Renewable and Sustainable Energy Transition最新文献

This study applies the concept of regret in decision-making under uncertainty to an energy system optimization model to identify optimal robust and stochastic solutions amongst several design options. The approach is demonstrated on the case study of Accra, Ghana, considering uncertainties pertinent to the city, particularly under climate change. The evaluated uncertainty scenarios consider volatile fossil fuel supply, reduced hydropower generation, rising demand due to climate change-driven rural-urban migration and global warming, unplanned power outages due to increasing natural disasters, and currency depreciation. The evaluated systems include Pareto-optimal system solutions typically under consideration by planners, which balance costs and CO₂ emissions. The regret performance is evaluated for each system subject to each uncertainty scenario. A near-CO₂-minimized system is the optimal robust and stochastic least-regret solution. Two factors drive this result: (1) a diverse technology set, which provides generation and cross-sectoral flexibility for adaptation under uncertainty, and (2) effectively balancing rising investment and operation costs with decreasing unmet demand costs. The demonstrated method provides energy planners and policymakers with a pragmatic, effective and fast approach, which offers new insights into long-term energy system planning to improve resilience under uncertainty, supporting the aims of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 11.

Accessible and affordable energy services are a prerequisite for socioeconomic growth and poverty reduction. Yet it is estimated that 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa will not have access to electricity in 2030. Recent research suggests that universal access to electricity will be achieved through a mix of centralized and decentralized systems and that the diffusion of these technologies is a socio-technical process involving multiple actors. These actors include firms, networks, energy users, and government agencies that interact within a political landscape to deliver innovation within energy service systems. Thus, factors related to the political economy can impact the process of innovation and warrant analysis. This study aims to provide an analysis of the political economy factors that can influence the emergence of mini grid electricity development in the African context exemplified in Kenya as a case study. The study uses the Technology Innovation Systems (TIS) lens as an analytical framework to provide a critical analysis of how political economy factors have influenced the development of mini grid electricity in Kenya. The result shows that despite the presence of some favorable conditions for innovation, political economy factors significantly impede the deployment of mini grids in Kenya. Power and vested interests have created negative competition between public and private developers, limiting knowledge and information diffusion between actors and stalling mini grid developments where they are most needed.

The transition to a low-carbon economy can create new job opportunities but may cause job displacement in some sectors that heavily rely on fossil fuels. In order to gain a balanced appraisal in understanding the broader consequences of climate policies, this paper analyses the impact of the EU Fit for 55 with carbon border adjustment on EU employment at the regional level. Research findings prove that certain regions are disproportionately affected by job losses, indicating that the acceptability of these targeted policies should address these potential inequalities. The most exposed are regions with vast energy mining industries, however implementing CBAM reduces the exposure of regions with energy-intensive industries. Some regions in Greece, Spain and Italy are still very vulnerable post-CBAM implementation, suggesting high sensitivity of job losses and low capability of these regions to deal with energy transition. Accordingly, ensuring effective support for these vulnerable regions is critical to enhancing public acceptance and further cooperation for the EU climate commitment and a more well-managed transition to a low-carbon economy.

While carbon dioxide removal is indispensable in net-zero climate policy, incentives to deploy removals are limited. Swedish public support to biochar is one exception. This paper draws on the Swedish case to explore expectations put on biochar and the significance of public support for fulfilling these expectations. The analysis shows that biochar is expected to contribute to several environmental objectives. However, while biochar producers and users voice expectations on strengthening the multifunctionality of landscapes, e.g., improved ecosystem resilience and reduced nutrient run-off, the authorities rather narrowly direct attention to the stability of biochar as a carbon storage. Nevertheless, public support is contributing to a small but important protective space for biochar development through three channels: First, through investment grants, which are crucial for the emerging Swedish biochar production capacity. Second, through demand-pull created by municipalities that specify high environmental safeguards, which favours domestic production over import. Third, indirectly through support of production facilities that enable intermediary activities for gathering and sharing knowledge. However, while recent changes to EU state aid regulation may be a game-changer, EU has until now acted as a barrier to support to carbon dioxide removal. This socio-technical regime resistance, combined with a lack of jointly articulated expectations on biochar, appear to have been preventing deployment on more significant scale.

India is aiming at achieving a major shift in energy production and provision from a fossil fuel-based economy to one focussing on clean energy. As a financially constrained context, the move to the use of renewable energy is happening also through foreign investment and centres mostly on large-scale solar rollouts across the country. Analyses of such initiatives disclose uneven distribution of the benefits and challenges across and within adjacent communities, which particularly affect women and girls due to their gendered roles and responsibilities. This perspective reviews solar energy initiatives focusing on women's engagement run by NGOs and partially funded by the Indian central government, and gendered analyses of large-scale solar energy rollouts, through a feminist lens. A feminist approach to the analysis of large-scale solar rollouts discloses asymmetric power relations and energy inequalities against women and girls, which often reproduce those linked to fossil fuel. In contrast to this scenario, NGOs have a long-standing tradition in India of addressing socio-economic issues where governments failed to do so. Yet, available evidence of the impacts of their engagement in small-scale energy projects in India is quite new. Grassroots solar energy innovations, by being shaped by local communities, have the potential to challenge constraints on a just transitions while promoting greater gender equality and responding to communities’ energy needs.

