Portfolio Mix Research Articles

Relationship Between Operational Factors and Cost Efficiency in Defined Contributions Pension Schemes

Pension schemes in Kenya provide income for individuals who attain the retirement age and consequently boost economic growth as well as accelerate domestic savings. The industry is regulated by the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA). The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between operational practices on cost efficiency in defined contributions pension schemes in Kenya. The specific objectives were to determine the relationship between service provider costs on cost efficiency in defined contributions pension schemes, to examine the relationship between fund size on cost efficiency in defined contributions pension schemes, to determine the relationship between portfolios mix on cost efficiency in defined contributions pension schemes and to examine the relationship between investment strategy on cost efficiency in defined contributions pension schemes. The study will be significant to the management of defined contributions pension schemes in Kenya and other researchers. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population was all the 1,262 pension schemes in Kenya. Stratified random sampling was employed to select small schemes, medium schemes, large schemes and mega pension schemes in Kenya and obtained a total of 304 sample population. The study used secondary data. Descriptive statistics was performed by getting frequencies, means, and standard deviation for the purpose of understanding the results, which was displayed in tables, charts, and graphs. A multiple regression model was fitted to the data and the results revealed that there was a relationship between cost efficiency and service provision expenses, portfolio mix, fund size and investment strategies. Service provision expenses for a pension scheme should be able to cover the cost of administration without unduly compromising the growth of pension savings. Further, while a substantial fund size offered advantages, it should be complemented by strategic acumen and diligent oversight to ensure the scheme delivers on its mandate. A balanced and diversified portfolio is considered a cornerstone providing a buffer against market volatility and therefore enhancing the prospects of sustainable goals and cost efficiency. Finally, the cost associated with portfolio mix and risk management was a necessary investment in securing the long-term sustainability and stability of the pension fund. Recommendation for further studies on cost efficiency of defined benefits schemes should be done as well as further studies on challenges facing pension schemes in Kenya

Towards carbon neutrality: Transition pathways for the Chinese ethylene industry

Ethylene is one of the most important products in the emissions-intensive petrochemical industry. Decarbonizing the ethylene industry is thus important for achieving global carbon neutrality. This study is the first to explore future long-term zero-emissions production pathways for the ethylene industry in China, the world's biggest ethylene producer. An optimization model was built in the context of China's carbon neutrality target of 2060. Four scenarios were developed where the policy ambitions for climate mitigation and for plastic management including waste were varied. Based on this, authors assessed the cumulative total emissions, technology options, future geographical location of ethylene production, and policy challenges associated with each scenario. This is also the first time that scope 3 emissions from waste incineration are included, motivated by the short lifetime of most ethylene products. Results show the cumulative CO2 emissions for the scenarios differ considerably, ranging from 4.3 to 7.8 Gt, even if carbon neutrality by 2060 is achieved in all scenarios. The results suggest that ambitious plastic focused policies can result in lower costs and less cumulative emissions compared to ambitious climate focused policies. The results demonstrate the importance of adopting CCS for waste incineration. This reduces cumulative CO2 emissions by up to 2 Gt. However, reduced overall demand and increased recycling rates should be priority options due to CCS challenges. Results suggest Chinese ethylene industry should adopt a mixed portfolio of production technologies, where the share of emission-intensive coal-based methanol-to-olefins is limited. These findings on decarbonization pathways can contribute to achieving the Paris agreement.

Another look at energy consumption and environmental sustainability target through the lens of the load capacity factor: Accessing evidence from MINT economies

