FSI researchers consider international development from a variety of angles. They analyze ideas such as how public action and good governance are cornerstones of economic prosperity in Mexico and how investments in high school education will improve China’s economy.
They are looking at novel technological interventions to improve rural livelihoods, like the development implications of solar power-generated crop growing in Northern Benin.
FSI academics also assess which political processes yield better access to public services, particularly in developing countries. With a focus on health care, researchers have studied the political incentives to embrace UNICEF’s child survival efforts and how a well-run anti-alcohol policy in Russia affected mortality rates.
FSI’s work on international development also includes training the next generation of leaders through pre- and post-doctoral fellowships as well as the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program.
IPP Investment in Turkey's Electric Power Industry
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This paper is part of a larger study on the historical experience of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in countries undergoing transition in their institutions of governance. The study seeks to explain the patterns of investment in IPPs and project outcomes with the aim of using this information to plot alternative future models for IPP investment. This paper follows the research methods and guidelines laid out in the research protocol, "The Experience with Independent Power Projects in Developing Countries: Introduction and Case Study Methods".
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Program on Energy and Sustainable Development Working Paper #32
Guangdong Electric Power Market Reform: Options and Impact
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The electricity industry of China's Guangdong Province has been in a process of reforms since the 1980s. The reforms have so far greatly promoted the industry development, advancing the provincial electric power system to the largest in the country (Zeng, et al., 1999; Zhang, et al. 2001). Achievements notwithstanding, the industry is facing numerous difficulties that challenge both reform policy makers and academics. The province needs high speed capacity expansion and power imports in the foreseeable future to meet the continued demand surge. End-users in Guangdong are paying the highest tariffs in the nation. The technological structure of the existing generation capacity is highly undesirable because large number of tiny generating units and oil-fired capacity are adversely affecting economic and energy efficiencies of electric power supply.
Power generation is causing increasing environmental damages. However, the most challenging is probably the fact that there lacks an adequate mechanism to solve these problems and promote efficient and sustainable growth of the electric power industry. On one hand, reforms in the past twenty years not only have not fundamentally changed the traditional mode of central government planning of provincial electric power supply and development, but also have contributed to the evolving problems of the industry and showed their limitation. On the other hand, utility de-integration and market competition represents an attractive alternative to policy makers, but little is known of the reform roadmap and the potential impact.
This paper examines the utility market reform scenario in Guangdong Province and provides a basic quantitative assessment of the possible impact of the reform policy on electricity tariffs and system development.
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Program on Energy and Sustainable Development Working Paper #33
The Commitment Problem and Governance: Insights from Natural Gas Export Projects
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David Victor and Mark Hayes, of the SIIS Center on Environmental Science and Policy (CESP) will speak on their research into the problems associated with governing in countries with high levels of natural gas exports.
Encina Basement Conference Room
Mark H. Hayes
Encina Hall E419-B
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
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mark.hayes@gmail.com
Research Fellow
Mark H. Hayes was recently a Research Fellow with the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development (PESD). He lead PESD's research on global natural gas markets, including studies of the growing trade in liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the future for gas demand growth in China.
Dr. Hayes has developed models to analyze the impact of growing LNG imports on U.S. and European gas markets with special attention to seasonality and the opportunity for arbitrage using LNG ships and regasification capacity. From 2002 to 2005, Dr. Hayes managed the Geopolitics of Natural Gas Project, a study of critical political and financial factors affecting investment in cross-border gas trade projects. The study culminated in an edited book volume published by Cambridge University Press.
Prior to coming to Stanford, Mark worked as a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York City. He was a member of the Global Power and Utilities Group, where he was involved in mergers and acquisitions, financing and corporate restructuring.
In 2006 he completed his Ph.D. in the Interdisciplinary Program on Environment and Resources at Stanford University. After completing his Ph.D. at Stanford, Mark has taken a position at RREEF Infrastructure Investments, San Francisco, CA. Mark also has a B.A. in Geology from Colgate University and an M.A. in International Policy Studies from Stanford. From 1999 to 2002 he served on the Board of Trustees of Colgate University.
David G. Victor
School of International Relations and Pacific Studies
UC San Diego
San Diego, CA
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david.victor@ucsd.edu
Professor at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies and Director of the School’s new Laboratory on International Law and Regulation
Seminars
Electricity and the Human Prospect Conference
During the 20th century electricity spread from tiny islands of experimental service to become the world's most important energy carrier. The fraction of energy converted to electrons before consumption has risen inexorably and approaches 40% worldwide. Few would argue with the judgment of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering that electricity was the most important innovation of the past century. Electricity transformed homes, factories, and offices, the work we do, our health and comfort, and how we spend our time. How will electricity transform the 21st century?
More flexible and cleaner for the end-user than the coal, gas, and other sources of energy services that it replaced, electricity will likely be the form that 55%-60% of energy takes in four to five decades as more and new electrical machines appear in the market. How might life change as this imperial technology conquers new domains?
And what about the 1.6 billion people who today lack access to electricity? Will global electrification be achieved in the coming half century or even sooner? If some regions defy electrification, what are the reasons? How might electrification change occupations and lifestyles of the poor?
During a two-day workshop on the implications of global electrification, we aim to assemble a fresh picture of visions for electrification, its trends in time and space, and selected implications for health, environment, and social and economic organization. We are inviting diverse experts to comment on these issues from the vantage of their disciplines, practice, and research. We are asking each to talk about their current work, ideas, and speculations rather than commission new studies. The novelty of the meeting lies in the diversity of perspectives and the chance to contrast and integrate them. Global electrification is far advanced and may be nearly complete in the coming decades. What will it take, and what may result?