Explore the vast range of titles available.

The term “dead pool” has been circulating in water resources discourse in multiple ways, prompting confusion about what it means. In this commentary, we aim to clarify the definition of dead pool (and related terms describing critical reservoir elevations) to encourage clearer conversations about reservoir storage decline going forward. We also make two arguments to animate future research about the shallows of reservoirs. First, we suggest that critical reservoir thresholds such as dead pool are better thought of as dynamic and multifaceted rather than as static and singular elevations. Second, we offer a typology that aims to distinguish among three different types of reservoir storage decline. Taken together, a shared vocabulary about reservoir levels and a more nuanced conceptualization of how reservoirs shrink can better situate water scholars and policymakers to understand and manage reservoirs in an era of water overuse and climate change.

This study is a product of the Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD), a project designed to expand the world's knowledge of physical infrastructure in Africa. The AICD provides a baseline against which future improvements in infrastructure services can be measured, making it possible to monitor the results achieved from donor support. It also offers a more solid empirical foundation for prioritizing investments and designing policy reforms in the infrastructure sectors in Africa. The book draws upon a number of background papers that were prepared by World Bank staff and consultants, under the auspices of the AICD. The main findings were synthesized in a flagship report titled Africa's infrastructure: A time for transformation, published in November 2009. Meant for policy makers, that report necessarily focused on the high-level conclusions. It attracted widespread media coverage feeding directly into discussions at the 2009 African union commission heads of state summit on infrastructure.

In the US, there has been a movement toward competitive electricity markets with system-operator auctions. However, the impact of such market reforms on non-market outcomes like emission rates remains unclear. We decompose how competition in wholesale electricity markets can affect carbon emission rates of electricity generating units (EGUs) through process, reallocation, and selection effects. Using event-study and difference-indifference strategies, we quantify the Day-Ahead Market’s (DAM) environmental impact in the Southwest Power Pool and assess the importance of each channel, with Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland interconnection serving as the comparison group. We find DAM reduced average carbon emission rates of EGUs by 0.033 tons per MWh, a roughly 4 percent reduction. This reduction is primarily driven by the selection effect: emission-intensive and uneconomical EGUs retire after the DAM market reform. This corresponds to an annual avoidance of 7.66 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, worth approximately $383.4 million in avoided damages. JEL Classification: L51, L94, Q48, Q53

One of the key role players in deregulated electricity markets is a retailer. This study proposes a multi-area dynamic economic dispatch (MA-DED) model for a retailer, taking into account hydrothermal generating units, wind power generation and power pool market, to supply the overall demand of the system for a given horizon. The uncertainties in wind power generations, energy prices and demand of the system are also modelled to make the proposed approach more practical in case of real-time operation of practical power systems. Scenario-based approach is adopted for uncertainty modelling. In order to make the proposed MA-DED applicable in real-time operation of power systems, optimality condition decomposition (OCD) technique is employed along with parallel computation ability. The proposed approach is examined on two interconnected power networks, to demonstrate its applicability for real-time scheduling of joint thermal and undispatchable renewable energy resources. DED, multi-area, OCD, real-time, uncertainty modelling, scenario-based approach.

The report reflects the long-term solutions for the modernization of main means of emergency control and protection of integrated power systems in the implementation of adaptive control algorithms. The substantiation of new structures and algorithms for the formation of corrective signals using non-stationary filters of the displacement current of overhead power lines is performed. Calculated, using the bias currents of the phases are used for dynamic correction of the working and brake signals of the longitudinal differential protection. The basis of adaptive means of differential protection of power equipment of power systems is developed. They are based on the use of adaptive correction of operating and brake protection signals. A mathematical description of the optimization problem of determining the response parameters of sensitive longitudinal current differential protection with adaptive correction of operating and braking signals is performed.