AbstractThe relationship between energy utilization and the environment is crucial in an era of environmental concerns by global economies and rising energy consumption. Emerging economies such as Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey (hereafter, MINT) face complex trade‐offs between economic growth and environmental sustainability. Strengthening this study are the UN Sustainable Development Goals prepositions on access to clean and alternative energy, decent economic growth, responsible production and consumption and climate action (UN‐SDGs‐7, 8, 12, and 13). The present study examines the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for MINT economies within the framework of the load capacity factor (LCF). The article leverages panel econometrics to operationalize the relationship between study variables. Empirical findings show that the present study fails to confirm the presence of EKC. Thus, it implies that the MINT economies are at their first stage of accelerated economic growth which might result in an augmented ecological footprint and exert pressure on natural resources, as indicated by the observed negative outcome. Furthermore, there is a positive and significant relationship between renewable energy consumption (RENENG) and LCF. It implies that a 1% increase in RENENG leads to an increase in LCF of 0.70%. These outcomes indicate that the level of RENENG in MINT economies is not sufficient to mitigate climate change issues. Thus, from a policy perspective, there is a need for change in the MINT nations' energy portfolio mix, such as the need to switch from conventional energy sources (fossil fuels) to renewable energy sources, including solar, wind, photovoltaic and hydropower, which usually have a smaller negative impact on the environment. Furthermore, there is a need for investment in new and green energy technologies in the countries investigated to arrive at a clean and better ecosystem as desired. More insight is outlined in the concluding section.

Performance of Photovoltaic Thermal and Biomass Gasification for Efficient Renewable Energy Generation: A Review

AbstractThis review presents the technical and operational performances of solar and biomass energy technologies viz photovoltaic thermal (PVT) and biomass gasification systems. This work aims to offer a reference and guidelines to the renewable energy‐related players, especially for those at the operational level and investors. This paper highlights the technical advantage of hybrid PVT with phase change material in terms of electrical and thermal efficiencies. While the operational performance of biomass gasification is thoroughly discussed via sensitivity analysis, the potential integration between solar and biomass gasification technologies is explored to complement and bolster the capabilities of both renewable systems within the power energy mix portfolio. Finally, few directions and significant takeaways considering the technical criteria are addressed for identifying efficient renewable energy generation.

A data envelopment analysis based evaluation of sustainable energy generation portfolio scenarios

Generating secure, affordable, and clean energy requires careful evaluation of the costs and associated risks of different energy generation sources. Portfolio optimisation models are commonly used in this regard to help diversify risks associated with generation sources. In recent times, energy policies often require the consideration of the environmental and social effects of such activity. Consequently, sustainability has become a key factor in making energy mix planning decisions. To incorporate sustainability considerations in energy mix planning, the conventional approach has been to add indicators for environmental and social costs to the total generation cost for each available technology in a portfolio optimisation model. However, this approach to developing a sustainable generation mix may not effectively address all dimensions of sustainability. In most cases, the economic dimension is prioritised over social and environmental factors. We examine how various aggregation methods impact the preference among the sources and the optimal portfolio mix and propose aggregation methods that effectively incorporate all sustainability dimensions. We observed that technology ranking based on multiplicative, pairwise interaction, and multilinear aggregation options aligns better with our sustainability goals than additive aggregation. By adopting these methods of aggregation, we were able to include more renewable and clean energy sources in our optimal portfolios.

Estimation of Forest Residual Biomass for Bioelectricity Utilization towards Carbon Neutrality Based on Sentinel-2A Multi-Temporal Images: A Case Study of Aizu Region of Fukushima, Japan

Forest biomass is expected to remain a key part of the national energy portfolio mix, yet residual forest biomass is currently underused. This study aimed to estimate the potential availability of waste woody biomass in the Aizu region and its energy potential for local bioelectricity generation as a sustainable strategy. The results showed that the available quantity of forest residual biomass for energy production was 191,065 tons, with an average of 1.385 t/ha in 2018, of which 72% (146,976 tons) was from logging residue for commercial purposes, and 28% (44,089 tons) was from thinning operations for forest management purposes. Forests within the biomass–collection radius of a local woody power plant can provide 45,925 tons of residual biomass, supplying bioelectricity at 1.6 times the plant’s capacity, which could avoid the amount of 65,246 tons of CO2 emission per year by replacing coal-fired power generation. The results highlight the bioelectricity potential and carbon-neutral capacity of residual biomass. This encourages government initiatives or policy inclinations to sustainably boost the production of bioenergy derived from residual biomass.

