The Open Government Partnership is a new multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.

The Forum on Clean Energy, Good Governance and Electricity Regulation on 20 - 21 May 2010 in Cape Town built on the ongoing work of the WRI-Prayas Electricity Governance Initiative, and Idasa’s related efforts to draw attention to governance challenges in South Africa’s electricity sector.

Grounding Green Power identifies key components of smart renewable energy policy in developing countries, focusing on the power sector. It also provides recommendations for maximizing the effectiveness of international support for deployment of renewable energies, drawn from these on-the-ground experiences in developing countries.

Authors: Lutz Weischer, Davida Wood, Athena Ballesteros, Xing Fu-Bertaux

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This paper was published by the German Marshall Fund of the United States in cooperation with the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the World Resources Institute.

This report by Prayas is the only to draw attention to governance challenges in clean energy development and what needs to be done to promote civil society participation in the regulatory process.

This report reviews loans provided by Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to developing countries for electricity policy from 2006–2008. It examines those policies, regulations, and institutional capacities in the electricity sector that will direct both public and private investment in sustainable energy options.

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Idasa, coordinator of the Electricity Governance Initiative in South Africa, released a groundbreaking report – “The Governance of Power: Shedding Light on the Electricity Sector in South Africa.”

The report contains hard-hitting analysis of the governance challenges facing key national  institutions, including the Department of Energy, the Electricity Supply Commission (Eskom), the National Energy Regulator of SA (NERSA) and the Department of Public Enterprises. “Secrecy, lack of consultation, confusion of roles and responsibilities, particularly for planning, are some of the governance deficits” said Idasa’s Economic Governance Programme Director, Richard Calland.

To download the report, click here.

To download the Appendices of the report, click here.

EGI Kyrgyzstan recently released Electricity Governance in Kyrgyzstan: An Institutional Assessment.  The assessment evaluates policy-making and regulatory processes within the context of sector reforms that have been in progress for over a decade. Using a subset of 32 indicators from the EGI toolkit, the report traces the relationship between closed processes and the continued poor performance of power sector enterprises. 

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EGI Tajikistan recently released Electricity Governance Tajikistan: Applying the EGI Indicator Toolkit to Tajikistan. The report details the preliminary findings and recommendations of the electricity governance assessment of transparency, accountability and public participation in Tajikistan’s electricity sector.  The EGI Tajikistan working group used a subset of 32 indicators from the EGI toolkit to assess the governance strengths and weaknesses of legislative, executive and regulatory processes.

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EGI South Africa Partner Liz McDaid of The Green Connection completed a policy brief comparing two processes: (1) Public hearings undertaken by National Parliamentary portfolio committee on Minerals and Energy in considering the proposed National Energy Act no 34 of 2008 and (2) Public hearings undertaken by National Energy Regulator of South Africa in considering the proposed Renewable Energy feed in tariff 2008/09.  The brief examines the public consultation process that was followed and compares to what extent issues raised by the public were taken into account. The brief draws on the policy indicators and case studies prepared for the Electricity Governance Initiative South Africa.

Download the Policy Brief (PDF, 4 pages, 29.13 KB)

EGI South Africa partner Saliem Fakir, Head of the Living Planet Unit of the World Wildlife Fund-South Africa, completed a policy brief on the conflicting policies for renewable energy in South Africa. The policy brief raises questions about planning and governance of the renewable energy market. The brief draws on the policy indicators and case studies prepared for the Electricity Governance Initiative South Africa.

Download the Policy Brief (PDF, 4 pages, 37.46 KB)

The Electricity Governance Initiative Brazil recently released the report, Benchmarking Best Practice and Promoting Accountability in the Electricity Sector.  Using the EGI indicator toolkit the report assesses the relative strengths and weaknesses of the electricity policy and regulatory process in Brazil.   

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Download the Report in Portuguese 

A new report documents the continuing work of EGI partner Palang Thai to build the capacity of the newly formed Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Download the Report Here 

This report draws on the presentations and discussions of the two day Clean Energy, Good Governance and Regulation Forum organized by the World Resources Institute, Prayas Energy Group and REEEP in March 2008. Hosted by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, the Forum brought together regulators from India, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the US and Australia to share information about initiatives launched by their respective institutions to promote sustainable energy.

The paper “New Approaches to Electricity Governance” by Smita Nakhooda considers the particular challenges of governing the power sector in Asia, with an emphasis on the role of civil society in arranging processes, institutions, actors and incentives to align investment with sustainable development.

The background paper “Generating Dialogue” was written to help stimulate debate at the Forum on Clean Energy, Good Governance and Regulation.

Alternative Power Planning, a booklet published by Prayas Energy Group and Kalpavriksh Environment Action Group, seeks to address environmental and economic concerns and ensure a sustainable way forward for India’s power sector.

The report “Benchmarking Best Practice and Promoting Accountability in Governance of the Electricity Sector” summarizes the proceedings and findings of the March 2006, Forum on Electricity Governance in Bangkok, Thailand.

An Assessment of Electricity Governance in Thailand

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Download the Indicators here.