From dysfunctional to functional corruption: The politics of reform in Lebanon’s electricity sector
In Lebanon, the electricity sector’s dysfunction and inefficiency mask deeper political economy challenges, including rampant rent-seeking, captured institutions and a fractured state. Over decades, corruption and mismanagement in Lebanon’s electricity sector has contributed to the draining of public finances and has deprived the Lebanese people of their right to reliable and affordable electricity.
Amidst the poor general state of the sector, one area of Lebanon has managed to operate a private utility that provides a reliable and high-quality electricity service – Électricité de Zahlé (EDZ). Our study explores how it has been possible to establish EDZ’s functional, but problematic, service provision within the complex sectarian political context of Lebanon. We draw existing development and political economy literature to understand the rents and types of corruption in the sector and how the changes implemented by EDZ have been consistent with the nature of Lebanon’s political settlement.
New briefing paper - The economics and politics of integrating renewables into electricity concessions in Lebanon
In Lebanon, the current crisis has exposed the fragility of Electricité de Zahlé (EDZ’s) model, which relies on both discounted power provided by Electricité de Lebanon (EDL) and subsidized diesel fuel imports to run EDZ’s own power plant, which are both now in short supply. In this policy brief, the team has estimated the savings from a medium-sized Solar PV plant of 63 MW in Zahle area, covering 20% of the demand currently supplied by diesel-based power generation. They also tackled the challenges facing the implementation of utility-scale renewables in Lebanon and what the Government should do to enable such investments in renewables and proceed forward.
Register today! A New Approach to Energy Governance in Development
June 24, 2021 10:00 - 11:30 AM EDT / 15:00 - 16:30 BST
For decades the development community has recognized the problem of poor energy governance, but approaches to improving it have been primarily technocratic. Recent work shows the importance of understanding the political economy of the energy sector when designing interventions and adapting our approach to managing energy sector projects. To tackle the climate crisis and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we need new approaches for improving access to modern, affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy.
In tandem with the release of a white paper and technical brief on this topic, we invite you to join us as leading practitioners explore hurdles to energy reform and put forward a new approach to the design and management of energy sector reform programs.
Latest Political Economy Analysis in Action online training course launched
We are delighted to let you know that The Policy Practice and ODI will run our next Political Economy Analysis in Action online training course from 6 September – 17 December. Please click here to register by 2 July. Our early bird offer expires on 30th May 2021.
Political economy analysis (PEA) is now recognised as essential to the design and adaptive management of development and foreign policy interventions. It is about understanding the contexts in which development and foreign policy happen, the incentives that determine how the relevant actors behave, and drawing well-grounded operational conclusions for policy, strategy, programme design and implementation.
This course will equip participants with the tools and the confidence to undertake a PEA, and to apply it to policy and programmes in a wide range of contexts. It will cover ten sessions over a 15-week period, requiring about 4 hours of study per week (with a mix of self-study, online Study Group discussions and tasks and webinars, supported by an inter-active platform).