Analysis of the Mediating Effect of Macroeconomic Factors on the Relationship between Dividend Policy and Stock Return in Nairobi Securities Exchange in Kenya

Stock Indices are designed to gauge market performance and guide investors in making investment decisions, especially in stock portfolio mix and management. Dividend Policy is an important finance function; organizations need to decide how to distribute dividends and how much dividends to retain and be ploughed back into the business. Between 2009 and 2018, the Nairobi Securities Exchange depicted erratic performance in making investment decisions during the financial crisis and volatility of the securities exchange. This study, therefore, sought to investigate the mediating role of macroeconomic factors on the relationship between dividend policy and stock return in Nairobi Securities Exchange to help investors make decisions amidst the erratic performance of the burse. The study employed longitudinal times series study regression analysis and used structural equation modeling (SEM) to assess mediation relationships. Results revealed that macroeconomic factors mediate the relationship between dividend policy and stock return; interest rate fully mediates the relationship between dividend per share, payout ratio, and stock return (p=0.00) and partially mediates the relationship between dividend yield and stock return (P=0.00). Inflation fully mediates the relationship between dividend per share, payout ratio, and stock return (p=0.00) and partially mediates the relationship between dividend yield and stock return (p=0.00). Gross Domestic Product does not mediate the relationship between dividend yield, payout ratio, dividend per share, and stock return (p= 0.76), (p=0.91) and (p=0.90), respectively.

The UK Impact Transplant Trials Network: An Effective National Strategy to Accelerate the Delivery of Randomized Trials in Stem Cell Transplantation

Introduction: Stem cell transplantation (SCT) is an important curative modality in patients with blood cancer whose outcome with chemotherapy is predicted to be poor and is an increasingly important therapy in non-malignant disease. However, even in 2023, 50% of patients are still destined to die after either allogeneic or autologous transplantation, either of relapsed disease or treatment toxicity. In response the transplant community continue to develop innovative strategies designed to improve patient outcome. However, despite the fact that the adoption of new therapies in haemato-oncology is, almost without exception, based on evidence generated by randomized studies fewer than 5% of transplant patients are currently recruited to prospective practice informing trials. Thus, much current transplant practice is based on retrospective registry analyses whose results can often be misleading. There is therefore an urgent need for innovative trial models with the ability to accelerate transplant trial delivery if patient outcomes after SCT are to be improved. Methodology: We reasoned that limited trials capacity at busy centres coupled with the absence of a fit-for-purpose clinical trials network represented potentially tractable barriers to transplant trial recruitment. In 2018 a $5 million grant was secured from UK blood cancer charities in order to directly fund the salaries of research nurses within the IMPACT network covering 11 major UK transplant centres and a linked clinical trials hub. Critically, up-front investment into research nurses at major transplant centres created a catchment region in excess of 20 million. The pre-stated aim of the IMPACT pilot was to recruit 400 patients to 7 new transplant trials over a 4 year period. Results Opened in 2018 the IMPACT network has now randomized 1344 patients to 7 prospective transplant trials over a 5 year period. Trials delivered include COSI, a randomized trial examining the benefit of the addition of Thiotepa to a Fludarabine/Busulphan based conditioning regimen in patients allografted for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (n=333) and AMADEUS a randomized comparison of the benefit of post-transplant CC486 maintenance (n-326). In conjunction with recruitment to the Pro-DLI trial- a randomized study of prophylactic DLI in patients allografted for high risk AML (n=150)- the IMPACT initiative has resulted in more than 900 patients being recruited to practice informing AML transplant trials over a 5 year period. Importantly, AMADEUS has been designed and delivered in order to generate registration enabling data. Additional trials delivered by the IMPACT network include ALL-RIC the first randomized comparison of reduced intensity conditioning regimens in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n=102, now in follow-up) and the ongoing MoTD trial a randomized comparison of post-transplant cyclophosphamide GVHD prophylaxis (n=139 to date). Sample return for bolt-on scientific studies has been in excess of 85% allowing prospective analysis of the prognostic significance of pre and post-transplant MRD, molecular determinants of transplant outcome and the biology of disease relapse in patients allografted for AML and ALL. Of note the IMPACT research nurse network demonstrated impressive resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic permitting continued trial delivery despite faltering recruitment to other cancer trials. Conclusions: The funding of a national transplant trials network has transformed recruitment to prospective randomized transplant trials in the UK. The success of the IMPACT pilot, which-out-performed its recruitment metrics by 300%, confirms the importance of innovative trial delivery models in accelerating recruitment to practice informing transplant studies and is a scalable model internationally. At the same time, IMPACT has proved a highly effective mechanism to generate linked translational data with the ability to inform future trial design. Building on similar models in Europe, such as LYSARC, the IMPACT network is now funded by a not-for-profit trials delivery vehicle Accelerating Clinical Trials Ltd (www.act4patients.com) creating a financially sustainable model within the UK for the delivery of a mixed portfolio of industry sponsored and investigator initiated transplant and cell therapy trials.

