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A successful and just energy transition is subject to policies that adhere to a multi-dimensional approach to renewable energy development. To achieve success in renewable energy development, well-thought-out and efficient policies must be implemented. This paper aims to address a major shortcoming in renewable energy development in terms of understanding and recognising the policy space that promotes or hampers renewable energy growth. The paper examines the relevant literature to identify major themes and factors in renewable energy development. A thematic analysis was conducted using a hybrid inductive and deductive approach and resulted in the identification of 5 major themes namely Institutional, Environmental, Financial, Socio-cultural, Technical and 144 factors. The identified themes and factors will assist to make a policy action decisive, just, and sustainable. Recommendations including comprehensive incentivisation, regulatory support for renewable energy technologies in developing nations, environment impact assessment programs, promotion of financial transparency and opting for a just transition to benefit local and vulnerable communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using panel data of 102 countries from 1990 to 2018, this research investigates the varying effect of renewable energy policies on renewable energy green innovation along with the distribution of green innovation. The panel quantile model with additive fixed effect is adopted in this paper, and the research conclusions are as follows. (1) Green innovation positively correlates with national renewable energy policy. (2) Renewable policy is more effective in countries with stronger green innovation capacity. (3) In five different areas of renewable energy, renewable policy is unable to promote green innovation in the lowest innovative countries. (4) Renewable policy exerts the smallest influence on green innovation of geothermal energy compared to other renewable energies. In sum, this paper provides an empirical reference for governments to launch renewable energy policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cheap Production of bioethanol from renewable lignocellulosic waste has the imperative potential to economically cut burgeoning world dependency on fossils while reducing net emission of carbon dioxide (CO 2), a principal greenhouse gas (GHGs). This paper highlights key benefits and status of bioethanol production technologies, aiming mainly on recent developments and its key potentials in Pakistan. Most sector of Pakistan economy heavily rely on the energy and power that is being produced using traditional approaches like from oil and hydel. However, the sedimentation in dams cut-down the energy generation and overwhelmed severe energy crisis that are witnessed since last decade. Thus, Pakistan must go to avail alternative sources of energy like hydro, biomass and solar so that energy security can be ensured to recover the tremendous loss of economy. Renewable biomass is abundantly available in Pakistan which can be used to produce bioethanol and electricity. Currently, 22 distilleries are producing the ethanol from sugar cane bagasse and out of these only 8 distillation units are producing motor fuel grade ethanol. The current bioethanol production of country is about 403,500 tons/year along with 2423 tons of biodegradable waste available in major cities. In addition, Pakistan produces 6.57, 0.5, 0.66, and 2.66 million tons of sugarcane, corn, rice, and wheat straw per annum, respectively. This biomass can produce 1.6 million liters of bioethanol which can produce approximately 38% of Pakistan's electricity annually. Despite having large potential, Pakistan is still producing a few volumes of ethanol from sugarcane bagasse. The production of bioethanol can be boosted using (I) pretreatment of agricultural biomass by alkali (II) enzymatic and bacteria-based hydrolysis of the biomass (III) post-hydrolysis using pressurized steam above 100 °C (IV) Fermentation of the biomass@ 7–10 h and (V) and (VI) distillation of bioethanol. This study recommends (1) increase R&D capacities mainly in the west and central regions of Pakistan, (2) initiate mega-projects to promote integrated bio-ethanol production at agriculture farms by providing 1/3 subsides, (3) purchase of bioethanol directly from the major agricultural farms, (4) produce bioethanol related manpower from the key research institutes as specified in this study. • Upgradation of inefficient biogas to bioethanol can solve energy crisis. • Study witnessed huge potential of bioethanol (403,500 tons/year) from cheap biomass. • Key technical barriers in the green development of ethanol is emphasized fact-sheet. • Study implementation will replace inefficient biomass burn into ethanol combustion. • Study will definitively help policy makers to sustain lives of Pakistan people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional petrol vehicles emit a substantial quantity of greenhouse gases, leading to increasingly serious global warming problems. The expansion and development of renewable power generation technologies is conducive in promoting the use of electric vehicles, which are more environmentally friendly. This paper proposes a multi-objective power expansion model considering renewable energy policy objectives. The model regards the problem as a multi-period optimisation task, taking the newly installed capacity and the power generation capacity of each power generation technology as decision variables, and simulating the uncertain factors in the planning process using Geometric Brownian Motion and Monte Carlo approaches. The optimisation objective of the model is to minimise expected costs, reduce risk and environmental impacts, and incorporate changing policy objectives into the constraints to meet policy makers' expectations for renewable energy development. Then, a decentralised target search-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is proposed to solve the model. Its effectiveness is verified by a numerical example using real data from the Chinese power system. