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This study conducted a macro, meso, and micro index decomposition analysis of energy consumption in Ghana from 2013 to 2020, highlighting the roles of local (e.g., power crisis) and global (e.g., COVID-19) shocks, as well as energy policy initiatives on technical efficiency improvement. We found that technical efficiency improvements varied at different times of the implementation period of energy policy initiatives and across various macro, meso, and micro-sectors of the economy. Technical efficiency improvement varied significantly across these sectors but worsened much more in service sector during periods of local and global shocks. Additionally, the importance of activity, structural, and intensity effects differed over time and across the macro, meso, and micro-sectors of the economy. We discuss the policy implications of these findings.

In this paper, we capture the dynamic behavior of hourly consumption of electricity during the period of power crisis ("dumsor'' period) in Ghana using two-state Markov switching autoregressive (MS-AR) and autoregressive (AR) models. Hourly data between the periods of January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2014 was obtained from the Ghana Grid company and used for the study. Using different information criteria, the MS(2)-AR(4) is selected as the optimal model to describe the dynamic behavior of electricity consumption during periods of power crisis in Ghana. The parameters of the MS(2)-AR(4) model are then estimated using the expectation-maximization algorithm. From the results, the likelihood of staying under a low electricity consumption regime is estimated to be 87%. The expected duration for a low electricity consumption regime is 7.8 hours, and the high electricity consumption regime is expected to last 2.3 hours before switching to the low demand regime. The proposed model is robust as compared to the autoregressive model because it effectively captures the dynamics of electricity demand over time through the peaks and significant fluctuations in consumption patterns. Similarly, the model can identify distinct regime changes linked to electricity consumption during periods of power crises.

The crucial role of electricity in prosecuting the development agenda of economies is widely known. Yet some key variables are lacking in the assessment of electricity demand determinants. One such variable is power crises. This study re-visits the discussion by investigating the role of power crises on electricity demand. We employ data from 1980 to 2018 to examine how power crises in general and in particular the 2012–2015 severe power crisis in Ghana impacts electricity consumption. Using various econometric techniques, we find that power crises have adverse effects on electricity demand in the long run. The 2012–2015 episode of power crisis in particular, has potentially led to consumers reconsidering their sources of energy by reducing electricity demand in the long term.

In 2005, the Supreme Court of Ghana in Attorney-General v Faroe Atlantic Co Ltd rendered its decision on the interpretation of Article 181(5) of the 1992 Constitution. The Court’s decision influenced its subsequent decisions in 2011 and 2012 on the scope and application of Article 181(5). This Case Comment reveals that the Court’s interpretation in relation to the PPA in question was oxymoronic in that it simultaneously held the PPA as both valid and void. The author argues that the Court would have rendered a clearer and fairer decision if it had wholly interpreted Article 181. Its partial interpretation, needless bureaucratic judicial process, and the Government’s lack of due diligence are disincentives to private investment in Ghana’s power sector.

George II Rákóczi entered the Polish- Swedish conflict, which began in 1655, in January 1657 at the request of the Swedes. In return for military assistance in Transylvania, he wanted the Polish royal title, the seats of the Polish kings, Krakow and Warsaw, and the rich salt mines. In return, he offered the King of Sweden not only the armed forces of his own principality, but the alliance of the Cossack hetman Khmelnytsky and the arms of the Cossacks, as well as his diplomatic network, the favours of Turkish Porte and the Crimean Tatar Khan. Rákóczi set out with an army of 18,000 men, and was initially successful, but was eventually defeated. On 22 July 1657, George II Rákóczi asked for peace at Czarny Ostrów from the commanders of the Polish army pursuing him. The Poles imposed more than humiliating conditions: in addition to the justifiable political and military conditions, Rákóczi was obliged to pay 1,200,000 Polish gold pieces as military compensation. A large part of the Transylvanian army was captured by the Crimean Tatars, and the return of the prince to Transylvania was greeted by a nationwide uproar. The Porte ordered his dismissal, and first Francisc Rhédey and then Ákos Barcsay were appointed in his place. Rákóczi did not want to resign but chose armed resistance against the Turkish-Tatar armies invading Transylvania. The years 1657-1658 marked the beginning of a period of power crisis, which would not end until 1660, resulting in severe devastation and territorial loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to climate change in the past few decades, extreme weather conditions have become more frequent and caused power outages with enormous damage to the well-being and the economy. Affected by extremely cold weather, the 2021 Texas power crisis deployed the most significant firm load shedding in US history, costing the economy $10 billion to $20 billion via direct and indirect loss. The North American Electric Reliability Organization (NERC), Federal Energy Commission (FERC), and other literature studies conducted post-event analysis from the perspective of conventional power systems’ planning and operation, and little discussion was made on the distributed energy resources (DERs). Based on the actual data on the 2021 Texas power crisis, this study analyzed the role of DERs in this event and showed the importance of effective regulation and management in improving power grid resilience under such extreme weather conditions.

