Publication: Enhancing Regional Power Trade in Central Asia
Loading...
Published
2016-07
ISSN
Date
2017-02-13
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
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 USD1.5 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 USD5.2 billion for historic energy prices and about USD6.4 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.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2016. Enhancing Regional Power Trade in Central Asia. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26047 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication The Potential of Regional Power Sector Integration : Central American Electric Interconnection System Transmission and Trading Case Study(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-03)Developing countries are increasingly pursuing and benefitting from regional power system integration (RPSI) as an important strategy to help provide reliable, affordable electricity to their economies and citizens. Increased electricity cooperation and trade between countries can enhance energy security, bring economies-of-scale in investments, facilitate financing, enable greater renewable energy penetration, and allow synergistic sharing of complementary resources. This briefing note draws from the experiences of RPSI schemes around the world to present a set of findings to help address these challenges. It is based on case studies of 12 RPSI projects and how they are dealing with key aspects of RPSI, such as: (i) finding the right level of integration; (ii) optimizing investment on a regional basis; (iii) appropriate regional institutions (iv) technical and regulatory harmonization; (v) power sector reform and integration (vi) the role of donor agencies (vii) reducing emissions through RPSI; and (viii) RPSI and renewable energy.Publication South Asia - Policy Paper for Regional Energy Trade : Trading Arrangements and Risk Management in International Electricity Trade(Washington, DC, 2007-03-01)Economic Consulting Associates (ECA) and Cambridge Economic Policy Associates (CEPA) have been engaged by Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) and the World Bank to prepare a policy paper for enhanced regional electricity trade involving the Economic Cooperation Council (ECO) countries. The study has reviewed the opportunities for increased electricity trade within the ECO region and exports outside the region, considered the types of trade that will be most likely to develop in the short and evolve over the medium and longer term, and made an assessment of the risks and obstacles to further trade development. Drawing on international experience of national and regional trading arrangements, as well as four case studies of regional trade, the study has reviewed the financing options including risk mitigation products, considered the requirements for good governance of international trade including dispute resolution procedures, and made an initial assessment of the proposed Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan electricity trade project (TAP). Drawing on all aspects of the research, the final section of the report presents a roadmap for development of electricity trade in ECO.Publication The Potential of Regional Power Sector Integration : South African Power Pool Transmission and Trading Case Study(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-10)Developing countries are increasingly pursuing and benefitting from regional power system integration (RPSI) as an important strategy to help provide reliable, affordable electricity to their economies and citizens. Increased electricity cooperation and trade between countries can enhance energy security, bring economies-of-scale in investments, facilitate financing, enable greater renewable energy penetration, and allow synergistic sharing of complementary resources. This briefing note draws from the experiences of RPSI schemes around the world to present a set of findings to help address these challenges. It is based on case studies of 12 RPSI projects and how they are dealing with key aspects of RPSI, such as: (i) finding the right level of integration; (ii) optimizing investment on a regional basis; (iii) appropriate regional institutions (iv) technical and regulatory harmonization; (v) power sector reform and integration (vi) the role of donor agencies (vii) reducing emissions through RPSI; and (viii) RPSI and renewable energy.Publication The Potential of Regional Power Sector Integration : South East Europe Transmission and Trading Case Study(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-03)Developing countries are increasingly pursuing and benefitting from regional power system integration (RPSI) as an important strategy to help provide reliable, affordable electricity to their economies and citizens. Increased electricity cooperation and trade between countries can enhance energy security, bring economies-of-scale in investments, facilitate financing, enable greater renewable energy penetration, and allow synergistic sharing of complementary resources. This briefing note draws from the experiences of RPSI schemes around the world to present a set of findings to help address these challenges. It is based on case studies of 12 RPSI projects and how they are dealing with key aspects of RPSI, such as: (i) finding the right level of integration; (ii) optimizing investment on a regional basis; (iii) appropriate regional institutions (iv) technical and regulatory harmonization; (v) power sector reform and integration (vi) the role of donor agencies (vii) reducing emissions through RPSI; and (viii) RPSI and renewable energy.Publication Europe and Central Asia Balancing Act : Cutting Subsidies, Protecting Affordability, and Investing in the Energy Sector in Eastern Europe and Central Asia Region(Washington, DC, 2012-06)The cost of energy in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as elsewhere, is an important policy issue, as shown by the concerns for energy affordability during the past harsh winter. Governments try to moderate the burden of energy expenditures that is experienced by households through subsidies to the energy providers, so that households pay tariffs below the cost recovery level for the energy they use. These subsidies result in significant pressures on government budgets when international prices rise. They also provide perverse incentives for the overconsumption of energy as households do not pay the true cost of energy, and therefore, have fewer incentives to save or to invest in energy efficiency. Balancing competing claims-fiscal and environmental concerns which would push for raising energy tariffs on the one hand and affordability and political economy concerns which push for keeping tariffs artificially low on the other-is a task that policy makers in the region are increasingly unable to put off. Addressing this issue is all the more pressing as the ongoing crisis continues to add stress to government budgets, and that international energy prices remain high. This is the first report to assess, at the micro level for the whole region, the distributional impact of raising energy tariffs to cost recovery levels and to simulate policy options to cushion these impacts.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
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 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.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 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 The Container Port Performance Index 2020 to 2024: Trends and Lessons Learned(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-09-22)The Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) provides a global benchmark of how container ports perform in handling vessel calls. Developed jointly by the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence, it measures the time ships spend in port and relates this to the number of containers moved during that time. This approach makes the CPPI a unique diagnostic tool that can highlight patterns in port operations and shed light on global and regional supply chain dynamics. Now in its fifth edition, the CPPI report covers the period from 2020 to 2024. It builds on a well-established methodology to generate scores for more than 400 container ports worldwide. Over time, the CPPI has become a trusted reference point for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and researchers who seek to understand how ports adapt to shocks, recover from disruptions, and identify opportunities for investments, reform and modernization. A major innovation in this edition is the introduction of multi-year trend analysis. Rather than presenting annual snapshots, the report now tracks how CPPI scores have changed across five years. This longitudinal perspective reveals shifts in port performance, showing where scores have risen, fallen, or remained stable. By linking these movements to external factors, the CPPI offers insights into how global and regional supply chains evolve under pressure. The results clearly mirror the crises that have shaken global trade. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CPPI scores in different regions declined sharply as congestion, equipment shortages, and delays overwhelmed many ports. By 2023, global averages rebounded in parallel with easing freight markets and reduced congestion. Yet 2024 brought new challenges: the Red Sea crisis disrupted major trade lanes, while climate-related constraints at the Panama Canal added further stress. These shocks were reflected in lower global and several regional average scores, underscoring the vulnerability of maritime transport to geopolitical and environmental events. The CPPI is not about comparing one port against another, but about understanding changes in performance over time. Ports that improved their scores often did so by reducing time at anchor, optimizing berth operations, investing in digital tools, and strengthening coordination across logistics partners. The evidence confirms that improvements are possible across ports of all sizes, and that rising scores are linked to deliberate actions to minimize time in port relative to containers moved. By consolidating five years of results, this edition transforms the CPPI into a long-term reference point. It shows how global crises have affected shipping, how different regions have adapted, and what lessons can be drawn for future resilience. The World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence remain committed to maintaining the CPPI as a global public good, providing transparency, comparability, and practical insights to support more reliable and sustainable maritime supply chains.