Portfolio Optimization Using 0-1 Knapsack Quadratic Programming Model: A Case Study

Portfolio management is critical to selecting the right mix of investments which produces the best of results for any business entity. Using the 0-1 Knapsack quadratic model together with the mean-variance approach, this study sought to determine the optimal asset mix for TCF Microfinance bank. Five asset types were evaluated at a 70% target return. After three iterations, an optimal portfolio mix constituting of three out of the five assets was achieved, which exceeded the predetermined benchmark by 49.3% and at a risk value of less than 5%. This optimal investment can easily be practically applied.

Numerical approximation in the application of Risk Parity with Conditional Value at Risk in case of mixed portfolios

Abstract The 2008 financial crisis has required new methods for portfolios diversification. In the same year, Maillard, Roncalli and Teiletche (2008) suggested a method that maximizes the diversification which is called Risk Parity or Equally weighted Risk Contribution strategy. The most common method to use the Risk Parity approach is to use the standard deviation as risk measure. In this paper, we describe a method to apply Risk Parity to the Expected shortfall or also known as Conditional Value at Risk using a numerical approximation from discrete historical observation. The expected shortfall can use the advantage of being a coherent measure, not to forget that it is also a convex measure, which is very useful in the optimization. Another advantage is that the Risk Parity approach doesn’t need the estimation of the expected return as an input. Usually, the models that require the expected returns, such as the Markowitz, model have higher concentration in a smaller number of assets. This will bring a very high turnover and drawdown of the performance. The performance analysis in this paper is applied in mixed portfolios composed by stock, bonds and commodities. They show also how better this model performs in case of the crisis. We also identify not only the strong points but also the week points of these models.

Turn it around – NBFC-IFC

Learning outcomes After studying and analysing this case, students would be able to evaluate and understand the importance and need of an infrastructure sector in a country, its inherent risks and scope of infrastructure investment and financing in India – National Infrastructure Pipeline and the important role of Non-Banking Finance Company’s (NBFC) vis-à-vis banks in infrastructure financing in India; critically analyse and recommend alternative decisions in a business problem situation using multi-criteria decision analysis, which is a tool used for business portfolio analysis; understand and evaluate the corporate portfolio management (CPM) tools used for an optimum portfolio mix to turn around companies; identify and suggest an optimum portfolio mix to turn around a finance company using CPM assessment applied to Pidun matrix; and recommend operational and strategic levers for successful turnaround implementation by using the integrated canvas on turnaround. Case overview/synopsis On 10 May 2020, in New Delhi, India, J. Ray took charge as a full-time director of an Indian Non-Banking Finance Company – Infrastructure Finance Company (NBFC-IFC). The NBFC-IFC of the Indian Government extended long-term financial assistance to infrastructure projects in India. During the financial year (FY) 2017–2018 till FY 2019–2020, the company suffered substantial losses to the tune of US$13.7bn, with profitability experiencing a notable decline – return on assets at a negligible 0.11% and return on equity of only 0.68%. The NBFC-IFC had a declining yield on advances at 7.05%, net interest margins (NIMs) of 2.08% against a high cost of borrowing at 7.66%, a declining loan book (by 4.35%) of US$336.27bn and a fast-deteriorating asset quality with highest ever non-performing assets (NPAs) at 19.70% of its loan book. Such financial parameters, compared with that of the industry average of banks and finance companies, meant that the NBFC-IFC Ray had taken over was fast bleeding and was on the brink of being declared a sick company. In comparison, private and other government players had profitable and much healthier financials, and Ray felt that there was a need for improvement. To make things worse, Ray got to know that the Indian Government was in the final stages of setting up a new development finance institution focused on long-term infrastructure financing in India. Ray realized the question was not only of the NBFC-IFC remaining relevant but also of its existence in the fast-evolving sector. Ray wondered what could his his integrated canvas be for a turnaround strategy that could include effective management of an optimal portfolio mix. With a healthy capital-to-risk (weighted) assets ratio of 30.85% and a satisfactorily improved net worth of US$103.1bn, in the given Reserve Bank of India regulatory provisions for the NBFC-IFC including restrictive exposure norms and NBFC-IFC’s operational mandate prescribed by the Indian Government, Ray had to shift the product and sectorial investment of the NBFC-IFC to reduce the NPAs, increase loan book size and improve the yield of advances and its NIM to effectively turn around the company’s profitability. Ray realized that he needed his team to evaluate and select a product and sector strategy for this change. Complexity academic level The present case of financing investment in infrastructure is interesting for implementation in developing economies because a lack of infrastructure is a common problem and there is a necessity of achieving a more developed infrastructure system to support accelerated economic growth in these countries. This case can be used in elective courses on corporate finance strategy and corporate portfolio management for infrastructure finance companies. This case can be taught in elective courses in post-graduate and MBA programs. This case can also be included in management development programs (MDP), executive MBA programs and executive-level courses that have subjects such as corporate finance strategy, corporate portfolio management and strategy management that focus on turnaround strategies including portfolio management for banks and finance companies. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