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm exhibits improved performance compared with benchmark algorithms and provides high quality and diverse Pareto-optimal solutions to decision makers. Finally, the optimal plans for power expansion and generation mix under different preferences and policy objectives are discussed and corresponding recommendations are made. [Display omitted] • Planning for the expansion of power generation under uncertainties is determined. • Strategies for the expansion of power generation towards renewable energy are optimised. • A novel multi-objective evolutionary algorithm with a constraint handling method is developed. • The impact of multiple renewable energy policies on power generation expansion planning is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying the research topics of China's energy transition policy and predicting future research trends are crucial for policymakers to make informed decisions and advance the energy transition. This study applied the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to extract 26 major research topics from the 13,976 abstracts of Chinese policy research papers in web of science (WOS), conceptualized the five most popular topics and used the ARIMA model to predict trends over the next 36 months. The results show that except for Economic and Environmental Impact of Renewable Energy Consumption (Topic13), which will first experience unanticipated fluctuations and then show strong growth capacity, all other topics will continue to remain positive growth trend. Research and Development (Topic3) is driven by the urgency of China's energy transformation. Economic and Environmental Impact of Renewable Energy Consumption (Topic13) is driven by the potential for the development of renewable energy. Economic Impact of Climate Change (Topic26) is driven by the climate change debate. Economic Growth, Urbanization, and Energy Consumption (Topic7) is driven by a discussion of their relationship and the mechanisms influencing them. Regional Efficiency and Productivity Analysis (Topic19) is driven by regional differences in China's energy policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefits of biomass as an alternative fossil fuel can be realized mainly through biomass consumption. This paper examines the growth rate and spatial patterns of biomass consumption in the United States (hereafter US) during the period 2000–2012, using the SLOPE index, Moran's I and local Moran's I. Results indicate that US States show either slow growth or slow decline in biomass consumption during the period 2000–2012. The number of States that have slow growth in biomass consumption is slightly larger than the number of States showing slow decline. The pattern of growth rate of biomass consumption revealed by the SLOPE index and the observed pattern of the temporal variation of biomass consumption ensures that the SLOPE index can catch the growth rate of biomass consumption. This pattern does not align with the increased annual investment in biomass, indicating that the investment in biomass does not flow down to the biomass industry effectively. The pattern of growth rate of biomass consumption will provide additional evidence for the debates about the effectiveness of State renewable energy policy, and demonstrates an urgent need for appropriate State renewable energy policies. There is a High-High spatial cluster around the Southeast of the US and a Low-Low spatial cluster in the Middle of the US in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. The regional spatial cluster in biomass consumption has somewhat relationship with the growth rate of biomass consumption, which can help the understanding of the growth rate of biomass consumption. • The SLOPE index is used to investigate the growth rate of biomass consumption. • The pattern of growth rate does not align with the increased annual investment. • There is an urgent need for appropriate State renewable energy policies. • There are regional clusters in biomass consumption in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. • The regional spatial cluster has somewhat relationship with the growth rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the first attempt at modelling the impact of economic policy uncertainty on renewable energy consumption in the USA using monthly data from 1986 to 2019. By implementing recent nonparametric (nonlinear) econometric approaches, we find that our models suffer from nonlinearity and smooth, as well as abrupt structural changes. The nonparametric unit root tests indicate non-stationarity of the model variables while the cointegration suggests the presence of nonlinear cointegration. The Granger causality analyses establish robust nonlinear causation in both directions between the policy uncertainty and renewable energy variables, with one exception: from geothermal energy to the three-component index of uncertainty. The nonparametric regressions exhibit a negative long-run association between policy uncertainty and renewable energy consumption, i.e., higher economic policy uncertainty lowers renewable energy consumptions and vice-versa. These findings have robust policy implications as they underscore the importance of governments, policymakers and concerned agents to maintain uniformity in economic policy to encourage renewable energy consumption in the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy sector with 70% public budget influence in Turkey is unsurprisingly one of the sectors over which most policies have been developed. Although Turkey is rich in terms of renewable energy sources such as solar, water, wind, geothermal; as the speed of the consumption of the energy generated through these resources is higher than the production, the use of other non-renewable energy sources is at stake, and increases the emission amount released into the environment depending on this type of energy used. In this study, Energy Extended Input-Output Analysis has been conducted using the data of emission occurred depending on energy use within the framework of energy economy as an interdisciplinary field of study. And research has been carried out on the mutual interdependency between energy and economy. This paper employs an analysis recently published as