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The manual begins with a description of the concept and aims of the shield wire scheme (SWS). The scheme is applicable for minimum cost power supply from the grid to villages, small towns, farms, factories, and water pumping stations located near or at some distance from the route of the high-voltage (HV), 110 to 330 kV, transmission lines (TLs). The SWS is a solution for rural electrification that is not economically justifiable with conventional solutions, which are long medium-voltage (MV) lines routed along the HV TLs or dedicated HV/MV transformer stations. SWSs consist of the following: Insulating the shield wires (SWs) from the towers of the HV TL for MV operation (20 to 34.5 kV). Energizing the SWs at MV from the HV/MV transformer station at one end of the HV TL. Using the earth return of current as an MV distribution conductor. Supplying the loads by means of medium-voltage/low-voltage (MV/LV) distribution transformers connected between the SWs and the ground.

Electric Power --- Energy --- Energy Policies & Economics --- Energy Trade --- Rural Development --- Rural Electrification --- Rural Energy --- Rural Services and Infrastructure

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Increasing access to modern electricity services in Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the main development challenges facing the world over the next two decades. The rural economies are overwhelmingly dependent on agriculture; in fact, agriculture and agribusiness comprise nearly half of Africa's gross domestic product (GDP). These enterprises require electricity to grow to their potential, while the expansion of rural energy services needs consumers with consistent power needs to serve as a reliable revenue source. Can agriculture and energy come together in Sub-Saharan Africa to offer a double dividend with benefits to enterprises, households, utilities, and private-sector service providers? This is the central question of this study. Combining agricultural load with other household and commercial power demand can increase the feasibility of extending the grid or creating opportunities for independent power producers and mini-grid operators. Drawing on a suite of case studies, this study offers insights on what it will take to operationalize the opportunities and address the challenges for power-agriculture integration in Africa.

Agricultural Sector Economics --- Agriculture --- Climate Change and Agriculture --- Electric Power --- Energy --- Energy Demand --- Irrigation --- Rural Development --- Rural Electrification --- Rural Services and Infrastructure --- Smallholders

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This note explores the Bangladesh experience in implementing the widespread use of a private operator model for building and operating rural piped water schemes. Since the early 1990s, the World Bank has, through a series of development projects, designed, piloted, and attempted to scale up use of the model as a mechanisms to address the very real issues of arsenic contamination and delivery at scale. The latest of these projects is still in implementation. The experience with these projects to date has been disappointing, and while a limited number of schemes are still in operation, the model has not been replicated in a large number of communities as intended and has not proved to be particularly sustainable. Over this same period, the government and other development partners also have been using alternative methods to deliver the same kinds of services in rural areas. Some of these efforts seem to have been modestly successful. However, much of the evidence about the performance of these other models is anecdotal and there has been little rigorous analysis to compare the performance of these different models with the private sponsor approach. This paper attempts to do this on the basis of a desk review of existing World Bank literature, including project documents and research reports, coupled with interviews with key stakeholders and World Bank staff. The first section of the paper provides an overview of the rationale and key issues associated with efforts to scale up a private operator model in Bangladesh. The second section reviews government efforts and those of its other development partners, to use a more traditional mode of service provision, involving community management. The third, fourth, and fifth sections review efforts by the government and the World Bank to design, test, and scale up a private operator model for service provision. A sixth section reviews some of the international research that provides insights into the use of such models in other countries and sectors. The paper ends with tentative conclusions about the experience in Bangladesh, lessons learned, and several options for further analysis.

