Grid-connected roof solar plants in educational institutions for testing and electricity generation: a case in Spain.

The use of photovoltaic experimental plants in engineering educational buildings contributes to an increase in acceptance of this technology by future engineers. There are some photovoltaic (PV) systems in educational buildings in Spain, but they are usually limited to buildings in relation to electrical technologies or research areas. They are not common in other educational or official buildings. This paper presents the project of a grid-connected solar plant with two main objectives. First, different PV module technologies will be compared. Second, an emphasis on agronomical areas in educational settings will be reviewed in an attempt to facilitate student engagement in the use of the power plant. The system is grid-connected in order to pay-back the investment in the plant. In fact the electricity generated by the plant will be used by the installations of the building, as it is the closest consumer. This work intends to approximate photovoltaic technology to university degrees not directly related with it and at the same time research in comparison of systems with different technologies. This is a good example of an solar plant for both optimum production and educational purposes.

Risk sharing with Multilateral Financial Institutions in infrastructure and energy project financing : effect on capital relief for commercial banks

(Matsukawa and Habeck, 2007) analyse the main instruments for risk mitigation in infrastructure financing with Multilateral Financial Institutions (MFIs). Their review coincided with the global financial crisis of 2007-08, and is highly relevant in current times considering the sovereign debt crisis, the lack of available capital and the increases in bank regulation in Western economies. The current macroeconomic environment has seen a slowdown in the level of finance for infrastructure projects, as they pose a higher credit risk given their requirements for long term investments. The rationale for this work is to look for innovative solutions that are focused on the credit risk mitigation of infrastructure and energy projects whilst optimizing the economic capital allocation for commercial banks. This objective is achieved through risk-sharing with MFIs and looking for capital relief in project finance transactions. This research finds out the answer to the main question: "What is the impact of risk-sharing with MFIs on project finance transactions to increase their efficiency and viability?", and is developed from the perspective of a commercial bank assessing the economic capital used and analysing the relevant variables for it: Probability of Default, Loss Given Default and Recovery Rates, (Altman, 2010). An overview of project finance for the infrastructure and energy sectors in terms of the volume of transactions worldwide is outlined, along with a summary of risk-sharing financing with MFIs. A review of the current regulatory framework beneath risk-sharing in structured finance with MFIs is also analysed. From here, the impact of risk-sharing and the diversification effect in infrastructure and energy projects is assessed, from the perspective of economic capital allocation for a commercial bank. CreditMetrics (J. P. Morgan, 1997) is applied over an existing well diversified portfolio of project finance infrastructure and energy investments, working with the main risk capital measures: economic capital, RAROC, and EVA. The conclusions of this research show that economic capital allocation on a portfolio of project finance along with risk-sharing with MFIs have a huge impact on capital relief whilst increasing performance profitability for commercial banks. There is an outstanding diversification effect due to the portfolio, which is combined with risk mitigation and an improvement in recovery rates through Partial Credit Guarantees issued by MFIs. A stress test scenario analysis is applied to the current assumptions and credit risk model, considering a downgrade in the rating for the commercial bank (lender) and an increase of default in emerging countries, presenting a direct impact on economic capital, through an increase in expected loss and a decrease in performance profitability. Getting capital relief through risk-sharing makes it more viable for commercial banks to finance infrastructure and energy projects, with the beneficial effect of a direct impact of these investments on GDP growth and employment. The main contribution of this work is to promote a strategic economic capital allocation in infrastructure and energy financing through innovative risk-sharing with MFIs and economic pricing to create economic value added for banks, and to allow the financing of more infrastructure and energy projects. This work suggests several topics for further research in relation to issues analysed. (Matsukawa and Habeck, 2007) analizan los principales instrumentos de mitigación de riesgos en las Instituciones Financieras Multilaterales (IFMs) para la financiación de infraestructuras. Su presentación coincidió con el inicio de la crisis financiera en Agosto de 2007, y sus consecuencias persisten en la actualidad, destacando la deuda soberana en economías desarrolladas y los problemas capitalización de los bancos. Este entorno macroeconómico ha ralentizado la financiación de proyectos de infraestructuras. El actual trabajo de investigación tiene su motivación en la búsqueda de soluciones para la financiación de proyectos de infraestructuras y de energía, mitigando los riesgos inherentes, con el objeto de reducir el consumo de capital económico en los bancos financiadores. Este objetivo se alcanza compartiendo el riesgo de la financiación con IFMs, a través de estructuras de risk-sharing. La investigación responde la pregunta: "Cuál es el impacto de risk-sharing con IFMs, en la financiación de proyectos para aumentar su eficiencia y viabilidad?". El trabajo se desarrolla desde el enfoque de un banco comercial, estimando el consumo de capital económico en la financiación de proyectos y analizando las principales variables del riesgo de crédito, Probability of Default, Loss Given Default and Recovery Rates, (Altman, 2010). La investigación presenta las cifras globales de Project Finance en los sectores de infraestructuras y de energía, y analiza el marco regulatorio internacional en relación al consumo de capital económico en la financiación de proyectos en los que participan IFMs. A continuación, el trabajo modeliza una cartera real, bien diversificada, de Project Finance de infraestructuras y de energía, aplicando la metodología CreditMet- rics (J. P. Morgan, 1997). Su objeto es estimar el consumo de capital económico y la rentabilidad de la cartera de proyectos a través del RAROC y EVA. La modelización permite estimar el efecto diversificación y la liberación de capital económico consecuencia del risk-sharing. Los resultados muestran el enorme impacto del efecto diversificación de la cartera, así como de las garantías parciales de las IFMs que mitigan riesgos, mejoran el recovery rate de los proyectos y reducen el consumo de capital económico para el banco comercial, mientras aumentan la rentabilidad, RAROC, y crean valor económico, EVA. En escenarios económicos de inestabilidad, empeoramiento del rating de los bancos, aumentos de default en los proyectos y de correlación en las carteras, hay un impacto directo en el capital económico y en la pérdida de rentabilidad. La liberación de capital económico, como se plantea en la presente investigación, permitirá financiar más proyectos de infraestructuras y de energía, lo que repercutirá en un mayor crecimiento económico y creación de empleo. La principal contribución de este trabajo es promover la gestión activa del capital económico en la financiación de infraestructuras y de proyectos energéticos, a través de estructuras innovadoras de risk-sharing con IFMs y de creación de valor económico en los bancos comerciales, lo que mejoraría su eficiencia y capitalización. La aportación metodológica del trabajo se convierte por su originalidad en una contribución, que sugiere y facilita nuevas líneas de investigación académica en las principales variables del riesgo de crédito que afectan al capital económico en la financiación de proyectos.