Towards Proactive Risk-Aware Cloud Cost Optimization Leveraging Transient Resources

Low-cost transient resources such as Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Spot instances can be opportunistically leveraged to reduce the ongoing costs of cloud applications. However, they are susceptible to unilateral revocations by the vendor making them a risky proposition for long-running applications with strict performance requirements. It is challenging to effectively balance the cost savings that transient resources provide with the associated revocation risk which, if realised, can impact application performance. To address this challenge, we propose an approach for risk-aware cloud cost optimization that is inspired by the concept of <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">portfolio diversification</i> . <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Contract diversification</i> mitigates the revocation risk by procuring the required compute capacity as a mixed portfolio of transient and non-transient resources. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Resource diversification</i> further diversifies the risk by using multiple transient resource types. Using our approach, consumers can leverage contract and resource diversification to proactively (re-)configure their application's resource portfolio to handle workload and resource price fluctuations while minimizing ongoing cost and keeping ongoing revocation risk within tolerable limits. Simulative evaluation using three real-world workload traces and Amazon's EC2 offerings demonstrate that our proposed approach can achieve meaningful cost savings compared to the baseline costs, while significantly reducing the portfolio's exposure to revocation risk.

Frequency spillovers between green bonds, global factors and stock market before and during COVID-19 crisis

This paper examines frequency dynamic spillovers in return and volatility and the hedging ability of Green Bonds, gold, silver, oil, the US dollar index, and volatility index against downside US stock prices before and during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and for the short and long run. To do so, we use the Diebold and Yilmaz (2014), the TVP-VAR model, and the frequency spillover index by Baruník and Křehlík (2018). We show that the short-term volatility spillovers dominate their long-term counterparts. Green Bond is net transmitters of spillovers in the system at the short term and net receivers at the long term. S&P500 and silver (USDX and oil) are net transmitters (receivers) of short- and long-term spillovers. Gold and VIX are net receivers of short-term spillovers and net transmitters of long-term spillovers. COVID-19 crisis has more effects on the short-term spillover, which reaches its highest level early 2020. COVID-19 and time horizons lead the direction and the magnitude of spillovers. The Quantile-on-Quantile regression analysis shows significant nonlinear relationships between markets under study. More interestingly, we show that green bonds and gold are safe haven assets for US equity investors during COVID-19. On the other hand, a mixed portfolio offers higher diversification benefits. Finally, hedging effectiveness is dependent on COVID-19 and time horizon.

