Publication: Scaling Up Access to Electricity: Emerging Best Practices for Mini-Grid Regulation
Loading...
Published
2015
ISSN
Date
2015-11-24
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This brief will focus on enabling regulations for mini-grids, providing an overview of key issues, options, and good practices. While appropriate regulations are not all that is needed to spur mini-grid development, is usually one of the first obstacles that potential developers face and therefore the most urgent issue for governments. The authors draw on a case study of Tanzania, a pioneer in setting an enabling and light-handed regulatory framework for mini-grids. Given the urgency of leveraging private sector investments for reaching the universal access targets of the international sustainable energy for all projects, the authors also focus on regulatory issues relevant to private sector entrepreneurs and investors. Mini-grid entrepreneurs need to know that their investment of time and money will have a reasonable chance not just of being repaid but also of returning a profit. A clear and credible regulatory framework that makes and enforces fair and efficient decisions in a timely manner helps entrepreneurs make informed investment decisions. The key characteristics of such a framework, described include licensing and registration, tariff setting, and what happens when the main grid reaches the mini-grid.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Greacen, Chris; Nsom, Stephanie; Rysankova, Dana. 2015. Scaling Up Access to Electricity: Emerging Best Practices for Mini-Grid Regulation. Live Wire, 2015/51. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23137 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Publication Exploiting the Potential of Energy Efficiency in Residential Buildings(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-10-31)The residential sector makes up about 70 percent of building energy demand. This demand is expected to grow rapidly over the next decade. Although the sector offers huge potential for energy efficiency gains, a range of barriers impedes the realization of these benefits. Fortunately, a wealth of global experience shows how these challenges can be overcome through a combination of sound planning, strong policy and regulatory frameworks, well designed financing and incentives, robust institutional and market development, and accessible information to scale up residential energy efficiency.Publication Decarbonizing Ammonia and Nitrogen Fertilizers with Clean Hydrogen(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-12)Synthetic fertilizers are essential to sustaining the world’s population, but their production is responsible for 1.8–2.4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Clean hydrogen holds growing potential (amid falling costs) to decarbonize fertilizer production. Hydrogen produces synthetic ammonia, a building block of most fertilizers. With the fertilizer market as a reliable off-taker, this shift could support the overall expansion of clean hydrogen, even as it boosts global food security. However, this transition may require adjustments, including changes in fertilizer types and modifications to existing subsidy schemes.Publication Shared Infrastructure for Clean Hydrogen(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-08-31)Studies of the development of clean hydrogen have often focused on the production side. Infrastructure built and used for storage and transportation warrants more attention. Among the topics that should be assessed are system design, operation, integration, and ownership; market design and governance; and planning. This Live Wire examines case studies and literature on the infrastructure for hydrogen hubs, with an emphasis on the benefits of shared infrastructure. Given the breadth of hydrogen production and infrastructure, the focus is on renewable hydrogen production for domestic use and for export after conversion to ammonia.Publication Measuring the Climate Resilience of the Power Sector: Harmonization, Not Homogenization(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-08-31)Although by its very nature climate resilience can never be fully “standardized”, the development and mainstreaming of climate resilience metrics can benefit from greater consensus around key topics. Areas such as metric categories, methodologies, and reporting frameworks can be aligned through coordinated efforts among regulators, utilities, and other stakeholders, enabling more consistent, effective, and scalable resilience planning across the sector. The key is harmonization and not homogenization.Publication A Responsible Data Sharing Framework for the Distributed Renewable Energy Sector(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-09-25)In collaboration with Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency, the World Bank is piloting a Responsible Data Sharing Framework (RDSF) for the distributed renewable energy sector. The framework was developed over the course of 12 months in 2024, through collaboration with some 25 stakeholders from government and the private sector. It embodies a shared ambition to turn data into better outcomes for the communities served. At its core, an RDSF for the sector sets out how appropriate data about projects can be shared in ways that are efficient and effective. In 2023, the World Bank approved the Nigeria Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) project. DARES aims to bring new or improved access to clean energy to 17.5 million people and replace more than 280,000 petrol and diesel generators in the process. The RDSF pilot is part of DARES.