an input-output table of the year 2014 of Turkey and energy use emission data of the same year in the World Input-Output Database. The emission occurred as a result of one single unit of energy use in the sector of electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply, which are one of the two sectors including the whole components of the energy sector in Turkey, comes first with 51.4327 TJ/million-dollar coefficient, manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products, which is the other sector, ranks at the ninth row with the coefficient of 4.4556 TJ/million-dollar. As a result of the conducted analysis, while normalized total backward energy use emission linkages coefficients (BL j) equal 10.1074 TJ for Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply sector, they are 1.1676 TJ for the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products. Normalized total forward energy use emission linkages coefficients (FL i) are 21.448 TJ for electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, yet they are 1.3941 TJ for manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products. Policies on the sustainable use of energy in Turkey have been developed through the achieved results in the content of the study. Policies by focusing on the economy and prioritizing the role of energy in providing sustainable development, preferring environmentally friendly renewable energy sources, and encouraging less production of emission, have especially been mentioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Renewable energy targets announced in 2014 present an opportunity to reform Indonesia's electricity sector which is dominated by fossil fuels. In this paper we discuss Indonesia's current renewable energy policies and future outlook for achieving the targets. This paper serves as a literature review of Indonesia's changing energy policy landscape, as part of a broader research investigating renewable energy targets and the role of the private sector. Despite Indonesia's wealth of renewable energy resources, numerous studies have identified multiple constraints to the development of renewable energy, including geographical, institutional and investment factors. Influential groups are calling for the Indonesian Government to put in place a clear policy framework that facilitates private sector investment. Therefore, interventions to facilitate investment in energy infrastructure in Indonesia must address the monopolised power market system that oversees a changing, complex malaise of electricity pricing regulations which make investment risky and uncertain. This study will enrich the existing literature on renewable energy policy which emphasises the importance of engaging the private sector. It is based on a rigorous qualitative assessment of Indonesia's changing policy that affects the progress of the renewable energy targets. The lessons from Indonesia's experience may provide insights for policymakers notably in developing countries.Keywords: energy in Indonesia, private sector investment, renewable energy Highlights • Indonesia's renewable energy targets show awareness of the need for renewable energy to solve the energy trilemma challenge. • The targets represent forward thinking policy that moves from the abstract to measurable targets. • Private sector participation is imperative to address today's under investmentin Indonesia's electricity infrastructure. • Indonesia needs to reinforce its commitment to renewable energy to resolve constraints impeding private sector investment. • Indonesia needs to embark on electricity sector reform that encompasses decarbonisation as part of its strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper develops an analytical approach to explore institutional barriers to spatial integration between renewable energy (RE) and other land use functions and provides insight into opportunities for institutional harmonization between involved policy domains. Spatial integration of RE with other land use functions provides opportunities to use limited amounts of space more efficiently, allowing for a more fluent roll-out of renewable technologies. However, such integration requires the involvement of various policy domains that are each guided by specific institutional frameworks, which are often tailored to specific sectoral needs. Therefore, spatial integration of RE and other land use functions requires institutional harmonization between involved policy domains. However, there is limited guidance in literature on how such harmonization does or could occur. Moreover, while literature on RE recognizes the merits of institutional approaches, it focuses on institutions as the formal rules of the game, often disregarding the agency component (the 'play of the game'). The analytical approach developed in this paper combines the Institutional Analysis and Development framework with insights from Discursive Institutionalism. The approach enables structured assessment of relationships within and between established institutions (the 'rules of the game') and actors' ideas, interpretations and deliberations regarding these institutions (the 'play of the game'), providing insight in processes of institutional harmonization. This analytical approach is applied to the case of spatial integration of photovoltaics with national transport infrastructure networks in the Netherlands. The findings from the case show that (1) insight in interrelations between institutional barriers is crucial for addressing institutional harmonization; (2) institutional harmonization within policy domains is a precondition for harmonization between policy domains; and (3) the agency component (play of the game) is key to successful harmonization. In conclusion, the analytical approach provides insight into the co-evolution between the rules of the game and the play of the game, which is pivotal to institutional harmonization. Highlights • Spatial integration of renewable energy requires institutional harmonization. • Institutional harmonization requires insight in dynamic, interrelated institutions. • Harmonization is conditioned by actors' ideas and interpretation of institutions. • Harmonization between policy domains also requires