One of the most entrenched challenges in international development is poor electricity reliability and quality. More than 3.5 billion people in low- and middle-income countries lack reasonably stable power, which undercuts health, productivity, education and welfare. In some places, the reliability problem is worsening – pushing companies to relocate or self-generate power and sending utilities into further tailspin. To take on this challenge, the James E. Rogers Energy Access Project at Duke (EAP) co-convened a virtual workshop with the World Bank, one of the world’s largest investors in developing country power systems. For the workshop, EAP mobilized faculty, staff, postdocs and Ph.D. students with expertise in public policy, engineering and environmental economics. These Duke scholars drove a discussion around whether a new generation of digital technologies, combined with shifts in development finance norms, could enable the rollout of new outcome-based incentives that could drive improved grid performance. Based on these conversations, EAP and the World Bank are finalizing a white paper that will serve as a blueprint for piloting new types of reliability incentives in the field. READ MORE.