Towards a green recovery in the EU: Aligning further emissions reductions with short- and long-term energy-sector employment gains

To tackle the negative socioeconomic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union (EU) introduced the Recovery and Resilience Facility, a financial instrument to help Member States recover, on the basis that minimum 37% of the recovery funds flow towards the green transition. This study contributes to the emerging modelling literature on assessing COVID-19 vis-à-vis decarbonisation efforts, with a particular focus on employment, by optimally allocating the green part of the EU recovery stimulus in selected low-carbon technologies and quantifying the trade-offs between resulting emissions reductions and employment gains in the energy sector. We couple an integrated assessment model with a multi-objective linear-programming model and an uncertainty analysis framework aiming to identify robust portfolio mixes. We find that it is possible to allocate recovery packages to align mitigation goals with both short- and long-term energy-sector employment, although over-emphasising the longer-term sustainability of new energy-sector jobs may be costlier and more vulnerable to uncertainties compared to prioritising environmental and near-term employment gains. Robust portfolios with balanced performance across objectives consistently feature small shares of offshore wind and nuclear investments, while the largest chunks are dominated by onshore wind and biofuels, two technologies with opposite impacts on near- and long-term employment gains.

COVID-19 Cryptocurrency Investment: Wealth Disparities and Portfolio Diversification.

The introduction of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology has provided many investors the option to engage in the market, diversify their portfolios, and accumulate wealth. The high return on cryptocurrency during the pandemic has served as an incentive for all ethnic groups to participate in the market. Cryptocurrency is perceived as a hedging instrument for wealth prospects across races during COVID-19. Considering the return on investment, to what extent is blockchain a good hedging instrument for minority investors? Using weekly trade price data from Yahoo Finance, market valuations from coinranking.com, and asset/equity variables from the Federal Reserve Bank, this paper examines investment strategies of different racial/ethnic groups in cryptocurrency during the pandemic in a panel data model from 2019 to 2021. Should investors use public coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum as part of their investment portfolio mix during the pandemic? We find that an increase in the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies during the pandemic may repress the investment strategy for marginalized groups.

From fears to recession? Time‐frequency risk contagion among stock and credit default swap markets during the COVID pandemic

AbstractThis study uses a high‐dimensional time‐frequency volatility spillover model to examine risk interactions across 32 global stock and credit default swap (CDS) markets during the coronavirus (COVID‐19) pandemic. Our empirical results mainly show that cross‐market risk spillovers between these two types of markets are rare over the whole crisis period. Adding CDS assets to the stock portfolio would significantly decrease the overall risk spillovers in the mixed portfolio. Then, the time‐frequency spillover and rolling window analyses confirm this finding and provide further evidence of frequency heterogeneity of risk spillovers during the pandemic. The outbreak of the COVID pandemic only sharply increases short‐term risk spillovers between the stock and sovereign CDS market but exerts insignificant impacts on the medium and long‐term cross‐market risk spillovers. Moreover, our results show that developed countries are net transmitters in the stock markets. In contrast, the emerging markets account for the most risk spillovers in sovereign CDS markets over the sample period, emphasizing the heterogenous adverse impacts of the pandemic across various countries and markets. Finally, we find that bailouts implemented by the US and EU central banks, though with heterogeneous impacts across frequencies, gradually enhance the confidence and resilience of investors in these markets.

Towards just transition of coal regions - Cultivation of short rotation copies and dedicated energy crops for biomass co-firing vs photo voltaic power plants

