Resurrection of ESMAP Knolwedge Exchange Series 2005-2009

Between 2005 and 2009 I was the technical editor of an ESMAP Knowledge Exchange Series that involved the publication of four page summaries of current energy issues.   When I recently reviewed these notes after four years, I was struck by both the quality of these four page notes and the continuing relevance of the issues covered.  Also, most of the authors of these notes have 20 to 30 years of experience of working on energy in developing countries issues.   Because they are no longer very prominent on the ESMAP website, buried beneath more recent work, I have decided to resurrect them in this blog

I am sorry for the long delay between posts.  Both an illness and work somehow got in the way of working on this blog.  I have decided to revive it, but will not post as often as before.  But continue to check back as there will be more to come. 

Retroactively I have grouped these Knowledge Exchange Notes into four groups.  The first is on grid and offgrid rural electrification programs.  The second is on electricity generated mainly for the electricity grid.  The third group is biomass energy both for cooking and transport.  Finally, there are two notes on how rising energy prices impact the poor. 

Just click on titles to bring up the notes.  Enjoy the series!

Grid and Offgrid Rural Electrification

 KES2. Transformative Power:  Meeting theChallenge of Rural electrification.  Douglas Barnes.  A variety of countries have addressed the problems inherent in providing electricity to their populations.  By providing a snapshot of various programs and the different ways in which programs have provided electricity to their rural populations, a set of best practices were developed to highlight factors that should be emulated, and those that should be avoided.  This is a summary of the findings in the book The Challenge of Rural Electrification:  Challenges for Developing Countries. 

 KES 3. Four Regulatory Principles to Promote Diverse Electrification. Kilian Reiche, Bernard Tenenbaum, and Clemencia Torres. The study proposes four principles for regulatory systems that will help, rather than hinder, electrification. The principles and the accompanying real world examples show how successful electrification often requires that the traditional functions of regulation be performed in non-traditional ways.

KES5.  A Primer on Consumer Surplus and Demand: Common Questions and Answers.  Henry M. Peskin.  Measuring consumer’s surplus is an increasingly popular approach to quantifying the monetary benefits of energy projects at the World Bank.  A brief primer on the concept on the use of consumer surplus in measuring the benefits of rural electrification is presented along with the strengths and weaknesses of this method.

KES10 Electricity Beyond the Grid: Innovative Programs in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.  Chandra Govindarajalu, Raihan Elahi, and Jayantha NagendranExtending the national grid to remote rural areas remains a challenge in many developing countries. Complementary offgrid solutions using renewable energy applications can bring the benefits of electricity service to many more low-income rural households. This note examines two successful offgrid electrification projects in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Key to their success are design principles that can be applied to any program that aims to deliver rural energy services.

 KES12.  Easing Investment Barriers: Nicaragua’s Renewable Energy Potential.  Wolfgang Mostert.  Recently  Nicaragua’s economy faced a triple squeeze: high power prices, power shortages, and increased costs for imported fuels. Despite the country’s economically-viable renewable energy potential, risk-averse private investors prefer diesel power plants, with their low upfront costs. The lessons of the country’s problematic power-sector reform of 1998–99 are reviewed in the context of measures to ease barriers to RE investment.

Grid Electricity from Decentralized Sources

KES7.  Power Purchase Agreements for Small Power Producers.  Steven Ferry and Anil Cabraal.  Five Asian nations, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam began designing or instituting Small Power Producer (SPP) programs in the mid- 1990s to support energy development jointly with the private sector. This note draws on important markers and lessons for other countries on how to implement similar programs based on these experiences. While all Asian programs demonstrate certain commonalities due to fundamental legal relationships, each experience has been tailored to local conditions and requirements. Some have introduced innovative bidding, competitive, or incentive structures. The result is a rich palette of experience with small power projects in Asia.

 KES9.  Hedging Mexico’s Electricity Bets: The Case for Renewable Energy.  Daniel Farchy.  Few investors would risk putting all of their money into a single asset based on a 30-year forecast, yet narrowly-interpreted least-cost energy planning has often done just that. In Mexico, regulatory policies have hindered adoption of renewable energy (RE) and other diversified power options that could reduce portfolio risk. Against this backdrop, this note illustrates the country’s growing recognition of RE as a viable way to broaden investments in power generation and increase long-term security.

 KES11.  Scaling Up Renewable Energy in China: Economic Modeling Method and Application.  Richard Spencer, Peter Meier, and Noureddine Berrah.  Many countries wishing to scale up grid-based renewable energy introduce policies that set national targets. But such policy decisions must be based on a solid analytical framework that evaluates the optimum economic quantity of grid-based generation that RE sources can produce. Based on these calculations, an optimal mix of policy instruments can be selected to achieve those targets.

Biomass Energy

KES8.  Indoor Air Pollution in Cold Climates: The Cases of Mongolia and China.  Enis Baris, Salvador Rivera, Zuzana Boehmova, and Samantha Constant.   Cold climate countries or regions are not often the focus of studies of indoor air pollution (IAP).  The case studies of China and Mongolia are examined to examine the lessons learned from their programs in cold climates.