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication World Bank Group Support to Electricity Access, FY2000-2014(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-07-07)The World Bank Group has committed to achieving universal access to electricity by 2030 under the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative. This is a daunting challenge: more than 1 billion people do not have access, and another 1 billion have chronically inadequate or unreliable service. Most of those without access are poor, and the largest share is in Sub-Saharan Africa. Achieving universal access within 15 years for the low-access countries (those with under 50 percent coverage) requires a quantum leap from their present pace of 1.6 million connections per year to 14.6 million per year until 2030. The investment needed would be about $37 billion per year, including erasing generation deficits and meeting demand from economic growth. By comparison, in recent years, low-access countries received an average of $3.6 billion per year for their electricity sectors from public and private sources, including $1.5 billion per year from the World Bank Group. Development outcomes of the Bank Group’s assistance were generally favorable compared with other infrastructure sectors. However, performance in improving financial viability of country electricity sectors was below expectations. There were significant gaps in the Bank Group’s coverage of low-access countries, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Median implementation time of World Bank investment projects was nine years, with time overruns attributable to inadequate project design and borrower capacity. Support for off-grid electrification was low and sporadic, with a few notable exceptions. The Bank Group’s growing non-conventional renewable energy portfolio is dealing with technology and regulatory challenges. Tracking welfare and gender impacts in World Bank projects has improved, and International Finance Corporation (IFC) has made a beginning in addressing these issues. The Bank made some significant pilot contributions to addressing the affordability of electricity connections. Collaboration grew among World Bank, IFC, and MIGA through joint projects, which helps break ground for the private sector in some high-risk and fragile countries, and supports a few large and complex projects. The scale of the SE4All challenge requires the Bank Group to reposition itself as a global solutions provider in the sector, going well beyond the confines of its own direct support for access. This evaluation points to the urgency for the Bank Group‘s energy practice to adopt a new and transformative strategy to help country clients orchestrate a national, sustained sector-level engagement for universal access. A major challenge in this effort is to deploy the Bank Group units’ individual and collective strengths beyond Bank Group–led projects and transactions to stimulate private sector investments for closing the financing gap, especially in generation, for low-access countries.Publication Energizing Economic Growth in Ghana : Making the Power and Petroleum Sectors Rise to the Challenge(Washington, DC, 2013-06)The main objective of this report is to provide the new Government of Ghana with recommendations on the actions needed to improve the performance of Ghana's energy sector. The report focuses on the power and petroleum sectors, taking account of the interdependence between the sectors, and providing recommendations for how they can, together, drive future economic growth. This report aims to highlight the centrality of fixing the problems in the power sector as a path to ensuring that Ghana's economic growth ambitions are not stymied by a lack of electricity. The problems and their solutions are well known; what has been lacking is decisive and timely decision making to break the tendency to adopt reactive measures that often come too late when proactive measures will have led to better outcomes. Demand for gas in the power sector is set to expand rapidly, as new thermal generation capacity is built to meet rapidly growing power demand. However, to ensure successful development of its gas sector, Ghana will need to address a number of important challenges. The paper is organized as follows: chapter one gives introduction; chapter two deals with electricity demand and supply; chapter three deals with resolving generation and transmission bottlenecks; chapter four gives reforms urgently needed in power distribution; chapter five focuses on natural gas sector; and chapter six focuses on upstream