Though various studies have examined the energy-growth nexus, the non-linear asymmetry relationship between economic growth and energy use has received little attention. In order to investigate the stratified asymmetric relationship between total, renewable, and nonrenewable energy consumption and economic growth in nine Eastern African nations connected via the Eastern Africa power pool (EAPP) and power trade (EAPT), this study used common correlated effect means group (CCEMG), nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lags (NARDL) approaches, and asymmetric causality tests from both a country and regional perspective. The time span is 1980 to 2017. The results from cross-sectional dependence confirms the existence of cross-sectionally dependence, findings from unit root and westerlund cointegration agreed the presence of long-run relations between variables and support the use of NARDL. CCEMG results reveal that energy in total contributes to growth, while nonrenewable energy reduces economic growth across the panel of selected countries. Nonlinear results from positive and negative shocks to energy as total, renewable and nonrenewable energy use have mixed nonlinear effect (positive and negative) on economic growth in long-run across the selected countries, while symmetric effect was unavailable in several countries. Bi-directional causation was noted between growth and all considered energy types at the panel of seven countries, and between energy as total and nonrenewable and growth in Ethiopia and Sudan, while all of the examined nations showed a strong one-way causal relationship between growth and renewable and nonrenewable energy, Rwanda showed a neutral relationship between growth and energy sources. For sustainable economic growth, policymakers, investors, and government officials may use this information to help them develop energy policies that promote renewable energy output while reducing reliance on nonrenewable energy in the region.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been a remarkable success in Africa. Across the continent, the availability and quality of service have gone up and the cost has gone down. In just 10 years dating from the end of the 1990s mobile network coverage rose from 16 percent to 90 percent of the urban population; by 2009, rural coverage stood at just under 50 percent of the population. Although the performance of Africa's mobile networks over the past decade has been remarkable, the telecommunications sector in the rest of the world has also evolved rapidly. Many countries now regard broadband Internet as central to their long-term economic development strategies, and many companies realize that the use of ICT is the key to maintaining profitability. This book is about that challenge and others. Chapters two and three describe the recent history of the telecommunications market in Africa; they cover such issues as prices, access, the performance of the networks, and the regulatory reforms that have triggered much of the investment. This part of the book compares network performance across the region and tries to explain why some countries have moved so much more quickly than others in providing affordable telecommunications services. Chapter four explores the financial side of the telecommunications revolution in Africa and details how the massive investments have been financed and which companies have most influenced the sector. Chapter five deals with the future of the sector. The final chapter synthesizes the main chapters of the book and presents policy recommendations intended to drive the sector forward.

Purpose of Review In light of the urgent need and ambition of African communities to scale up the deployment of renewable energy, this article explores the benefits and challenges presented by regional coordination in Africa, and how recent planning studies are reflecting those aspects in their analysis of future power sector expansion on the continent. Recent Findings Regional approaches to renewable deployment in Africa can reduce overall system costs and improve operation by expanding access to higher quality renewable resources, while unlocking a greater diversity of renewable options. Regional approaches can also provide greater flexibility and stability to national power systems, as well as complementarity that allows countries to scale up development of single sources while still reducing risks related to climate variability and future change. Summary Based on a long history of experience, the benefits of regional approaches to power sector development and operation are now well established. New methodologies using more granular geospatial and temporal data have emerged to make the analysis of these benefits more feasible and more detailed. Novel additions to planning studies are also presenting more nuanced insights into the implications that climate change, technological innovations, and socio-political influences could have on regional renewable energy deployment.

A holistic view of energy stakeholders in a strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) perspective for India and Botswana is presented here. SWOT analysis is based on the themes of market resources, energy technology and invention, and energy efficiency and climate. With this analytical frame work, the article discusses the strengths and opportunities while compensating weakness and mitigating threats. The action portfolio is directed towards enabling sustainable development, alleviating poverty and stresses the importance of comprehensive energy strategy towards building a strong economic profile while minimizing carbon foot print including energy efficient systems for the virtual power plant/smart grid/distributed energy resources.

Notwithstanding its struggles to tame the high levels of poverty and inequality, South Africa is considered as a major economic hub of Africa. However, as an economic hub, there are other countries that perceive South Africa as a capitalist, neo-liberal economy that goes all out to dominate not only its neighbors in the southern hemisphere, but also many other developing nations in the continent. Therefore, the main aim of the study is to assess the socio-economic implications of South Africa’s foreign direct investment in Southern Africa. As far as the authors are concerned, there is yet to be a frank analyses of the varying perspectives, as well as a holistic explanation of the clearly, yet complex relationship which exists between South Africa and many other countries in the southern hemisphere. While the authors acknowledge the efforts of several scholars in trying to juxtapoze the nuances in these relationships, they insist that there has not been a contextual treatment with due consideration for the socio-economic implications of South African business expansion in Africa. Thus, the authors sincerely believe that the paper has serious implications for emerging economies especially in Africa. Other African countries can learn from South Africa’s tactical brilliance; the way it has positioned its economy as a major economic hub in Africa with illustrious attractions that are derived from sophisticated infrastructure, a good educational system, a functional health care system and world class standard ecotourism. The study was conducted using documentary analysis and, therefore, allowed the researchers to source and utilize documents, both in private and public domain, on the basis of their relevance to the research. Keywords: democracy, foreign direct investment, public administration, Southern African Development Community, Southern African Customs Union, Southern African Power Pool, regional cooperation. JEL Classification: H5, N27, 016, 019, 024, 055