Remote islands, comprising over one-sixth of the Earth's surface area and home to approximately 9% of the global population, face formidable challenges in securing affordable, sustainable, and reliable energy. This paper presents a pioneering investigation into Mornington Island's transition from diesel reliance to renewable energy predominance over the next four decades. By demonstrating the tangible benefits of renewable energy implementation on Mornington Island, this research provides compelling simulated evidence that blending traditional and renewable energy sources can revolutionize energy provision for small island communities. Employing hybrid Wind-Solar renewable energy systems bolstered by an effective battery storage system (ESS), this innovative approach ensures a seamless shift to renewable energy, resilient against seasonal variations and extreme weather events such as cyclones. Our analysis, conducted through a tech-economic model simulating each 5% increment of renewable energy penetration, reveals that renewable energy outperforms traditional diesel generation in terms of affordability over a 40-year operational span. Specifically, a 95% renewable energy penetration yields the lowest levelized energy cost ($162.2/MWh), resulting in a remarkable $8.54 million reduction in diesel costs. A 5% diesel component secures annual energy supply, bridging the gap during periods of seasonal renewable energy variability and extreme cyclonic weather. While achieving 100% renewable energy generation is financially feasible, challenges arise in scaling battery capacity to stabilize energy supply during cyclone seasons. Moreover, our carbon accounting model indicates that although the construction of renewable energy infrastructure entails some indirect (Scope 3) carbon emissions, a 95% renewable penetration mitigates emissions by 90% compared to traditional diesel generation, amounting to a reduction of 39.17 kilotons over the 40-year period. This comprehensive study provides policymakers with invaluable insights, fostering a holistic understanding of the financial, technical, environmental, and political dimensions inherent in island energy transitions.

In supporting the phase-out of the fossil fuels, Roof Top Photovoltaic (RTPV) deployment has been adopted worldwide as an important step of a bottom-up driving pathway of citizens’ transformation to become net energy producers within the community of their localized building environment. However, the diverse bioclimatic conditions of this environment may affect the best RTPV implementation. This is facilitated by climate-related characterization and regional adaptation. Hence, the built environment globally as a function of the global horizontal irradiation (GHI), the local environmental parameters of the different climatic zones and the associated technological developments are surveyed.

In this work, we have critically assessed the RTPV effect on the building's overall energy performance and found beneficial over a diverse range of moderate and warm climates. By applying adequate insulation beneath the RTPVs, the increased heating needs in winter in cold climates or higher nighttime cooling needs in summertime can be avoided. To design low-energy buildings, we propose an analytical framework based on the space energy coverage by RTPV and the global horizontal irradiation. Moreover, RTPV cooling at elevated temperatures improves the efficiency up to 20 % and increases the generated electricity up to 15 %. Increasing the RTPV efficiency with emerging technologies could extend the decarbonization of high-rise buildings with energy efficiency and RTPV measures. To accelerate the clean energy transition, rooftop PVs should be widely adopted for sustainable solar building applications. Combined with electrical storage, this will allow renewable energy resources to cover a large fraction of future building energy needs worldwide.

Germany must decarbonise all energy sectors to meet international and national climate goals. This task necessitates linking the electricity with the gas, heat and mobility sectors. On the one hand, sector coupling increases the demand for electrical energy and changes well-known demand patterns requiring updates to the grid infrastructure. On the other hand, the newly coupled sectors offer flexibility options to support the grid infrastructure and reduce expansion needs.

This study employs a highly detailed model of the German transmission grid to analyse the impact of sector coupling comprising additional electricity demands and flexibility options on grid and storage expansion needs in the year 2035. The results demonstrate that utilising flexibility options can reduce system costs and lower CO₂ emissions. The research adheres to open source and open data principles, with all data and tools being publicly accessible.

This article explores the potential convergence between the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) framework and failure studies in the context of the alternative energy program in the Global South. It focuses on a single case study, namely the failure of micro-hydro technology in Banyubiru (the Banyubiru project). Using qualitative research methods, this article examines the construction of the Banyubiru project and its failure to integrate with the power grid of the Indonesia State Electricity Company (PLN), despite substantial investments, installations, and considerable interest in renewable energy from diverse stakeholder groups at local, national, and international levels. In a hybrid (online and in-person) format, semi-structured interviews were employed to obtain data. The data collection procedure also includes site visits, observations, and document analysis. The finding indicates that technology development follows a more complicated path than a straight one from interpretative flexibility to closure. It illustrates a progression from closure to interpretive flexibility, wherein social groupings initially establish formal agreements but afterwards encounter conflicting interpretations. In conclusion, the article illustrates the potential for failure studies to provide insights into the limitations of SCOT in the analysis of energy technology failures.