oil and gas sector.Publication Private Sector, Small Scale, Grid-connected Renewable Power Generation in Sri Lanka : A Review of the Experience of the Past Decade 1996 to 2006(Washington, DC, 2008-01)The objective of this report, therefore, is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the development of the renewable power generation sector in the country over a period of ten years, from 1996 to 2006, as a reference for the design of future policy and market interventions in Sri Lanka and other countries. This analysis aims to assist stakeholders to assess the potential for growth in terms of energy contribution from indigenous renewable resources, private sector investment and rural infrastructure development. The report also serves to reveal the conflicting priorities of stakeholders, which impact the development of indigenous energy resources, and thereby create a platform for constructive debate towards realizing a sustainable and optimal outcome for the country.Publication Climate Vulnerability Assessments : An Assessment of Climate Change Vulnerability, Risk, and Adaptation in Albania’s Power Sector(World Bank, 2009-12-01)Energy security is a key concern in Albania, which relies on hydropower for about 90 percent of its electricity production. While renewable energy resources like hydropower play a fundamental role in moving the world towards a low-carbon economy, they are also vulnerable to climatic conditions. Climate variability already affects Albania's energy production to a considerable extent, and climate change is bringing further challenges. This report summarizes work conducted in partnership with stakeholders in Albania's energy sector and other closely related sectors. It aimed to build greater understanding of the climate risks faced by the energy sector and of priority actions that could be taken to reduce vulnerabilities. The remainder of this report is set out as follows: section two describes the context for this assessment, covering the Albanian energy sector, observed and projected climatic conditions and Albania's adaptive capacity. Section three outlines the climatic vulnerabilities, risks, and opportunities facing Albania's energy sector. Section four describes the key adaptation options identified for managing climate risks to the energy sector. Section five provides the cost-benefit analysis of physical adaptation options. Section six sets out next steps for improving the climate resilience of Albania's energy sector. Finally, section seven includes references and lists of annexes and appendices.Publication Technical and Economic Assessment of Off-grid, Mini-grid and Grid Electrification Technologies(Washington, DC, 2007-12)This report is part of the Energy and Water Department's commitment to providing new techniques and knowledge which complement the direct investment and other assistance to electrification as provided by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). The purpose of this report is to convey the results of an assessment of the current and future economic readiness of electric power generation alternatives for developing countries. The objective of the technical and economic assessment was to systematically characterize the commercial and economic prospects of renewable and fossil fuel-fired electricity generation technologies now, and in the near future. The study was designed to cover the widest possible range of electrification applications faced by energy services delivery and power system planners, whether supply is provided through grid networks or stand-alone or mini-grid configurations. The assessment was conducted using a standard approach and is presented in a consistent fashion for each power generation technology configuration. The assessment time frame includes current status and forecast development trends over the period 2005-15, while the economic assessment considers a range of typical operating conditions (peak, off-peak) and grid configurations (off-grid, mini-grid, interconnected grid) for various scales of demand. The technology characterization reflects the current stage of commercialization, including indicative cost reduction trends over 10 years. This study is limited in several ways. First, it is time-bound. It does not reflect new technology developments or new secular trends that have emerged since the terms of reference were formalized. Secondly, it is bound by the available literature. Thirdly, the results are generalized and represent averaging over what are important specific conditions (although the uncertainty analysis accounts for this somewhat).
