Private participation in electricity: The challenge of achieving commercial viability and improving services
Author: Bernard Tenenbaum and Ada Karina Izaguirre
Source: Gridlines No. 21, Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF), May 2007.
Private activity in electricity in developing countries has stabilized at modest levels
since 2001. The main focus remains greenfield power plants, particularly those with
contractual arrangements that protect investors from sector risks. Long-term guarantees
of regulatory performance and leases and management contracts have encouraged some
private activity in distribution. Attracting significantly more investment will require
greater commercial viability, including cost-reflective tariffs, better collection ratios,
well-targeted and sustainable subsidies, and improved quality and reliability of service.
In most countries, a move toward cost-reflective tariffs will not be politically feasible
unless it goes hand in hand with visible improvements in quality of service.
Private Power Projects: Annual Investment Flows Grew by 44 Percent in 2003
Author: Ada Karina Izaguirre
Source: Public Policy Journal No. 281, the World Bank, December
2004.
Drawing on the World Bank's
Private Participation
in Infrastructure Project Database , this Note reviews developments in the
electricity sector in 2003. Data for the year show that total investment in electricity
projects with private participation amounted to US$14 billion. Private activity
grew strongly in East Asia and Pacific, but remained stable or fell in other regions.
Private Participation in Energy
Author: Ada Karina Izaguirre
Source: Public Policy Journal No. 208, the World Bank, May 2000
From 1990 to 1999 there were 700 energy projects in developing countries involving
private participation. Investment in these projects totaled nearly US$190 billion,
and foreign capital was a major source of funds. Global developers were the top
ten sponsors of private energy projects in developing countries. Their projects
accounted for just over a third of total investment. This Note surveys the trends
by region, by country income level, and by type of project. It also explores the
consequences of the recent Asian financial crisis for future investment in Asian
energy markets.
Private Participation in the Transmission and Distribution of Natural Gas-Recent
Trends Author: Ada Karina Izaguirre
Source: Public Policy Journal No. 176, the World Bank, April 1999
Between 1990 and 1997 twenty-six developing countries introduced private participation
in the transmission and distribution of natural gas. This Note, which draws on the
World Bank's Private Participation in Infrastructure (PPI) Project Database, provides
an overview of the patterns and trends in the projects in these countries. The form
of private participation varies--ranging from greenfield projects to export natural
gas from Algeria to Europe or to create a natural gas distribution market in Mexico
to the privatization of existing assets in Argentina and Hungary . During 1990-97
the private sector took on the operations or construction risk of seventy-seven
natural gas transport projects, with investments totaling US$18.9 billion.
Private Participation in the Electricity Sector-Recent Trends
Author: Ada Karina Izaguirre
Source: Public Policy Journal No. 154, the World Bank, September
1998
Drawing on the World Bank's Private Participation in Infrastructure Project Database,
this Note reviews private electricity projects that reached financial closure between
1990 and 1997. The Note looks at patterns across regions and in types of private
participation. The review identifies four underlying trends: a regional and national
concentration of projects, a higher concentration of investment in generation than
in transmission and distribution, a dominance of greenfield projects and divestitures
compared with management and operations contracts, and differing regional approaches
to private participation.