Public-private partnerships in the field of energy efficiency in developing countries

Abstract

Subject. The article addresses public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the area of electric power and natural gas. Their specificities, like availability of many positive externalities, higher capital intensity, hidden risks, involvement of many diverse participants in implementation, enable to distinguish PPP projects in the green energy and energy-efficient technologies sector into a separate category, and to state the insufficient knowledge of the impact of macroeconomic factors on this category. Objectives. The aim is to study the most important macroeconomic factors (income level) on the intensity, technological structure, and effectiveness of PPP projects in the electricity and natural gas sector of developing countries. Methods. We employ methods of descriptive statistics, nonparametric statistics, and cluster analysis. Results. The findings show that the country's income level is an important macroeconomic factor influencing the number and volume of investments in PPP projects in the energy sector in developing countries, as well as the technological structure of the project portfolio. The influence of this factor on the number and volume of investments in PPP projects in the energy sector is nonlinear, and on the technological structure is linear. Conclusions. The highest intensity of investments in PPP projects in the energy sector is observed in lower-middle income countries. The impact of the country's income level on the technological structure of the PPP project portfolio is manifested in two aspects: an increase in the share of projects in the electric grid sector as the country's income level grows, and an increase in the share of wind projects as the country's income level grows.