 KES13.  Improving Indoor Air in Rural Bangladesh: Results of Controlled Experiments.   Susmita Dasgupta, Mainul Huq, M. Khaliquzzaman, and David Wheeler.  In rural Bangladesh, indoor air pollution is dangerously high for poor households dependent on biomass cooking fuels. Based on earlier research, controlled experiments were conducted in Burumdi village, Narayanganj District to test the effects of structural arrangements and ventilation practices on indoor air pollution order to make policy recommendations on how to alleviate indoor air pollution. 

KES4.  Potential for Biofuels for Transport in Developing Countries. Masami Kojima and Todd Johnson.  An increasing number of requests from developing countries are considering the commercial viability of biofuels for transport.  Drawing lessons from the successful Brazil experience, the socioeconomic considerations for establishing biofuel programs in developing countries are evaluated in the context of alternative policies.

Oil Prices and the Poor

KES1.  The Impact of Higher Oil Prices on Low Income Countries and the Poor: Impacts and Policies.  Robert Bacon.  The impact of high oil prices in 2007 on poor countries is traced and policies are put forth to mitigate the impact on the poor. 

KES6.  How are Developing Countries Coping with Higher Oil Prices? Robert Bacon and Masami Kojima.  In response to higher oil prices countries have developed different strategies to mitigate the effects of higher oil prices on consumers, the government budget, and the total demand for oil.  The policy responses in response to the increases in world oil prices between 2003 and 2007 are examined in the context of their times. 

 

The Basics of Wood Burning Stoves: A Case for Standards or Rating Systems?

Many people interested in better stoves know something about fire, smoke, health and new ideas.  However, to explain these on a more fundamental level that is understood by all can be difficult.  Therefore to explain the relationship between health and smoke, I turn to the late comedian Steve Allen who said that “Asthma doesn't seem to bother me any more unless I'm around cigars or dogs. The thing that would bother me most would be a dog smoking a cigar.”  For those who are promoting stoves innovations, I quote Mark Twain who says “The man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.” 

More seriously, I recently came across this nice brochure on space heating stoves that has been published by the California Environmental Protection Agency.  I was struck by this brochure because in a very simple way it publicizes the issue of smoke and health, the need for standards,  the basic principles of combustion and even the alternatives to wood stoves including gas and electricity.    These are many of the same issues that the clean cooking community today is attempting to communicate to the general public.  This brochure highlights the fact that improved heating stoves in the United States and other developed countries are now very efficient and burn very cleanly compared to past stoves.  But this was not always the case. 

Painting of Old Heating Stove in School

On a personal note, I can remember old coal stoves used to heat "temporary" small classrooms built to accommodate a sudden rise in student populations.  These "potbelly" coal heating stoves were similar to the wood burning stove in the picture.  At the time in western Pennsylvania coal was king and this was at the very end of the time period when people would heat with traditional coal stoves.  Was it smoky? Yes. Was it energy efficient? No. Did it give good even heat?  No.  Wast it durable? Yes. Was it safe? Yes. Was it cheap?  Yes.  Now of course schools are heated with modern systems. 

Even now there are legacy fireplaces and wood stoves that burn warmed air in the house which in turn draws in cold air from the outside.  Thus, the old traditional space heating stoves in developed countries are somewhat analogous to open cooking fires in developing countries.  The rather important exceptions are that the cooking fires and traditional cookstoves in developing countries typically are built of local materials by those who use them and they also do not have chimneys.

Energy Services for the Poor: A Review of World Bank Lending

A couple of years ago I completed this review of Modernizing Energy Services for the Poor:  A World Bank Investment Review 2000-2008.  This was followed by extensive reviews and then revisions.  And this was followed by new revisions and fresh reviews and so on and so forth.  I am happy to announce that this report is finally out and comments are welcome, but no more reviews please. 



Source: World Bank Investments in Energy Access: 2000-08(Figures are Millions)



It may seem like a trivial exercise to classify energy access lending, but nothing could be further from the truth.  When you think about it almost all energy investments can be considered as promoting or being related to energy access.  Energy sector reform makes it possible to have a well functioning energy markets, and this is turn means the electricity and other forms of energy can reach the poor.  Likewise, rural electrification would not be possible without generation and transmission projects.  So where do you draw the line for ruling in investments as relating to energy access energy poverty or ruling them out. 

Much Ado About Energy Poverty: A Look Behind the IEA Numbers

The International Energy Association (IEA) has published a very nice special paper with the title Energy Poverty: How to Make Energy Access Universal.  This report makes a substantial contribution to the work on energy poverty and provides the updated figures on electricity access and the use of fuels for cooking.  The purpose of the report is to raise the issue of energy poverty to a higher level of international visibility.  This is quite a welcome tact by an energy agency that for many years has specialized in addressing issues of modern energy. 

I really like several things about this new report.  For one, the energy access and cooking fuel issues are well documented and nicely presented in tables and figures.  They also have made this publication free as supplement to the World Energy Outlook.  However, if you want the more country specific details you must purchase World Energy Outlook.  Finally, IEA has now added cooking fuels to the other types of energy they track to compliment their emphasis on electricity and other modern fuels.  This will raise cooking fuels to a higher level of public awareness and tracking their use is a very good idea for policy makers in the field of energy. 

