Person:
Malcolm, Cosgrove-Davies
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Energy
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Departments
Energy Global Practice
Externally Hosted Work
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Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Malcolm Cosgrove-Davies (Mac) started with the World Bank in 1992 as a contract employee for the Asia Alternative Energy Unit (ASTAE), focusing on rural and renewable energy in South and East Asia. He formally joined the World Bank in 1999 as a Senior Energy Specialist. He worked in the Africa region for nearly 10 years; he then returned to South Asia for three years before serving as Energy Practice Manager in Latin America and the Caribbean for three years and subsequently as the Global Lead for Energy Access. His career involved extensive experience across the energy sector, including team leadership and supporting roles covering grid and off-grid energy access, small and large renewable energy, energy sector reform and restructuring, emergency power, hydropower, thermal power, and transmission. His passion for the energy access agenda was nurtured throughout his career, including highlights such as the Sri Lanka Energy Services Delivery Project, the Lao Rural Electrification Project, and the Uganda Energy for Rural Transformation Program. He sought to lead the World Bank’s Energy Practice in expanding and further leveraging its energy access work, including building effective links within and outside the institution. He retired in April 2018.
Publication Search Results
1 - 2 of 2
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Publication
Electricity Access in Sub-Saharan Africa: Uptake, Reliability, and Complementary Factors for Economic Impact
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019-03-08)Access to reliable electricity is a prerequisite for the economic transformation of economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), especially in a digital age. Yet the electricity access rate in the region is often substantially low, households and businesses with access often face unreliable service, and the cost of the service is often among the highest in the world. This situation imposes substantial constraints on economic activities, provision of public services, adoption of new technologies, and quality of life. Much of the focus on how to best provide reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity service to all has been on mitigating supply-side constraints. However, demand-side constraints may be as important, if not more important. On the supply side, inadequate investments in maintenance result in high technical losses; most state-owned utilities operate at a loss; and power trade, which could significantly lower the cost of electricity, is underdeveloped. On the demand side, the uptake and willingness to pay are often low in many communities, and the consumption levels of those who are connected are limited. Increased uptake and consumption of electricity will encourage investment to improve service reliability and close the access gap. Electricity Access in Sub-Saharan Africa shows that the fundamental problem is poverty and lack of economic opportunities rather than power. The solution lies in understanding that the overarching reasons for the unrealized potential involve tightly intertwined technical, financial, political, and geographic factors. The ultimate goal is to enable households and businesses to gain access to electricity and afford its use, and utilities to recover their cost and make profits. The report makes the case that policy makers need to adopt a more comprehensive and long-term approach to electrification in the region—one centered on the productive use of electricity at affordable rates. Such an approach includes increased public and private investment in infrastructure, expanded access to credit for new businesses, improved access to markets, and additional skills development to translate the potential of expanded and reliable electricity access into substantial economic impact. Enhancing the economic capabilities of communities is the best way to achieve faster and more sustainable development progress while addressing the broad challenges of affordability, low consumption, and financial viability of utilities, as well as ensuring equitable provision between urban and rural areas. -
Publication
Quantifying Carbon and Distributional Benefits of Solar Home System Programs in Bangladesh
( 2011-01-01)Scaling-up adoption of renewable energy technology, such as solar home systems, to expand electricity access in developing countries can accelerate the transition to low-carbon economic development. Using a purposely collected national household survey, this study quantifies the carbon and distributional benefits of solar home system programs in Bangladesh. Three key findings are generated from the study. First, dissemination of solar home systems brings about significant carbon benefits: the total carbon emissions avoided from replacing kerosene use for lighting by solar home systems in non-electrified rural households was equivalent to about 4 percent of total annual carbon emissions in Bangladesh in 2007. This figure increases to about 15 percent if the grid-electricity generation is used as the energy baseline to estimate the carbon avoided from the installation of solar home systems. Second, solar home system subsidies in rural Bangladesh are progressive when the program is geographically targeted. Third, there exists a market potential for solar home systems in many rural areas if micro-credit schemes are made available and the propensity to install solar home systems is very responsive to income, with a 1-percent increase in per capita income increasing the probability of installing solar home systems by 12 percent, controlling for other factors.