Clean Water --- Community Involvement --- Cost Recovery --- Drinking Water --- Infrastructure Economics and Finance --- Investment Climate --- Joint Ventures --- Municipalities --- Private Participation in Infrastructure --- Rural Development --- Rural Services and Infrastructure --- Rural Water Supply and Sanitation --- Urban Areas --- Water --- Water Supply --- Water Supply and Sanitation --- Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions --- Water Use --- Water Utilities

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In many developing countries with large rural populations and low rural electrification rates, most community health and education facilities lack access to electricity. For facilities in remote areas beyond reach of the national grid, photovoltaic's (PV) systems may offer the most practical and least-cost way to access electricity. A PV system uses predictable solar resources and has long been cost competitive with diesel generators and other alternatives. In off-grid rural primary schools and health dispensaries, for example, PV systems oftentimes are an appropriate way to run many low-power, high-value appliances and equipment, from lamps and vaccine refrigerators to water pumps, television sets, and computers. Thus, if the electricity grid is not expected to arrive in the near future or if diesel fuel is unavailable or too expensive, a PV system may offer the least-cost technology for providing electricity service. If this rapid assessment determines that PV is a viable option, it results in a brief concept for a possible project and the plan for its preparation. The project concept is discussed with stakeholders and independent specialists, including off-grid renewable energy specialists, and is adjusted as appropriate. The plan for project preparation takes into account an assessment of available information and activities to be undertaken during preparation to fill gaps and generate additional and improved data. The second phase of project development is the preparation of the PV implementation plan. This is accomplished with the assistance of several specialists, including a PV technical specialist, and involves working closely with lead organization managers and specialists, broad-based stakeholder consultations, and multiple iterations. The third phase of project development, procurements and contract management, involves securing firm financing commitments (including those for post-project recurrent costs), developing tender packages, tendering and contracting, and contract management. The fourth phase, long-term operation, is where too many projects fail. In summary, this toolkit is, at a minimum, a checklist of key issues to address in developing an institutional PV project. While it is not a technical manual, nor a substitute for using professional PV specialists to size, configure, and specify system and maintenance requirements, it offers practical operational guidance to assess, develop, and implement projects with PV systems in ways that enhance cost effective supply and sustainable post-project operations. The guidance offered herein demonstrates that the opportunities for effectively addressing the issues to establish the basis for sustainability are many.

Alternative Energy --- Appliances --- Best Practices --- Business Development --- Capacity Building --- Clean Energy --- Clean Water --- Communities --- Customization --- Electricity --- Energy --- Energy Production --- Energy Production and Transportation --- Energy Supply --- Engineering --- Hospitals --- Housing --- Hydropower --- Hygiene --- Innovation --- Kerosene --- Marketing --- Outsourcing --- Private Sector --- Renewable Energy --- Rural Development --- Rural Electrification --- Rural Services and Infrastructure --- Solar Energy --- Technical Assistance --- Villages --- Water Supply

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Romania faces today the critical need to enhance the coordination of public investment programs and projects in order to 'do more with less,' maximizing development impact given limited financial resources available. In this context, 'value for money' is the key guiding principle of public investments, making this final report is both critically important and timely. Romania's preparations for the 2014-2020 EU programming period are in full swing, with multiple operational programs recently approved. In parallel, the Government is working on revamping instruments financed entirely from the state budget. The core focus is on the National Local Development Program (PNDL), the main state-budget-funded investment program for local infrastructure development, though findings and recommendations may be extrapolated to other state-budget-funded instruments (e.g., the Environment Fund) and, indeed, as decentralization and regionalization may evolve in the future, subnational governments may also apply the lessons of this work. The main goal of this work is to recommend and facilitate the adoption of prioritization and selection criteria that enhance coordination at the level of infrastructure programs and the projects they finance.

Air Pollution --- Airports --- Climate Change --- Cost-Benefit analysis --- Disabilities --- Economies of Scale --- Emissions --- Governance --- Grants --- Highways --- Infrastructure --- Infrastructure Economics --- Infrastructure Economics and Finance --- Infrastructure Investment --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Maritime Transport --- Mobility --- Petroleum Products --- Population Density --- Public Expenditure, Financial Management and Procurement --- Public Sector Governance --- Railways --- Roads --- Rural Development --- Rural Services and Infrastructure --- Sanitation --- Taxes --- Traffic Safety --- Transparency --- Transport --- Urban Development --- Vehicles