A study of four listed micro finance institutions

Compared to the size of the microfinance market, the number of Microfinance Institutions that are professionally ran like commercial banks is still scarce, and even more scarce are the MFI listed in public stock exchanges. This document focuses on four listed MFIs and reviews its business model and funding sources. The document also analyses the market price evolution of the listed shares and investigates whether investors are assigning a premium to the MFIs compared with its respective market indices. Keywords: Microfinance institutions, Micro-credits, Financial Institutions, Equity; Stock Exchange.

International for-profit investiments in microfinance institutions equity

In recent years international investors are increasing the focus on the social consequences of their investments along with its financial returns. The microfinance sector, considered as an asset class is a relatively young concept but the microfinance industry is experiencing a tremendous growth and has a high potential for the future. Today most social responsible investments in microfinance are performed through loans or fixed income structured finance vehicles. The possibilities to invest in the equity tranche of the industry are still scarce since the number of listed microfinance institutions is reduced and the private equity investments are limited and difficult to reach for the majority of investors. In this document we present a study on the characteristics of the MFIs and we try to shed some light on this subsector of the equity assets universe that may become important in the coming future. Keywords: Microfinance institutions, Micro-credits, Financial Institutions, Equity; Stock Exchange

International For-Profit Investments in Microfinance Institutions Equity

Purpose: The purpose of this document is to review the funding options for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), define the size of the holdings of international investors in MFI equity and in particular the MFIs listed in stock exchanges, analyze the characteristics of these subset of the financial world and study the stock exchange evolution of some listed MFIs amid the financial crisis. Design/methodology/approach: Since academic literature on listed MFI equity is virtually inexistent, most of the information has been obtained from the World Bank, annual accounts of the listed MFIs, stock exchanges and from equity research documents. Findings and Originality/value: Microfinance Institutions share several common characteristics that make them a resilient business and the few MFIs that are listed in stock exchanges seem to have performed better in the financial crisis. Microfinance can be considered as one of the new frontiers of the expansion of the global banking industry. Practical implications: Presently, international for-profit investors have very few ways of investing in microfinance equity. Most of the equity of the MFI equity is funded locally or thanks to the local public sector. The stock exchange listing of the MFIs should drive MFIs towards a more professional management, more transparency and better governance. Social implications: Microfinance Institutions provide credit to microenterprises in poor countries that have no other alternative sources of external capital to expand its activity. If global investors could easily invest in the listed equity of the MFIs these institutions would expand its lending books and would improve its governance, part of the population living in poor areas or with lower income could ameliorate its standard of living. Originality/value: The number of Microfinance Institutions that are professionally run like commercial banks is still scarce and even more scarce are the MFI listed in public stock exchanges. Therefore the published literature on the characteristics and performance of the listed equity of the Microfinance Institutions is extremely reduced. But microfinance assets are rapidly growing and MFIs will need to list their equity in stock exchanges to sustain this expansion.

