Project: Energy Reform in Haiti

Limestone Analytics worked with the Copenhagen Consensus Center to analyze the potential for energy reform in Haiti. Haiti lags far behind the developed world with respect to access to electricity. Limestone submitted reports on a number of interventions to Haiti’s energy sector, including investment in isolated grids, renewable energy and institutional reform.

In April and May of 2017, we travelled to Port au Prince to meet with researchers from around the world and present our findings to an  “eminent panel” of economists,  development experts, and Nobel laureates. The eminent panel ranked the proposals to help identify the smartest investments for Haiti based on their potential costs and benefits.

Limestone Analytics’ paper on the costs and benefits of reforming Haiti’s electrical utility was selected, out of 83 different proposals, as the number one priority for Haiti by the eminent panel. The paper, written by Juan Belt, Bahman Kashi, and Jay Mackinnon, proposes a two-stage intervention. In the first phase, reforms to governance and the privatization of Haiti’s separate grids would be funded. If these succeed in achieving set benchmarks, technical advisory and limited investment funds would be provided, with the goal of reducing Haiti’s electricity losses.

Reducing electricity losses in Haiti would save millions of gourdes every year and would remove one of the critical barriers to Haiti’s economic development.

See:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/top-priorities-for-haiti_us_595e3b05e4b08f5c97d06767

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/more-bang-for-the-buck/article35818862/