IFC identifies $37b opportunity for improved energy services
A new report from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has identified a $37 billion opportunity for the private sector to improve energy services for people who live in relative poverty.
The report “From Gap to Opportunity: Business Models for Scaling Up Energy Access,” which was released mid-June 2012 estimated the market for energy services offered at the household level to low-income people.
The report also profiles companies with innovative business models and explores in detail what it takes for them to succeed.
“Across the world, people spend more than $37 billion a year on kerosene for lighting and biomass used in open fires or traditional cooking stoves that pollute the environment,” said Rashad Kaldany, IFC’s Vice President for Global Industries.
According to Kaldany, the study shows that with the right business models and conditions, the private sector can play a vital role in providing energy solutions that are better for people’s health and better for the environment and already some private enterprises have started to seize the opportunity.
“While this is still a nascent sector, many businesses are rapidly moving beyond being cottage industries and are successfully serving tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of customers,” the report which is a study of over 100 businesses around the world indicated.
It adds that “Some companies are seeing profit margins of 10% to 30%, often with fairly small subsidies on capital costs…or no subsidies at all.”
To scale up successful business models, the report offered a series of recommendations for key stakeholders—including companies, social and commercial investors, governments, policymakers, and donors.
For instance, it suggested that governments resist give-away programmes and unrealistic promises, remove discriminatory taxes on energy access products, and leverage public-private partnerships and smart subsidies for extending electricity grids.
For investors seeking both social impact and financial returns, the report recommended that they keep investment mandates broad and beyond a single technology, develop a local presence, provide appropriate funding for each part of the business life cycle, support enterprise development and business model refinement, and fund the provision of public goods.
By Ekow Quandzie