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Vietnam's power sector has developed rapidly since the 1990s to become a top performer among developing countries. This success has occurred mostly under a state-owned utility, Electricity Vietnam. Select market-oriented reforms to date have also had some positive impact. By the late 1990s, the Government realized the need to gradually introduce competition to ensure long-term sustainability without jeopardizing security of supply for the fast-growing economy. Vietnam's 2004 Electricity Law has provided the framework to develop a competitive power market, unbundle Electricity Vietnam, set prices that better reflect costs, promote private investment, and establish a regulatory authority. Today, state-owned entities continue to dominate the sector. Whereas the power market is partially competitive, improved operational efficiency and financial performance of generators in this market has contributed to keeping generation costs relatively low. Plans are broadly on track for further extensive reforms, including a clean energy transition. Lessons include that state-centric institutions can develop the power sector with top-level government commitment, highly-qualified staff, and consensus among sector institutions. Gradual reforms offer an opportunity to learn by doing; yet, the sequence of reforms matters. Introducing market mechanisms ahead of other elements may limit the market effectiveness and even make subsequent reform steps more difficult.

Access to Energy --- Electric Power --- Electric Utilities --- Electricity Pricing --- Energy --- Energy Policies and Economics --- Energy Sector Regulation --- Power Generation --- Power Sector Reform --- Regulation --- State-Owned Enterprises --- Utilities

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The world is witnessing a sudden growth in production of biofuels, especially those suited for replacing oil like ethanol and biodiesel. This paper synthesizes what the environmental, economic, and policy literature predicts about the possible effects of these types of biofuels. Another motivation is to identify gaps in understanding and recommend areas for future work. The analysis finds three key conclusions. First, the current generation of biofuels, which is derived from food crops, is intensive in land, water, energy, and chemical inputs. Second, the environmental literature is dominated by a discussion of net carbon offset and net energy gain, while indicators relating to impact on human health, soil quality, biodiversity, water depletion, et cetera, have received much less attention. Third, there is a fast expanding economic and policy literature that analyzes the various effects of biofuels from both micro and macro perspectives, but there are several gaps. A bewildering array of policies - including energy, transportation, agricultural, trade, and environmental policies - is influencing the evolution of biofuels. But the policies and the level of subsidies do not reflect the marginal impact on welfare or the environment. In summary, all biofuels are not created equal. They exhibit considerable spatial and temporal heterogeneity in production. The impact of biofuels will also be heterogeneous, creating winners and losers. The findings of the paper suggest the importance of the role biomass plays in rural areas of developing countries. Furthermore, the use of biomass for producing fuel for cars can affect access to energy and fodder and not just access to food.

Access to energy --- Biomass --- Carbon offset --- Climate change --- Energy --- Energy and Environment --- Energy Production and Transportation --- Environment --- Environmental Economics and Policies --- Ethanol --- Fuel --- Generation --- Oil --- Primary energy --- Primary energy supply --- Renewable Energy --- Transport --- Transport Economics, Policy and Planning

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Access to energy, especially modern sources, is a key to any development initiative. Based on cross-section data from a 2004 survey of some 2,300 households in rural Bangladesh, this paper studies the welfare impacts of household energy use, including that of modern energy, and estimates the household minimum energy requirement that could be used as a basis for an energy poverty line. The paper finds that although the use of both traditional (biomass energy burned in conventional stoves) and modern (electricity and kerosene) sources improves household consumption and income, the return on modern sources is 20 to 25 times higher than that on traditional sources. In addition, after comparing alternate measures of the energy poverty line, the paper finds that some 58 percent of rural households in Bangladesh are energy poor, compared with 45 percent that are income poor. The findings suggest that growth in electrification and adoption of efficient cooking stoves for biomass use can lower energy poverty in a climate-friendly way by reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Reducing energy poverty helps reduce income poverty as well.

Access to energy --- Air pollution --- Biomass --- Biomass energy --- Burning biomass --- Carbon dioxide --- Carbon dioxide emissions --- Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases --- Demand for energy --- Electricity --- Electrification --- Energy --- Energy and Environment --- Energy consumption --- Energy Demand --- Energy Production and Transportation --- Energy requirement --- Energy use --- Environment --- Environment and Energy Efficiency --- Green house gases --- Heat --- Kerosene --- Modern fuels --- Rural energy --- Rural energy development --- Traditional biomass

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Morocco charted its own distinctive path of power sector reform. It selectively introduced private sector participation for generation capacity expansion and electricity distribution, while retaining a strong, state-owned and vertically-integrated national power utility operating as a single buyer at the core of the sector. Until recently, the country eschewed an independent regulatory entity. The power sector has been guided by strong top-down policy mandates that have served to align the disparate actions of political parties and sector institutions. Ambitious targets for electricity access, liberalization, and renewable energy investments were conceived as an integrated approach to contribute to economic development by relieving fiscal pressures, reducing external dependence on fossil fuels, and positioning the country as a regional leader in renewable energy. The results have been impressive. Since 1990, Morocco has more than tripled its power supply, while growing renewable energy to account for one-third of the total and relying on the private sector to supply just over half of the electricity generated. Rural electrification has accelerated rapidly from 18 percent in 1995 to virtually 100 percent in 2017. While operational efficiency has been broadly adequate, performance has fluctuated over time. Moreover, the sector's achievements through this selective approach to reform have come somewhat at the expense of the financial viability of the incumbent utility, the National Office for Electricity and Water (ONEE), which has suffered from lack of cost-reflective tariff-setting and an array of entrenched cross-subsidies. Other vulnerabilities include the continued but declining dependence on electricity imports, external price volatilities of imported fossil fuels, and a territorialized electricity distribution model that could be disrupted by grid integration of renewable energy.

Access to Energy --- Electric Power --- Electric Utilities --- Electricity --- Energy --- Energy and Environment --- Energy Markets --- Energy Policies and Economics --- Power and Energy Conversion --- Power Generation --- Power Sector Reform --- Regulation --- Renewable Energy --- Rural and Renewable Energy --- Rural Development --- Rural Electrification --- State-Owned Enterprises --- Subsidies --- Unbundling

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Improving electricity access in low-income countries is a challenging problem because of the high costs of grid extension and low demand for grid electricity in rural areas. This study elucidates these constraints by analyzing poor households' willingness-to-pay for different types of electricity access, including lower cost off-grid technologies. The theoretical model illustrates how consumer preferences, operational and capital costs of electricity service delivery, and availability of power supply affect households' decisions to acquire electricity technology. These effects are then assessed empirically by estimating beneficiaries' willingness-to-pay for electricity in three low-income countries that have pockets of households living in extreme poverty-Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Rwanda. Consistent with the theoretical model, the results indicate very low household willingness-to-pay for electricity access, and that willingness-to-pay diminishes as households' income declines. Therefore, the study recommends concentrating in the nearer term on ultra-low-cost decentralized off-grid solar technologies in programs to provide household electricity to the poor in rural areas.

Access to Energy --- Contingent Valuation --- Electric Power --- Electricity --- Electricity Access --- Electricity Grid --- Energy --- Energy and Poverty Alleviation --- Energy Consumption --- Energy Policies and Economics --- Extreme Poverty --- Household Welfare --- Living Standards --- Poverty Reduction --- Rural and Renewable Energy --- Rural Development --- Rural Electrification --- Service Delivery --- Solar Energy