Exploring innovative energy infrastructure financing in Ghana: benefits, challenges and strategies

Purpose Inefficiencies in the power sector resulting from underinvesting and underselling reduce the ability of governments to adequately finance energy projects. The purpose of this paper is to explore mechanisms of energy financing, benefits and challenges associated with innovative financing of energy infrastructure as well as strategies to improve innovative financing of energy infrastructure. Design/methodology/approach Questionnaires were used to elicit responses from respondents. Seventy-eight responses were retrieved. Mean score ranking, Kruskal–Wallis test and discriminant validity were the analysis conducted. Findings Partial credit guarantee; partial risk guarantee; credit enhancement; and loan guarantees were the significant mechanisms. Production efficiency; reduce pressure on public budgets; access to management expertise; and self-sustainability of infrastructure facilities were the significant benefits. Lack of transparency and adequate data for risk assessment; high up-front cost; heterogeneity, complexity, and presence of a large number of parties; and lack of a clear benchmark for measuring investment performance were the severest challenges. Complete transparency and accountability; political stability and public view on private provision of energy infrastructure services; and macroeconomic environment were the significant strategies. Practical implications This study is beneficial to energy sector as the current government of Ghana hints on willingness to involve private sector in management of the power sector. Originality/value The novelty of this study is that it is a pioneering study in Ghana on innovative financing of energy infrastructure.

Financial risk management instruments and performance of hydro-power projects in Kenya

This paper aims (i) to establish the extent to which alternative risk transfer influence the performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya, (ii) to examine how Contingent capital influence the performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya, (iii) to To assess the extent to which Credit enhancement influence performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya, (iv) to determine the extent to which Hedging derivatives influence performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya, (v) to examine how Insurance influence performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya. The study adopted the pragmatism paradigm, mixed-method approach, and descriptive correlational survey design while questionnaires and interview guide were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from a census of 94 participants. This study recommends that project management and policymakers should integrate appropriate financial risk management instruments to improve the performance of hydroelectric energy projects besides developing targeted policies for strengthening the implementation of the financial risk management instruments to boost investors and lenders confidence

Fuze Effect: A Landmine in the Way of Sustainable Development of FinTech—The Lessons from the Peer-To-Peer Risk Outbreak

Based on the data of peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms, employing the ARIMAX model and analyzing the risk outbreak process of P2P platforms, we find that the risk outbreak of P2P is a spreading process from weak to strong along the “qualification chain” of the platforms. This risk outbreak process along the qualification chain is dubbed the “fuze effect” in this paper as the process is similar to that of the fuze detonating explosives. This finding implies that the real risk comes from the uneven quality of P2P platforms, which is different from the dominant opinion that of their “credit enhancement services”. Our further study suggests that the fuze effect comes from deadweight cost caused by market competition. This study is of significance for risk prevention in emerging industries such as FinTech; that is, for the sake of sustainable development of emerging industries, the government must be vigilant about the fuze effect.

Credit Enhancement and Performance of Hydroelectric Energy Projects in Kenya

Renewable energy investment has been underexploited in Africa and Kenya in specific due to financing constraints arising from investor’s negative perception of the regions high investment risk and low creditworthiness which retards the degree of private capital penetration. The purpose of the study was to assess the extent to which Credit enhancement influence performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya. The study was underpinned on pragmatism paradigm which allows the use of mixed method approach and descriptive correlational survey research design. Structured questionnaires and interview guide were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from a sample size of 94 participants out of a target population of 94 subjects. Validity test was done on the instruments and a coefficient of 0.775 obtained using Content Validity Index while reliability involved pretesting of the instruments amongst the 10% of the participants and Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.781 obtained. Analysis was done using both descriptive statistic of mean and standard deviation and inferential statistic of Correlation and Regression at a significance level of 0.05 with the aid of SPSS version 25 and thematic content analysis of qualitative data for triangulation. Simple linear regression and Pearson Correlation Coefficient models were used to determine the influence between independent and dependent variable and the result H0: Credit enhancement does not significantly influence performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya was rejected since P=0.000<0.05.Therefore the study concluded that there is significant influence of credit enhancement on performance of hydroelectric energy projects in Kenya. It is recommended that Project management and policy makers should integrate appropriate credit enhancement instruments to improve performance of hydroelectric energy projects besides developing targeted policies for strengthening implementation of the credit enhancement instruments to boost investors and lenders confidence. Further research should be carried out on the determinants influencing effective utilization of credit enhancement in power projects in Kenya.

Risk Evaluation of Sewage Treatment PPPABS Projects Using Combination Weight Method and D-S Evidence Theory

In order to make up for the shortage of public-private partnership (PPP) model, more and more sewage treatment PPP projects have adopted the asset-backed securitization (ABS) model. To ensure success of sewage treatment PPPABS projects, risk evaluation, which has remained scarcity and unscientific, is becoming an urgent problem to be solved. Firstly, this paper identifies critical risk factors by literature analysis and expert interview. The final risk system is established from the perspectives of macrorisks, basic asset risks, transaction structure risks, operational risks, and other risks, which include 17 second risk factors. Then, the overall risk evaluation method is proposed based on combination weight method and Dempster–Shafer (D-S) evidence theory. Next, Beijing capital Co. Ltd. sewage treatment PPPABS project as a case is employed to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. Finally, awareness of existing risks, suggestions from law risk, quality risk, underwriting and issue risk, and credit enhancement are provided for sewage treatment PPPABS projects. All above studies are expected to provide helpful references for evaluating overall risk of sewage treatment PPPABS projects.