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Book
Assessing and Mapping Renewable Energy Resources
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Year: 2016 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The World Bank,

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Abstract

Understanding the location and potential of renewable energy resources is a crucial pre-requisite to their utilization, and to scaling up clean and secure sources of electricity generation such as biomass, small hydropower, solar, and wind. However many countries do not have high quality, publicly available data on renewable energy resource potential and this limits the potential for informed policy development, including zoning guidance, transmission network planning, and price regulation or incentives. It also narrows the field of potential commercial developers, and raises the cost of undertaking preliminary site identification and financial analyses. This report draws on many years of experience within the World Bank Group and among other development partners in carrying out renewable energy resource assessment and mapping at the country level, in particular from 12 projects funded by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) under a major global initiative launched in 2012. The report's purpose is to explain, for a wide range of audiences, the importance of resource assessment and mapping, key steps and good practices, methodological issues, and potential sources for further advice and support.


Book
Energy-Water Nexus in Southern Africa : Background Paper to Support Dialogue in the Region.
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Year: 2016 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The World Bank,

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The objective of this paper is to provide high-level background information on the interdependency between the supply of electricity and water in Southern Africa. The paper assimilates information based an extensive review of recent work on the energy and watersectors in the region and beyond, and the World Bank's sector dialogue in the region. The paper is intended to help facilitate a dialogue on the energy-water nexus in the region, especially fromthe perspective of electricity sector planning, and help the World Bank engage key sectorstakeholders on the issue.The value of this paper is in bringing together the latest knowledge work and other key information relevant for energy-water nexus dialogue in Southern Africa. This information has been derived from a number of fragmented sources, and an effort has been made to present the information in a logical framework, in one document that can help initiate discussions in the region.This paper was conceptualized as a background discussion paper and does not seek to make any recommendations on policy alternatives to tackle challenges facing the region on energy-water nexus issues. Any recommendations should be rooted in a thorough assessment of the specificchallenges, institutions and objectives of the region; and most importantly should follow from aconstructive regional dialogue amongst key stakeholders.The issues and implications that surround the energy-water nexus are numerous. The use of electricity and water as critical inputs to economic activity, implies that there are many interlinkages that can be explored. To increase the usefulness of the information and the framework presented, this paper focuses on the perspective of electricity supply, and highlights nexus issues that are directly relevant to it. Important related nexus issues such as agriculture and its dependence on reliable water and electricity (the energy-water-food nexus) are not considered and are left for future work. Thus, in referring to the energy-water nexus, the paper considers issues on electricity and water sectors in relation to electricity supply and long-term planning around it, including the feedback loop to water. By highlighting key analytical work and drawing insights relevant to Southern Africa, this paper aims to support an informed regional dialogue on decision making about the energy-water nexus in the region.


Book
Agribusiness in South Asia
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Year: 2016 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The World Bank,

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Abstract

Agribusiness (including agriculture) accounts for almost one third of South Asia's GDP and has the potential to almost double over the next fifteen years (reaching 1.5 trillion US dollars by 2030). This increase will be driven by rapid growth in population, incomes and urbanization, as well as accelerated transformation of the sector towards higher value products and downstream activities. The highest growth will come from processed food and related services, such as food retail and restaurants which will create millions of productive jobs outside agriculture and positive backward linkages for farmers. Removing restrictions on trade, markets and prices would support this transformation; reforms in these areas are already showing promising effects. In addition, governments should continue to support smaller and poorer farmers, who may not benefit from this transformation. More targeted and pro-active support should be provided to raise productivity, rather than blanket subsidies and price controls that encourage the status quo and threaten the sustainability of the sector in the face of climate change (for example, large untargeted water subsidies).


Book
Biomass Resource Mapping in Pakistan : Final Report on Biomass Atlas.
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Year: 2016 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The World Bank,

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Pakistan is facing a large deficit in electricity supply. A report published by the Government of Pakistan (GoP) in 2013 showed that the electricity supply-demand gap has continuously grown over the past five years and has reached 4,500 to 5,500 Megawatt (MW) in 2013. Such an enormous gap has led to load-shedding of 12-16 hours a day across the country. GoP has set a target to reduce the electricity supply-demand gap to zero by 2017. In order to attain such ambitious target, the GoP has been endeavoring to exploit various options to meet the current and future anticipated electricity needs of the country. In order to support the GoP, the World Bank (WB) has been providing assistance towards continued development of renewable power (RE) generation (hydro, biomass, solar and wind). Therefore, the energy sector meets electricity demand in an efficient, affordable and environmentally sustainable manner. Biomass resource mapping is one of component of the ongoing renewable energy resource mapping project in Pakistan. The objective of this biomass mapping component is to support the sustainable expansion of electricity generation from biomass. This is fulfilled by providing the national government and provincial authorities in Pakistan, and commercial project developers, with an improved understanding of the location and potential of biomass resources. This project is being implemented by the World Bank in Pakistan in close coordination with the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB), a government agency of Pakistan. The project is funded by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), a global knowledge and technical assistance program administered by the WB and supported by eleven bilateral donors. It is part of a major ESMAP initiative in support of renewable energy resource mapping and geospatial planning across multiple countries.


