Understanding Power Purchase Agreements
Today was the final day of the Book Sprint in New Jersey to produce the first handbook of the Understanding series: Understanding Power Purchase Agreements, to help demystify Purchase Power Agreements, the contracts for buying and selling energy. A first draft of the epublication is already available on the USAID website.
Authors of Understanding Power Purchase Agreements
With a room full of lawyers, who love to debate over the tiniest of details, the Sprint presented a challenge from the get-go. However the group coalesced very quickly, reaching consensus on the fundamentals and agreeing to disagree where necessary in order to move on. The diversity of experience and personalities in the room ensured a very lively atmosphere and the book has emerged as something that the group can be proud of, a much-need resource in the field which will be printed and distributed widely to serve as a reference point for decision-makers and investors in power.
The book is a good example of the Book Sprints process at its best: one day of wild brainstorming and plunging into writing, a second spent trying to refine the concept while churning out all the words. And two full days restructuring and refining content in order to create a text which captures the multiplicity of minds in the room without sacrificing cohesion.
Today as goodbyes were said and plans of where to publish the book were discussed, many of the participants admitted being pleasantly surprised by their collective ability to produce a book in just five days. Rumor has it that there was even a bet going before they got here that a book would not be done by the end of the week! So we are very happy to release it.
Below some impressions of the Book Sprint’ participants:
- Eluma Obibuaku from the African Finance Corporation
- Mohamed Badissy from Commercial Law Development Program
You can see the photos from the five days in the Book Sprint photostream.