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Ghana has been remarkably successful in extending its national grid into the rural areas. According to its Ministry of Power, about 83.4 percent of communities with more than 500 people have access to grid electricity. The main remaining frontier is to bring electricity to communities living on islands in Lake Volta and in isolated lakeside locations. The summary of this report first highlights some areas where clear recommendations have emerged, and then presents areas where choices are to be made between options with different advantages and disadvantages. The purpose of this assignment is to explore the most feasible business models for mini and micro grids for Ghana's island and lake-side communities, together with a pragmatic policy and regulatory regime that will reinforce the development of such systems. The remainder of the report is arranged as follows: 1) Chapter 1 does the Analysis and discussion of the various options for business models of mini grids; (ii) Chapter 2 is about Analysis and discussion of the costs of mini grid delivery, tariff calculations and financing options; (iii) Chapter 3 discusses on the Review and proposals for required policy, legislation, regulations, permits, and institutional arrangements; and (iv) Chapter 4 concludes with Review and recommendations for necessary technical assistance to implement the delivery of mini grids.

Electric Power --- Energy --- Energy Consumption --- Energy Markets --- Energy Resources Development

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The Global Facility on Mini Grids of the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) hired Castalia to study the regulation of mini grids in six jurisdictions in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia (Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria; and Bangladesh, Cambodia, and the state of Uttar Pradesh in India). The study's objective is to understand what regulatory settings governments may adopt to scale up electrification through private development of mini grids, drawing on the experience of these six jurisdictions; provide technical assistance to four countries that want to further develop their mini grids framework; and disseminate findings and recommendations globally to inform successful mini grids regulation. The study focuses on mini grids defined as small, privately-owned and operated systems with generation of up to 10 megawatts (MW) capacity and a network that distributes power to several customers. The study includes small mini grids of less than 1 kilowatt (kW) capacity, also known as 'micro' or 'pico' grids. The six case studies are intended to be combined in one report. The report is to provide a cross-country comparison of these topics: it examines side by side how each of the countries studied have responded to a specific regulatory question, and presents a decision-tree approach to developing regulatory frameworks for mini grids. This case study is based on in-depth interviews with a number of key stakeholders in Kenya, conducted during and after a research trip in September 2017. The supplemented the insights gained from these interviews with extensive background research. Several experts in the Kenya context and mini grids more broadly reviewed this case study for accuracy and clarity, and we have incorporated their comments while retaining a neutral fact-based position.

Electric Power --- Energy --- Energy Consumption --- Energy Markets --- Energy Resources Development

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In response to a request from Central Asian (CA) countries at the CAREC Energy Sector Coordination Committee meeting, held in March 2015 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the World Bank commissioned a study to estimate unrealized benefits from regional power trade for the four Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan during the period from 2010 - 2014. The study was implemented by AF Mercados from October 2015 through June 2016. This report reviews the key findings of the AF Mercados Report, with further details to be found in the Report itself. The analysis was focused on power trade benefits aggregated at the regional level, as well as country-specific benefits. Three cases were considered, namely (i) benefits including fuel savings only at historic energy prices, (ii) benefits including both fuel savings and economic value of avoiding unserved energy at historic fuel prices, and (iii) benefits including fuel savings and the economic value of avoiding unserved energy with fuel costs estimated to be at "market" energy prices. The findings of the report, show that the benefits for the region could have amounted to nearly USD 1.5 billion if only fuel savings were taken into account. Should economic value of avoiding unserved power demand be added to benefits, the benefits would have reached almost USD 5.2 billion for historic energy prices and about USD 6.4 billion for market energy prices. It's worth noting that each country could also have benefited in any of the cases, except for Kyrgyzstan for the case of including fuel savings only. Furthermore, if the countries operated together, they could also save over USD 80 million annually, or USD 400 million during the period from 2010 -2014, by sharing the regional hydro resources to provide operating reserves, instead of purchasing reserves at current market prices from outside sources.

Energy --- Energy Demand --- Energy Efficiency --- Energy Markets --- Energy Trade --- Hydropower

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Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India, has among the lowest levels of electricity connection in the country.1 Over 100 million people, at least half of the rural population, lack a formal connection to a distribution grid. The level of electricity services remains low despite the physical extension of the state-owned grid to all official villages. Unelectrified households are reluctant to apply for grid connection because they expect electricity supply to be unreliable, and they would have to spend money on coping strategies to replace electricity. In addition, connecting individual households in each village is costly to the state-owned distribution utilities. Highly regulated tariffs and a high cost of servicing remote areas mean that rural connections promise few returns to the utilities.Electrification has been a public policy priority for decades of successive state and central governments across the political spectrum. Public policy has maintained ambitious objectives to expand grid services from the state-owned medium-voltage (MV) distribution grid to rural areas. The state-owned grid has electrified all cities and surrounding towns. The high-voltage (HV) transmission grid extends throughout most of the state, in contrast to other energy-poor countries in Asia such as Cambodia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Private mini grid operators have occupied a small but growing space in the rural electricity market in Uttar Pradesh since around 2010. Several small companies, as well as individual entrepreneurs, are now providing electricity services in almost 1,900 settlements (villages and hamlets) in the state, and have made about 37,000 connections (and growing)Independent mini grid operators in Uttar Pradesh have proven they can earn rural customers' trust and their business. Rural consumers' simple energy needs can absorb up to a third of households' monthly expenditure without an electricity connection.Mini grid operators are addressing these gaps in service through renewable-based systems that deliver power to underserved villages. They have gained credibility as a more reliable service than the state-owned grid in rural areas by providing a reliable solution to residents' and businesses' lighting, phone charging, and appliance-powering problems. They provide basic light-emitting diode (LED) home lighting and a mobile phone charging outlet to a household for a scheduled 6 to 8 hours a day.

Electric Power --- Energy --- Energy Consumption --- Energy Markets --- Energy Resources Development

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The Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR) provides its members with overviews of the potential solutions to recover and monetize the flared and/or associated gas. The purpose of this report is to compare the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) chain concepts that could be used to monetise small volumes (1-15MMscf/d) of associated gas and avoid or reduce the current gas flaring. Both LNG and CNG concepts have been developed for over 50 years in similar though not exactly the same ways, and have gained some maturity as a result of the gas market expansion. The CNG and LNG reports analysed the available technologies and the development of the respective chains in specific countries for a better understanding of the mechanism of their evolution and for possible application in other emerging countries. This report will compare both CNG and LNG chain concepts for small volumes monetisation and will identify the drivers that could increase their implementation to reduce gas flaring and its consequential emissions.

Compressed Natural Gas --- Energy --- Energy and Environment --- Energy Markets --- Finance --- Natural Gas --- Oil & Gas