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Global Economic Prospects, January 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16)Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.Publication Business Ready 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-03)Business Ready (B-READY) is a new World Bank Group corporate flagship report that evaluates the business and investment climate worldwide. It replaces and improves upon the Doing Business project. B-READY provides a comprehensive data set and description of the factors that strengthen the private sector, not only by advancing the interests of individual firms but also by elevating the interests of workers, consumers, potential new enterprises, and the natural environment. This 2024 report introduces a new analytical framework that benchmarks economies based on three pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency. The analysis centers on 10 topics essential for private sector development that correspond to various stages of the life cycle of a firm. The report also offers insights into three cross-cutting themes that are relevant for modern economies: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender. B-READY draws on a robust data collection process that includes specially tailored expert questionnaires and firm-level surveys. The 2024 report, which covers 50 economies, serves as the first in a series that will expand in geographical coverage and refine its methodology over time, supporting reform advocacy, policy guidance, and further analysis and research.Publication Digital Progress and Trends Report 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-05)Digitalization is the transformational opportunity of our time. The digital sector has become a powerhouse of innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Value added in the IT services sector grew at 8 percent annually during 2000–22, nearly twice as fast as the global economy. Employment growth in IT services reached 7 percent annually, six times higher than total employment growth. The diffusion and adoption of digital technologies are just as critical as their invention. Digital uptake has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 1.5 billion new internet users added from 2018 to 2022. The share of firms investing in digital solutions around the world has more than doubled from 2020 to 2022. Low-income countries, vulnerable populations, and small firms, however, have been falling behind, while transformative digital innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) have been accelerating in higher-income countries. Although more than 90 percent of the population in high-income countries was online in 2022, only one in four people in low-income countries used the internet, and the speed of their connection was typically only a small fraction of that in wealthier countries. As businesses in technologically advanced countries integrate generative AI into their products and services, less than half of the businesses in many low- and middle-income countries have an internet connection. The growing digital divide is exacerbating the poverty and productivity gaps between richer and poorer economies. The Digital Progress and Trends Report series will track global digitalization progress and highlight policy trends, debates, and implications for low- and middle-income countries. The series adds to the global efforts to study the progress and trends of digitalization in two main ways: · By compiling, curating, and analyzing data from diverse sources to present a comprehensive picture of digitalization in low- and middle-income countries, including in-depth analyses on understudied topics. · By developing insights on policy opportunities, challenges, and debates and reflecting the perspectives of various stakeholders and the World Bank’s operational experiences. This report, the first in the series, aims to inform evidence-based policy making and motivate action among internal and external audiences and stakeholders. The report will bring global attention to high-performing countries that have valuable experience to share as well as to areas where efforts will need to be redoubled.Publication The Container Port Performance Index 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-07-18)The Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) measures the time container ships spend in port, making it an important point of reference for stakeholders in the global economy. These stakeholders include port authorities and operators, national governments, supranational organizations, development agencies, and other public and private players in trade and logistics. The index highlights where vessel time in container ports could be improved. Streamlining these processes would benefit all parties involved, including shipping lines, national governments, and consumers. This fourth edition of the CPPI relies on data from 405 container ports with at least 24 container ship port calls in the calendar year 2023. As in earlier editions of the CPPI, the ranking employs two different methodological approaches: an administrative (technical) approach and a statistical approach (using matrix factorization). Combining these two approaches ensures that the overall ranking of container ports reflects actual port performance as closely as possible while also being statistically robust. The CPPI methodology assesses the sequential steps of a container ship port call. ‘Total port hours’ refers to the total time elapsed from the moment a ship arrives at the port until the vessel leaves the berth after completing its cargo operations. The CPPI uses time as an indicator because time is very important to shipping lines, ports, and the entire logistics chain. However, time, as captured by the CPPI, is not the only way to measure port efficiency, so it does not tell the entire story of a port’s performance. Factors that can influence the time vessels spend in ports can be location-specific and under the port’s control (endogenous) or external and beyond the control of the port (exogenous). The CPPI measures time spent in container ports, strictly based on quantitative data only, which do not reveal the underlying factors or root causes of extended port times. A detailed port-specific diagnostic would be required to assess the contribution of underlying factors to the time a vessel spends in port. A very low ranking or a significant change in ranking may warrant special attention, for which the World Bank generally recommends a detailed diagnostic.Publication Global Economic Prospects, June 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-06-10)The global economy is facing another substantial headwind, emanating largely from an increase in trade tensions and heightened global policy uncertainty. For emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), the ability to boost job creation and reduce extreme poverty has declined. Key downside risks include a further escalation of trade barriers and continued policy uncertainty. These challenges are exacerbated by subdued foreign direct investment into EMDEs. Global cooperation is needed to restore a more stable international trade environment and scale up support for vulnerable countries grappling with conflict, debt burdens, and climate change. Domestic policy action is also critical to contain inflation risks and strengthen fiscal resilience. To accelerate job creation and long-term growth, structural reforms must focus on raising institutional quality, attracting private investment, and strengthening human capital and labor markets. Countries in fragile and conflict situations face daunting development challenges that will require tailored domestic policy reforms and well-coordinated multilateral support.