Electrification: RISE Regulatory Environment

Data analysis

25 Jun 2017

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Which African and Asian countries have an enabling environment for investment in energy access?

Quick Facts

Of the high-impact countries, only five provide widespread policy support for energy access. These include Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Sub-Saharan Africa—the least electrified region with over 600 million people without electricity—has one of the least developed policy environments to support energy access. Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Sudan are three of the most populous energy deficit countries, with a total unserved population of 116 million people.

Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have put in place enabling policy and regulatory environments for energy access in the Sub-Saharan African region. Kenya aims to achieve universal access by 2020, and is focused on grid electrification. Attractive investment incentives and mini-grid standards have encouraged private sector engagement. Last mile connectivity (grid densification program) is funded through connection fee subsidies.

India aims for universal access by 2019. Its electrification plan is regularly updated and monitored by the Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd. Central and the State Governments provide capital subsidies of up to 90 percent for grid extension, support connection fees, and set performance standards. The Remote Village Electrification Programme promotes mini-grids and supports capital costs for solar photovoltaic system facilities. Technical and quality standards are in place for mini-grids and stand-alone systems.

Context

Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE) offers policy makers and investors detailed country-level insights on the policy and regulatory environment for sustainable energy across 111 countries globally.

A number of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia Pacific region received a high score for energy access on RISE but are not high-impact countries for electrification.

RISE shows that policy frameworks for access are lagging behind, especially in populous countries of Sub-Saharan Africa and those with particularly low electrification rates.

The top RISE scorers in energy access do well across all three possible energy supply solutions— grids, mini-grids, and stand-alone systems— suggesting they are being pursued not as substitutes but as complements. Countries in South Asia—specifically India and Bangladesh—are emerging as leaders in the access agenda with an innovative mix of grid and off-grid solutions.

NOTES: 1. Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE) is a suite of indicators that assesses the legal and regulatory environment for investment in sustainable energy.
2. Korea, DPR is a high-impact country but it is not shown because there is no RISE data available.
3. The dotted line represents approximately the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir by India and Pakistan. The final status of Jammu and Kashmir has not yet been agreed upon by the parties.
4. These maps were produced by SEforALL. They are based on the UN Map of the World, which can be found here: http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/world.pdf. The boundaries, colors, denominations and any other information shown on these maps do not imply, on the part of SEforALL, any judgment on the legal status of any territory or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.

SOURCE: Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE), World Bank Group, 2017. Data extracted from http://rise.esmap.org/ on 06/23/2017.