This study conducted a macro, meso, and micro index decomposition analysis of energy consumption in Ghana from 2013 to 2020, highlighting the roles of local (e.g., power crisis) and global (e.g., COVID-19) shocks, as well as energy policy initiatives on technical efficiency improvement. We found that technical efficiency improvements varied at different times of the implementation period of energy policy initiatives and across various macro, meso, and micro-sectors of the economy. Technical efficiency improvement varied significantly across these sectors but worsened much more in service sector during periods of local and global shocks. Additionally, the importance of activity, structural, and intensity effects differed over time and across the macro, meso, and micro-sectors of the economy. We discuss the policy implications of these findings. • Conducts macro, meso, and micro energy consumption decomposition. • Role of power crisis, COVID-19, and energy policies. • Revealed distinct effect patterns and impacts of shocks. • Power crisis and COVID-19 cause persistent technical inefficiency in some sectors. • TE aligns with energy policy initiatives, though some sectors experience lag effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crucial role of electricity in prosecuting the development agenda of economies is widely known. Yet some key variables are lacking in the assessment of electricity demand determinants. One such variable is power crises. This study re-visits the discussion by investigating the role of power crises on electricity demand. We employ data from 1980 to 2018 to examine how power crises in general and in particular the 2012–2015 severe power crisis in Ghana impacts electricity consumption. Using various econometric techniques, we find that power crises have adverse effects on electricity demand in the long run. The 2012–2015 episode of power crisis in particular, has potentially led to consumers reconsidering their sources of energy by reducing electricity demand in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigation of alternative energy sources is need of current time due to growing power crisis and associated environmental issues. Biodiesel is considered as sustainable power source and promising alternative to fossil fuels. Therefore, our current investigation aimed to identify micromorphological characters of 10 novel nonedible oil‐yielding seeds through scanning electron microscopy. It was revealed from light microscopic study that there is variation in seed size from 3 to 15 mm in length and 2 to 11 mm in width. Likewise, a huge variation in color was observed such as light green, greenish yellow, blackish brown, and various shades of brown. Presence and absence of Hilum was observed, and compression of seeds varied from depressed, lateral, and dorsoventral. Seed's shape differs from ovate, clavate, triangular ovate, cuneiform, ovoid, and elliptical shape. Seed oil content fall in range of 18–58% (wt/wt). Free fatty acid content of the seeds varies from 0.3 to 3.1 mg KOH/g. Ultrastructure of seeds exhibited huge variation in shape, size, periclinal wall, anticlinal wall, and surface ornamentation. Nonedible seeds varied in wall structure from angular, wavy, dentate entire, irregular, puzzled, elongated, even, and polygonal. The periclinal wall arrangements show alteration from flat, looped, raised, depressed, lofty, even, pentagonal, polygonal, and undulate seed margins. Outcomes of this investigation recommended that scanning electron microscopy could act as a helpful tool in disclosing the hidden micromorphological characters among nonedible oil‐yielding seeds and subsequently helping in correct, authentic seed identification and classification as potential feedstock for biodiesel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy sector of Pakistan has never been up to the demand of the country due to inappropriate energy management policies. The shortfall has been reaching to a nominal level of 4500 MW for more than 10 years. The economy of Pakistan has been dramatically affected and resulted in the shutdown of many industrial units. To manage this shortfall, electric supply companies had solely concerned the consumer end. Energy domain of Pakistan has confronted a rapid change by the mega-investment of more than 60 billion USD under the game-changing project of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This project will boost the energy sector as half of the total capital of this project has been disbursed for the mitigation of shortfall and power crisis. The project has been started for the interests of both economies of both countries China and Pakistan. This research focused on the causes of the power crisis in Pakistan and how CPEC will boost of the energy sector and how our environment will be affected by these energy projects. And policies have been discussed for efficient policy-making in generation with the lowest environmental impacts and contributing towards making this Development more sustainable and acceptable.