The report also has some very high figures for the investment costs necessary to reach universal modern energy access by 2030.  At first glance, I thought these figures were too high, so I decided to “look behind” the figures.  I can tell you that that even for someone as seasoned as me this was not an easy task. 

Impact of Rural Electrification in Peru: A "New" Study

 

A “new” report on rural electrification in Peru demonstrates the usefulness of conducting energy surveys to help with assessing policies for such programs.  The usefulness stems from the ability to not only estimate the benefits of rural electrification, but to analyze if the subsidy policies are both effective and well targeted. There are many ways to structure subsidies for rural electrification in developing countries (see previous blog on energy subsidies).  Some types of subsidies can be progressive and others well could be regressive.   Assessing the appropriativeness type of subsidy generally is difficult to do without energy survey information.  

Rural Energy Expenditures by Income Class in Peru
in Soles per Month (1 US$  = 3 Soles) 
Source: Peru National Survey of Rural Energy Use



In developing countries generally people with higher income spend more cash income on energy than those with lower levels of income.  This same pattern can be found in Peru as indicated by the figure.  It is somewhat expected that electricity and LPG expenditures in rural Peru increase significantly with increases in income as measured by total expenditures.  But interestingly even cash expenditures on fuelwood rise with income which indicates that there is even a willingness to pay for what is probably high quality fuelwood. One reason that it is necessary to have quality surveys is to track both the effectiveness and the targeting of subsidies.

EgyDev Reader's Poll

EgyDev has ben covering quite a few topics on housheold energy and poverty reduction during the last 7 months. It is time to take some stock over the most read blog postings and ask about which subjects seem to be of the most intrest. 

To satisfy my natural tendency to analyze trends, the question can be asked since last February "What posts have been visited the most?" Drumroll please.   They are:

•  Improved Stoves in Developing Countries by the Numbers
• Improved Biomass Stoves: The Next Generation
• Measuring Household Lighting: Survey Design Issues
• Eight Steps to Successful Rural Electrification Programs - Energy for Development and Poverty Reduction
• Cooking with LPG: Climate and Poverty Issues
• Comparative Cooking Costs in Developing Countries  
• New Generation Wood Stove Evaluation in Dabaab Kenya: Review Series
• The Benefits of Rural Electrification in Developing Countries

Improved stoves win by a long shot.  But one can ask the question in another way.  "What posts have had the longest average visits."  Drum roll again please. 

Improved Biomass Stoves For Bangladesh: Practice and Promise

Bangladesh has a better record in addressing rural energy issues than most countries. They have a very aggressive rural electrification program that is based on rural electric distribution cooperatives. There is an award winning program for promoting solar home systems in offgrid regions. Yet as we documented in our report on Bangladesh’s Rural Energy Realities the country has not been as successful in promoting ways to alleviate problems associated cooking with biomass energy on rudimentary stoves. This is in spite of the fact that bioass energy is so scarce that leaves and grass account for 15 percent of total rural energy use.

Bangladeshi Woman Cooking with Child:  Photo Prabir Mallik

Recently there has been a new report released on Improved Cookstoves and Better Health in Bangladesh.  For a preview there is a online version of the report at the bottom of this blog.  This report is provides a new twist to work on improved or advanced biomass stoves. Not only does the report review programs in Bangladesh, but it also draws lessons from successful international experiences and water and sanitation programs.  The picture to the right has graced the cover of several reports and it was originally taken by Prabir Mallik on one of the assignments that took place during the project.

Many of the existing programs in Bangladesh are promoting what we have called in previous blogs artisan stoves. There are not too many successful examples of artisan programs in the world. Most of the programs that flourished have had at the very minimum manufactured parts as was the case in China and Guatemala.  A promising new development is that within the last couple of years Grameen Shakti (see text below the break) has recently entered the picture in Bangladesh to promote improved stoves, and they are manufacturing some of the parts such as stovepipes and grills, but the firebox of its stove is still made from local materials such as clay or mud.

What are the recommendations of the new Bangladesh report? The main recommendation is to move towards higher quality stoves that are proven to be more energy efficient and lower household air pollution. Here are some key quotes from the executive summary.

Lessons from the international programs emphasize the need for a wide range of efficient stove designs tailored to user requirements as a prerequisite for program success. They should have proven efficiency, the ability to reduce indoor air pollution, and good durability and safety. Further, the viability of the program in the long term often depends on strong commercial approaches to promoting stoves. Targeted marketing has also been seen to be an effective strategy; stoves should be marketed to households facing fuelwood scarcity or high costs of purchasing wood, as they would be the most likely group to benefit from improved stoves, at least in the initial stages of a program.

The review of the status of improved stove programs in Bangladesh, along with the best practices from around the world, leads to several recommendations for consideration. One clear message is the need for a more unified program without diminishing the creativity of the various groups advocating improved stoves in Bangladesh. In fact, creativity and a wide variety of approaches should be encouraged. The government’s role is not necessarily to be the main actor, but rather to facilitate a process that promotes variety, improved durability, better safety, and greater efficiency of improved stoves.