We live in a fast changing world - a world in which scarcely a day goes by without the announcement of technological advances or scientific discoveries. Yet much of the world lives in conditions where the quality of life changes very slowly. In that world, over 2 billion people live without lights, without radio or television, without any of the tools that make our lives more meaningful. Our daily lives are powered in large part by electricity; their world is powered principally by local energy sources like wood and animal waste. Even in the emerging economies, lack of electricity seriously slows growth. In developing countries, it is easy to see that the benefits resulting from the availability of electricity would provide a spectacular boost to local economies.

Today, the obvious energy resources for producing electricity are the conventional ones: coal, hydropower, oil and natural gas. But there are other, massive resources still waiting to be tapped - not as a substitute for conventional energies, but rather as a complement to them.

These untapped energy resources - the sun, the wind, heat from the earth, and biomass - are environmentally clean, are widely accessible and are renewable. Most importantly, during the past four decades, the technologies to produce electricity from these renewable energy sources have matured from laboratory experiments to cost competitive electrical generators and are now promoted by major energy companies.

Al Tayyar Energy was created to develop electric generating capacity based on renewable energy sources at an affordable price, so that people, businesses and industries can enjoy the economic and social benefits of electricity. Al Tayyar Energy's first investment was in Noor Web, a company that provides lights and television to rural Moroccan families using a simple solar electric system installed on each home.

Al Tayyar Energy was also created to capture another huge source of energy: wasted energy. In many countries, aging and polluting power generators annually waste the equivalent of millions of barrels of oil. Yet, the high efficiency technologies exist to capture this wasted energy for productive uses. What is needed is the development expertise and capital to transition into these more efficient systems.

Much of the world knows little about either energy efficiency or renewable energy. The normal development and finance mechanisms, which underpin market expansion for conventional technologies, are only now beginning to appear. Thus, a key to opening this new market is the availability of development capital and investment risk capital from private investment. Providing this key is the role of Al Tayyar Energy. We look forward to the challenge.