In addition to finance experts and trade association leaders, the advisory committee will also include a representative of the environmental NGO community with particular expertise in the design and implementation of renewable energy programs in developing nations.

The advisory committee will meet three times per year over the next two years and will advise Ex-Im Bank's board of directors on developing and implementing policies to expand the Bank's financial commitments to renewable energy exports under its loan, guarantee and export credit insurance programs.

Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that helps finance the sale of U.S. exports, primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, to help create and maintain U.S. jobs. In fiscal year 2001, Ex-Im Bank provided loans, guarantees and export credit insurance to support $12.5 billion of U.S. exports worldwide. In the past 20 years, Ex-Im Bank has financed more than $2 billion of U.S. non-nuclear renewable energy exports.