Recent household surveys from 52 developing economies that include questions about energy use show that the most commonly cited primary energy for cooking is wood, followed by gas, natural gas and, where natural gas is not available, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and then by electricity. Biogas...

For those who prefer to cook with gas but are not connected to a natural gas pipeline-and nearly all rural households fall under this category, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is the main option. For those for whom LPG is too costly and wish to cook with biomass because of its ready availability,...

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred unprecedented economic disruption globally. The full scope of the virus's impact on human health and economic activity remains to be seen, but two things are clear: (1) the most fragile economies, and most vulnerable segments of the world's population, are least...

Robust corporate governance is vital if power utilities are to perform well (Irwin and Yamamoto 2004; Foster and Rana 2020). Corporate governance has internal and external dimensions. Aspects of internal governance include board autonomy, the quality of board proceedings, separation of board and CEO...

Electric utilities are central to the energy development agenda of Sub-Saharan Africa, as expressed in Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7), which commits the international community to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030. Over the previous two...

As the world's fastest-growing local energy technology, distributed photovoltaics (DPV) has upended the traditional paradigm of one-way power flow from the grid to consumers. Solar electricity systems located close to grid consumers known here as DPV empower consumers to produce electricity for...

Offshore wind holds tremendous promise for many emerging markets as a large-scale, clean, reliable form of new electricity generation with the potential to stimulate valuable economic benefits. However, developing a new offshore wind sector in an emerging market is no easy task. Decision makers...

Coal plants worldwide are grappling with low-capacity utilization levels and environmental issues; and have not only become unprofitable to utilities, but also uneconomical to customers. Developed countries with significant coal capacities such as Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom...

Energy demand in Arab countries continues to grow at a higher rate than economic growth. Meeting national electricity demand and exploiting their significant renewable energy resources (particularly, solar and wind) in a sustainable manner is a common challenge across all Arab countries. A...