Environmental impact indicators estimation in European rural devlopment programs. Limitations of evaluators and financial institutions? Expectatios

The European Commission established Mid-term evaluation for the period 2007-2013 on Rural Development Programs as part of a continuous evaluation system. Mid-term evaluations are important for the Commission because they help measuring the success of a program, as well as giving advice and pointing out good practices for the current and consecutive programming periods. One of the main elements used to achieve these objectives is the impact indicators estimation of the program. This paper will focus on how impact indicators estimation is done for just the environmental indicators. To do this the 88 Mid-term evaluations of Rural Development Programs for 2007-2013 period, were analyzed. This study shows how far the actual methodologies to obtain impact indicators? values are from what the European Commission expects when demanding this task to be done.

Modelo multivariante de evolución en el tiempo de la calidad percibida en la educación superior

Las instituciones de educación superior deben gestionar eficaz y eficientemente sus procesos de captación de nuevos estudiantes, y con este objetivo necesitan mejorar su comprensión sobre los antecedentes que inciden en la intención de recomendarlas. Por lo que esta Tesis Doctoral se centra en el estudio y análisis de las componentes de la calidad del servicio de la educación superior, como antecedentes de la intención de recomendación de una institución universitaria. El enfoque que se adopta en esta investigación integra las dimensiones de calidad docente y de calidad de servicio e incorpora en el análisis la valoración global de la carrera. Paralelamente se contempla la moderación de la experiencia y el desempeño académico del estudiante. En esta Tesis Doctoral se hace uso de la Encuesta de Calidad de la Universidad ORT Uruguay cedida a los autores para su explotación con fines de investigación. Los estudiantes cumplimentan la encuesta semestralmente con carácter obligatorio en una plataforma en línea autoadministrada, que permite identificar las valoraciones realizadas por los estudiantes a lo largo de su paso por la universidad. Por lo que la base de datos es un panel no balanceado que consta de 195.058 registros obtenidos, a partir de 7.077 estudiantes en 17 semestres (marzo de 2003 a 2011). La metodología se concreta en los Modelos de Ecuaciones Estructurales, que proporciona una serie de ventajas con respecto a otras aproximaciones. Una de las más importantes es que permite al investigador introducir información a priori y valorar su inclusión, además de reformular las modelizaciones propuestas desde una perspectiva multi-muestra. En esta investigación se estiman los modelos con MPLUS 7. Entre las principales conclusiones de esta Tesis Doctoral cabe señalar que las percepciones de calidad, servicio, docencia y carrera, inciden positivamente en la intención de recomendar la universidad, y que la variable experiencia del estudiante modera dichas relaciones. Los resultados señalan, en general, que a medida que los estudiantes avanzan en su carrera, los efectos totales de la percepción de la calidad del servicio en la calidad global de la carrera y en la intención de recomendar la universidad son mayores que los efectos que tiene la percepción de calidad de la docencia. Estos hallazgos señalan la necesidad que tienen estas instituciones de educación superior de incorporar en su planificación estratégica la segmentación de los estudiantes según su experiencia. ABSTRACT For institutions of higher education to effectively and efficiently manage their processes for attracting new students, they need to understand the influences that activate student intentions to recommend a program and/or college. This Thesis describes research identifying the quality components of a university that serve as antecedents of student intentions to recommend. The research design integrates teaching and service dimensions of higher education, as well as measures of student perceptions of the overall quality of a program. And introduces the student quality and student experience during the program as moderators of these relationships. This Thesis makes use of the Quality Survey of the Universidad ORT Uruguay ceded to the authors for their exploitation for research purposes. The students complete the survey each semester in a self-administered online platform, which allows to identify the assessments conducted by the students throughout its passage by the university. So that the database is an unbalanced panel consisting of 195.058 records obtained from 7.077 students in 17 semesters (march 2003 to 2011). The methodology of analysis incorporated Simultaneous Equation Models, which provides a number of advantages with respect to other approaches. One of the most important is that it allows the researcher to introduce a priori information and assess its inclusion, in addition to reformulate the modellings proposals with a multi-sample approach. In this research the models are estimated with MPLUS 7. Based on the findings, student perceptions of quality, service, teaching and program, impact positively the intent to recommend the university, but the student’s experience during the program moderates these relationships. Overall, the results indicate that as students advance in the program, the full effects of the perception of service quality in the overall quality of the program and in the intention to recommend the university, outweigh the effects of the perceived teaching quality. The results indicate the need for institutions of higher education to incorporate in its strategic planning the segmentation of the students according to their experience during the program.