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Insights
Explore some of our most recent thinking below. If you want to discuss any of our blogs or reports please get in touch with us, and we will be happy to speak with you.
Why are SHS sales slowing?
The rise of the off-grid solar market in sub-Saharan Africa has been a success story for improving energy access in the region. But the...
Stephen Nash
Dec 5, 2017
Sticking plasters on sticking plasters
About 18 months ago I posted a blog suggesting that we would need to rethink the design of electricity markets to tackle some of the...
Stephen Nash
Oct 26, 2017
The link between mini-grids and productive growth
Previously, I’ve published a short report including analysis of the economics of mini-grids, illustrating how the relative merits of...
Stephen Nash
Sep 11, 2017
Scaling up off-grid business models
There remain barriers to scaling up off-grid barriers, and the placemat below identifies some of the practical strategies that companies...
Stephen Nash
May 31, 2017
Can cost reflectivity survive a renewables world?
The importance of cost reflectivity has been central to economic regulation. Price signals that reflect the true underlying cost of an...
Stephen Nash
Mar 13, 2017
Regulating innovation
Since the deregulation of utilities in the 1990s, a conventional wisdom has been established whereby some utility functions have been...
Stephen Nash
Nov 10, 2016
A demanding problem: reconciling the need to increase energy access with the need to reduce GHG emis
As I state on the front page of Kuungana’s website, 1.2 bn remain without access to electricity. Clearly addressing that injustice has...
Stephen Nash
Oct 6, 2016
Making sense of falling solar costs
Solar costs have been falling rapidly and the promise of a carbon-free electricity system seems ever closer. An auction for...
Stephen Nash
Jul 4, 2016
Mini-grids: new players, new business models, and a need for a new regulatory paradigm
The role of mini-grids is one that is receiving an ever increasing amount of attention across the power sector. In developing countries...
Stephen Nash
Jun 15, 2016
Unlocking the potential of microgrids
Recently there has also been a shift in donor focus towards less centralised power solutions. In a previous post I presented some (very...
Stephen Nash
Apr 20, 2016
An energy market for a low carbon world?
This week the UK Government issued a consultation on further tweaks to the Capacity Market, including a possible acceleration of its...
Stephen Nash
Mar 3, 2016
Radical decentralisation – when does grid defection make sense?
Battery storage is revolutionising the way we think about electricity. Perhaps the most exciting thing about the rapid development of...
Stephen Nash
Feb 3, 2016
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