Book
Electronics in South Asia
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Year: 2016 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The World Bank,

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The electronics sector has played an important role in the development trajectories of several newly industrialized economies. South Asia's lack of competitiveness reflects inadequate provision of public goods (e.g. industrial zones next to world class ports and urban centers) rather than high labor costs or low productivity. The analysis focuses primarily on India and Sri Lanka - the two countries which already have a critical mass of companies in the electronics sector - and touches on Bangladesh. This case study identifies both reasons for success and limits on the growth of electronics in South Asia, and recommends policies to enhance its growth.


Book
Achieving Universal Access to Water and Sanitation by 2030 : The Role of Blended Finance
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Year: 2016 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The World Bank,

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A substantial increase in sector financing will be necessary to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 calling for universal access to safe water and sanitation while addressing issues of water quality and scarcity to balance the needs of households, agriculture, industry, energy, and the environment over the next 15 years. Recent estimates by the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) indicate that the present value of the additional investment in WSS alone needed through 2030 will exceed USD 1.7 trillion (Hutton and Varughese 2016). Existing funding falls far short of this amount; countries may have to increase their investment in the water and sanitation sectors by up to four times in order to meet the SDGs. Where is Financing for the Water SDG Going to Come From?


Book
Mozambique Energy Sector Policy Note
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Year: 2015 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The World Bank,

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This Energy Sector Policy Note is intended to support the Government of Mozambique in determining priorities for policy decisions with the aim of delivering efficiently produced, technically and financially sustainable electricity supply to the Mozambican population. To support the development of recommendations, this Note includes simulation analysis based on the current finances of the sector. Electricidade de Macambique's (EDM) corporate financial model was adapted for this work. Targets for electrification are based on discussions with government officials. EDM's current generation pipeline and its timing was taken as a given in order to simulate investment needs and evolution of sector finances under various tariff and funding availability assumptions. The various simulations and the broader sector quantitative and qualitative discussion should support policy formulation and prioritization going forward. The power sector in Mozambique faces three key challenges: i) to provide reliable and efficient electricity supply to its customers; ii) to cope with the increase in the electricity demand from its current (and future) customer base by expanding its generation and transmission capacity; and, iii) to provide access to electricity to the vast majority of the population. The importance of the timing of new generation to export power to South Africa also points to the importance of the backbone transmission project to evacuate the power from the center of the country - thereby enabling exports. Increasing access in line with Government targets will require major investments. The Government needs to consider the trade-offs between the ambition of the access targets imposed upon EDM and the sector's broader financial viability for carrying out operations, maintenance and investment. Relaxation of the access target so that the 50 percent target is achieved by 2030 instead of 2023 gives EDM more liquidity in the first years.


Book
Financial Standing of the Power Sector in Armenia
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Year: 2016 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The World Bank,

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The power sector of Armenia achieved remarkable results through first generation policy, legal, regulatory, and institutional reforms implemented from 1991-2003, the first decade of independence. The sector achieved financial sustainability with tariffs that assured recovery of reasonable expenses and collections that reached virtually 100 percent of sales. The implicit and explicit subsidies to the power sector were eliminated and the largest sector companies were among the top taxpayers in the country. More than 70 percent of power sector assets were denationalized (privatized or transferred to Russian ownership in debt-to-asset swaps). However, in 2010 these achievements started to reverse and gradually worsened during the past several years. Today, the large state-owned sector power companies, as well as the privately-owned Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) have accumulated large amount of expensive commercial debts and are on the verge of bankruptcy.


Book
Community Benefits Sharing Policy Note
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Year: 2012 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The World Bank,

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The Government of Afghanistan (GoA), with support from the World Bank (WB), is currently developing a resource corridor strategy. One key aspect of this strategy is addressing the social issues around the mining sector and, more specifically, community benefits sharing. Through written and verbal exchanges with representatives from the Afghan ministry of mines, a number of issues have been highlighted. In this context, this policy note addresses the rationale for a community benefits sharing framework, the process and methodology of developing Community Development Agreements (CDAs), some major points that should be considered in CDAs (relationship building, ongoing communications, and the process of working with communities), and the governance of CDAs.


Book
Apparel in South Asia
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Year: 2016 Publisher: Washington, D.C. : The World Bank,

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Apparel is the largest labor-intensive manufacturing industry in South Asia, and is a major employer of women. Although South Asia's apparel sector benefits from many of the same favorable conditions as East Asia's, performance in South Asian apparel remains well below that of East Asia. The objective of this study is to identify the policy changes necessary for South Asia to capitalize on this opportunity. The authors review the apparel sectors in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and compare them with Vietnam and China. The report uses quantitative data (analysis based on a gravity model, enterprise and buyer surveys) and qualitative information (interviews with leading firms) to identify changes in policies that would enable South Asia to meet the requirements of global buyers. Low productivity and poor trade logistics make it difficult for South Asia's apparel sector to compete in global markets, despite a cost advantage due to lower wages than other major exporters. Leading firms exhibit that world class operational performance can be achieved in South Asia by investing in training and technology. These firms overcame constraints in the external environment by achieving economies of scale, and in the case of India and Pakistan, by integrating vertically to avoid barriers to sourcing high-quality inputs on the global market. All countries should promote Plug and Play industrial zones with ready to use industrial buildings and facilities to promote women labor force participation, as female workers would be the main beneficiaries of growth in apparel production.

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