• Abandoned coal mine areas to continue sustainable use now in the green energy business. • Options proposed include forming biomass plantations vs construction of solar power plants. • Sustainability criteria such as economic, environmental and social aspect need to be considered. • Decision can be made using both aggregated economic analysis and multi criteria sustainability assessment. In developing countries, which dominantly produce electricity by burning coal, energy transition represents a significant challenge. Short rotation coppice and dedicated energy crops could be a promising raw material for production of biofuel and its further usage for electricity and heat generation. This work assesses possibilities and elaborates on the sustainability of cultivation of short rotation coppice type willow and dedicated energy crop Miscanthus on former areas of coalmines belonging to the largest power utility in Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely JP Elektroprivreda BiH d.d. – Sarajevo. Abandoned coal mine areas were mapped and, by settled criteria, dedicated either to future photovoltaic power plants integration or the cultivation of energy crops and their further use in the considered generation portfolio mix. In order to assess the contribution of both photovoltaic power plants and biomass in the upcoming energy transition process, an adequate method has been developed in this article and specific sustainability indicator groups determined to further calculate the sustainability ratio. The paper focuses on economic, environmental and social indicator groups, which were used to perform the aggregated economic analysis and the multi criteria analysis. Performed aggregated economic analysis lightly favours the construction of photovoltaic power plants over the use of willow as fuel. In this analysis, Mischantus is lagging far behind due to its lower yield compared to willow. The multi criteria analysis on the other hand, valorises the social indicator adequately and the sustainability ratio results are much closer for both considered renewable sources types. This shows the importance of a comprehensive approach and definition of appropriate methods to enable decision-makers to draw appropriate conclusions.

Balancing India’s 2030 Electricity Grid Needs Management of Time Granularity and Uncertainty: Insights from a Parametric Model

With some of the world's most ambitious renewable energy (RE) growth targets, especially when normalized for scale, India aims more than quadrupling wind and solar by 2030. Simultaneously, coal dominates the electricity grid, providing roughly three-quarters of electricity today. We present results from the first of a kind model to handle high uncertainty, which uses parametric analysis instead of stochastic analysis for grid balancing based on economic despatch through 2030, covering 30-minute resolution granularity at a national level. The model assumes a range of growing demand, supply options, prices, and other uncertain inputs. It calculates the lowest cost portfolio across a spectrum of parametric uncertainty. We apply simplifications to handle the intersection of capacity planning with optimized despatch. Our results indicate that very high RE scenarios are cost-effective, even if a measurable fraction would be surplus and thus discarded ("curtailed"). We find that high RE without storage as well as existing slack in coal- and gas-powered capacity are insufficient to meet rising demand on a real-time basis, especially adding time-of-day balancing. Storage technologies prove valuable but remain expensive compared to the 2019 portfolio mix, due to issues of duty cycling like seasonal variability, not merely inherent high capital costs. However, examining alternatives to batteries for future growth finds all solutions for peaking power are even more expensive. For balancing at peak times, a smarter grid that applies demand response may be cost-effective. We also find the need for more sophisticated modelling with higher stochasticity across annual timeframes (especially year on year changes in wind output, rainfall, and demand) along with uncertainty on supply and load profiles (shapes).

How resilient are Islamic financial markets during the COVID-19 pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a massive disruption to the finance sector. Islamic financial markets are no exception. We explore the resilience of Islamic financial markets to the COVID-19 pandemic vis-à-vis conventional markets. A comparative analysis of the impact of the first and second waves of COVID-19 is also conducted. We use five Dow Jones Islamic stock indices and two bond indices and their conventional counterparts as proxies of Islamic and conventional financial markets. Using wavelet, wavelet-based Granger causality, hedge ratio, optimal weights, and hedging effectiveness methods from January 1, 2019, to February 26, 2021, our empirical estimates indicate that both Islamic and conventional stock indices are almost similarly affected by the extreme market turbulence triggered by COVID-19. Hence, Islamic stock markets fail to provide diversification benefits. We also unveil no significant differences between the first and second waves of COVID-19 in the case of dependency. Conversely, Islamic bonds exhibit low dependence on their conventional counterparts, indicating their diversification benefits. We further demonstrate that Islamic and conventional bond pairs could be utilized as a strong portfolio mix because the least hedging cost and highest hedging effectiveness are observed in those portfolios, especially during COVID-19. Overall, our results suggest that global Sukuk offers more resilience in times of extreme market turmoil than other instruments considered in this study. Our findings present global investors and regulators with new insights on diversification and hedging strategy with Islamic finance during a worldwide, severe economic crisis. We present some policy recommendations in creating a more sustainable financial system post-COVID-19.

Digital interventions for people with dementia and carers: effective, cost-effectiveand equitable?

Digital interventions for people with dementia and carers: effective, cost-effectiveand equitable?