The commencement of China–Pakistan Economic Corridor has led to the appreciation of Pakistan's economic outlook from 5.4% to 5.8% by the World Bank. The upgraded outlook is a welcome sign but it is still trivial, essentially attributable to the electric power crisis, which approximately trims 2% of Pakistan's economic growth annually. Almost 60% of the CPEC (China–Pakistan Economic Corridor) funds are directed at Pakistan's energy sector, hence, demanding careful attention of both researchers and policy analysts alike. The study is based upon a meta-analytic review of literature concerning CPEC and Pakistan's energy sector. The results of the study demonstrate that CPEC is an easing agent for Pakistan's energy crisis (82.30%). The results also highlight points of concern, including inadequate planning (47%), dilapidated electricity distribution system causing losses (64.7%), and an unsustainable energy mix (64.7%). The study further validates the findings via Spearman's Rho-Correlation. The rρ value for the possible "resolution of Pakistan's energy crisis" is 0.5426 achieving a significance level of 98% and a corresponding p-value of 0.0252. The significant negative rρ value attained is −0.4894 which establishes the fact that lack of planning can hinder the energy crisis resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A failure probability model for intensively used thermal power plants was developed. • Repetitive accidents were modeled with accident probability using records. • Higher probability of two or more accidents on specific plants was estimated during crisis. • Bootstrap simulation was used to estimate risk of power shortages after disaster. • Supply capacity should be underestimated during crisis to have citizens and business better prepared. Abstract The unscheduled outage of thermal power plants following the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 greatly degraded the reliability of the power supply. As thermal power plants were a major part of the supply capacity after the disaster, especially under peak load conditions, consumers located both within and outside the severely damaged area had to reduce power usage to meet power consumption targets and avoid major blackouts. Therefore, experts and decision makers should use the records available from such accidents to determine appropriate margins of supply capacity and demand constraint policy during a crisis. Here, we constructed a probability model describing the likelihood of accident occurrence for thermal power plants based on the actual accident and recovery data obtained after the Great East Japan Earthquake. The lognormal and Weibull hazard models fit the observed data well, where the accidents tended to occur for many times at the same power generation unit under heavy-duty conditions. We then applied the developed probability model to Japanese thermal power plants in a bootstrap framework to understand the potential risk of power shortages during such events and to derive policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar home systems (SHSs) are the real hope for electrification of the off-grid areas in Bangladesh by utilizing the solar energy in renewable and sustainable basis. This paper demonstrates the solar energy prospect, the present status and dissemination schemes of SHSs in off-grid and coastal areas of Bangladesh by several government and Non-government organizations (NGOs). The country has an average daily solar radiation ranges between 4–6.5 kWh/m 2 . Currently, more than 3.8 million SHSs of capacity range 10–135 Wp (watt peak) with a total capacity of 150 MW have been disseminated in rural and isolated areas in Bangladesh. In this paper, ten case studies of capacity 20 Wp, 30 Wp and 42 Wp were investigated to evaluate economic viability at two randomly selected villages in Sirajgonj district and Jessore district, Bangladesh. The analysis showed that the SHSs for small business enterprise and household with small income generation are economically viable rather than only household lighting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great East Japan Earthquake and the subsequent tsunami that hit and severely damaged the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station resulted indirectly in the shutdown of most of the nuclear power plants in Japan. To compensate for the lost nuclear power supply, more fossil fuels were used. People became concerned that this could be disadvantageous for domestic manufacturing industries and accelerated their offshoring to Asia, especially China, through foreign direct investment (FDI). We used a world trade computable general equilibrium (CGE) model with endogenous FDI from Japan to China to quantify the impact of the power crisis on the Japanese manufacturing sectors. We found that the power crisis as well as FDI would adversely affect several sectors that use power intensively, but would benefit the transportation equipment (TEQ), electric equipment (EEQ) and machinery sectors, despite the common expectation that these sectors would undergo a so-called ‘hollowing-out.’ [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article has a rather modest aim. In contrast to most analyses that abound, it submits that Pakistan's energy crisis stems primarily from a suboptimal policy and only secondarily from governance issues. This does not mean that governance is not an important issue. With around 20 different organizations involved in the power sector—e.g., WAPDA, PEPCO, PPIB, AEDB, GENCOs, and IPPs—there is much scope for governance failures. In addition, there is much malfeasance perpetrated by political and other interests. Still, since governance mechanisms are significantly shaped by incentive systems and operating policy regimes, we will argue that the problem lies primarily in policy choices made earlier, and focus in particular on two elements of the policy that need to be revisited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Power crisis today contains not only the phenomenal of power storage, but also the problem of environment pollution caused by electric power industry. China has experienced fast development in the past 30 years and correspondingly, people''s living level is higher than the past. As a result, with the fast development of economy, the people''s demand on energy and power is more and larger than the past. In practice, although the burden of power supply has released in certain degree via building more power stations, power crisis is still in existence because of the flaw in electricity industry structure and technique aspects. In the paper, we analyze national stage of China in electricity industry aspect, and then we provide two typical cases about Power Crisis and coping strategies. Finally, we present relevant policies and strategies to tackle with the corresponding problem of China power crisis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article identifies the critical factors that led to the Californian power crisis and assesses whether the crisis was brought about by a failure of market design or not. It argues that, until long-term solutions can be put in place and adequate supply is restored, effective region-wide market power mitigation measures must be implemented to protect consumers from the exercise of market power. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]