The Challenge of Low-Carbon Development - World Bank Internet ...

Table A.5 (continued)Negative examplesProject design Low ratings in some unsatisfactory projects in Africa wereissues: Policy caused by weakness or absence of up-front detailed assessment.contextEast Asia: Lack of sufficient counterpart funding from theprovincial government delayed the implementation of theirrigation works and the resettlement program. Resettlementproblems were compounded by the absence of aprovincial resettlement office (as has usually existed inother Chinese resettlement cases) and the Bank’s initialoverestimation of Hainan’s institutional capacity. As a result,the borrower has not yet achieved the project’s resettlementobjectives.Africa: Failure to define water rights at an early stage ofdevelopment of a hydroelectric project created water use,conservation, and environmental problems that were difficultto solve during project construction and introducedimplementation delays.Africa: Lack of government ownership led to low performance.Weak government commitment to implement— (unbundling generation, transmission and distribution,transparent subsidies) and low capacity of utilities to leadsector reforms could be the main reason for failure.South Asia: At the time of project appraisal, neither thegovernment nor the Bank had a clear vision of how powersector reform would be carried out during the life of theproject. Hence, in the two years before the project closing,as reforms started to take off in some states, the projectwas buffeted by unanticipated and sometimes ad hoc stateregulatory changes. With one exception, states did not addressthe renewable energy dimension of the sector.Project design: East Asia: The bank instability in the lower reservoir and theGeological excessive local ground settlement in the upper reservoirstudywere all unforeseen and delayed work progress. Adequaterisk coverage/insurance products could be built in the businessmodel to mitigate such risks for both the developersand lenders.Development Africa: Project delay was caused by the absence ofof adequate coordination between the project implementation planspowerand counterparts on provision of the energy delivery fromevacuation the plant to the consumers.infrastructureSource: IEG, based on ICR reviews and PPARs.Positive examplesEast Asia: (a) The Bank assisted the utility in optimizingits investment program, particularly at the time whenthe country had been severely affected by economicand financial crises. The utility modified its powerdevelopment plans, deferred many independent powerproducer projects, reduced operating costs, and scaleddown its investment Program. (b) The utility adoptedsound policies and strategies for environmental andsocial management and defined a framework andguidelines for environmental assessment of power developmentplans. (c) The utility implemented the recommendationsof a study on economic regulation, tariffs,and development of bulk supply after the economic/financial crises had faded out; these include efficiencyconsiderations in determining revenue targets, transparentmechanisms for transfer of subsidies, and therestructuring of the consumer billing system to providefor accounting of transmission and distribution charges.(d) The Bank acted as a facilitator and played an informalrole in advising the government on the reform of thepower sector, especially while the country experiencedthe economic and financial crises. During this period theBank, through Energy Sector Management AssistanceProgramme, had a more formal participation in anindependent review of the Power Pool and ElectricitySupply Industry Reform Study conducted by NationalEnergy Policy OfficeA Southeast Asia project was built on the outcomes ofthe first renewable energy project; by then the generalstrategies for renewable energy had been coordinatedto the project activities.Renewable Energy Project: One of the most crucialissues and/or potential barriers in the scaling updevelopment of large and small hydropower plants isthe interconnection between the plant and the nearestgrid point to maximize the power usage. Providinggrid extension up to the plants based on an integratedbasin development approach is one solution whichshould be considered when encouraging hydropowerdevelopment.Appendix A: Renewable Energy Tables and Figures | 93