Policy Framework Review & Policy Recommendations

Verdurous helps define policy principles and to develop implementation strategies. Policy framework review and recommendations for improvement are facilitated by continuous in-house research into various aspects of sustainable development including production and consumption, cleaner energy, transportation and fuels, micro-finance and access to services in rural areas and the like.

Experience

  • Verdurous’ policy experts have undertaken the evaluation (with recommendations for update) of the macro-economic policy framework in Rwanda, ranging from Agriculture, Housing and Transportation to Energy, Urbanization and Tourism and have advised the Ministry of Natural Resources (MINIRENA) on incorporating the green economy concept within sector-specific policies.
  • The Verdurous team has designed the tariff structure to encourage the deployment of Solar PV and solar thermal technology in Vietnam and to lower the country’s dependence on coal: the effort included studying the social and economic aspects of tariff design, willingness to pay, rigor of contract enforcement, investor return expectations and benchmarks and other relevant aspects.
  • Scoping, field work, detailed sector-wise analysis, and recommendations for increasing the proportion of cleaner fuels and renewable energy technologies in the power mix in Bangladesh to try and supplement the use of natural gas.
  • Verdurous has undertaken detailed analysis of investment demand, RE project costing, institutional and regulatory constraints, end-user tariff policies/ structures, and has helped the government of India identify sources of funding, design policy instruments, and lower investor risk perceptions to help meet the country’s RE targets through to year 2030 (Location: Indonesia, Jakarta).
  • Policy Research

  • Expert personnel have developed a simple model to study the impact of electricity as an export good and have applied it to the bilateral trade relationship between India and Bhutan.
  • The Verdurous research team has evaluated the rooftop solar PV program and has recommended measures to minimize the arbitrage opportunities from differential pricing of power.
  • The team has compared the implementation arrangements for alternative subsidy mechanisms and has documented the divergence in impact of capital and interest subsidies for renewable energy systems.
  • Under the Administered Pricing Mechanism, retail prices of transport fuels (petrol and diesel) were managed by incumbent politicians with a view to securing an advantage in forthcoming elections. Research by Verdurous found that such micro-management of fuel prices had no impact on electoral outcomes.
  • Verdurous has designed a policy framework for supporting the incubation, growth, mainstreaming and maturity of new technology (specifically applied to solar thermal water heaters) and has mapped the financing structures commensurate with each such stage of evolution.