harmonization in these domains. • Research is needed regarding the role of agency in improving harmonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Energy systems are quickly evolving through the development of new technologies and the emergence of new operational and market design paradigms. In particular, the global push for sustainability is driving the transition towards a pronounced redesign. In fact, renewable energy integration is occurring at a massive scale, and several other exciting developments are finding their place in modern energy systems, such as distributed energy resources, demand response, energy storage technologies, and local energy markets. In this dynamic context, the process of energy policy design and implementation has found new challenges, and in supporting this key process, expansion planning models and tools can play an essential role. For example, these models can be employed to estimate the impact of a multitude of policy instruments. Thus, there is a wide interest in these tools and a variety of such models, as evidenced by a rich literature and a fast-paced evolution of this research area. Motivated by this, this work presents a comprehensive and up-to-date review on expansion planning models and tools with emphasis on their application to energy policy analysis. In particular, this paper reviews the most significant policy instruments, with an emphasis in renewable energy integration, the optimization models that have been developed for expansion planning, and existing decision-support tools for energy policy analysis. Finally, this paper also discusses the trends in the literature and the most pressing current challenges in the development and use of expansion planning models for energy policy analysis. Highlights • Provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview on expansion planning models. • Reviews the most significant policy instruments with an emphasis in renewable energy integration. • Describes the salient features of using expansion models on energy policy analysis. • Discusses the future trends and challenges of smart grid technologies on expansion models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the climate crisis, the development and the path of growth and expansion of renewable energy systems is an urgent task, but must carried out with great care on environmental compatibility and protection. Renewable energy supply systems that are suitable for grid-bound heat supply, particularly in urban areas in Europe, are geothermal binary plants that provide power as well as power and heat. This paper will present studies whose objective was the assessment of hydrogeothermal power and heat generation in low-enthalpy regions from the environmental standpoint. The German Environment Agency published results of a network of studies conducted between 2008 and 2016 on the analysis of detailed and comprehensive environmental impacts of the geothermal energy generation in Germany and has continuously evaluated these findings. In this article, the results of the Life Cycle Assessment are discussed, taking into account all effects and material flows within the entire life cycle. Based on these balances, differing geothermal systems are compared to each other and to other renewable and fossil energy generation systems in order to assess the ecological advantages and disadvantages of these systems. Taking into account local environmental impacts as well a comprehensive ecologic evaluation of potential environmental and human health impacts becomes possible. The paper presents the results of a) the mass and energy fluxes of the process chain along the life cycle, and b) the local environmental impacts along the life cycle with regard to the environmental indicators of these cases. The focus is on the impact of site and plant parameters. Concluding, it can be summarised that geothermal power and heat generation is a very low-carbon technology and can contribute to a sustainable energy supply. Hydrogeothermal plants show a significantly low surface consumption, and environmental impacts are only locally relevant and technically controllable. Through the development of optimised overall concepts, geothermal based power and heat generation can achieve minimal environmental impacts in all areas. The combined heat and power generation from geothermal resources is by far the most environmentally and climate-friendly energy supply compared to all other regenerative and fossil systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transitioning electricity generation sectors to renewable energy is a necessary element of climate change mitigation but a challenging one with years of technical and social lock-in creating considerable inertia and a pace of change insufficient to meet the task. Transition management has emerged as a promising approach to proactively manage and accelerate transitions in sectors like energy and water and has the potential to do so in manner that would help secure energy justice. However, the approach has been criticised for ignoring the political dynamics of transitions, risking procedural and recognition injustice for traditional energy production regions while increasing opposition to a transition. This paper uses a qualitative case study approach to understand how a transition to renewable energy generation could be achieved in a way that secures energy justice for traditional energy production regions like those of Gladstone in the Australian state of Queensland. The paper augments the transition management approach with the “just transitions” concept, which has emerged from labour movements as a means to mitigate negative impacts on workers and communities in traditional energy production regions, to create a “Just Transition Management” framework that is applied as a diagnostic tool to the case study. While results suggest a transition is imminent within Queensland, a lack of: consistent, supportive federal policy; long-term visions, and a clear process leaves it at risk of being captured by the powerful incumbent resources sector utilising an “environment vs. jobs” narrative. Yet, the results also suggest that adopting a just transition management approach has the potential to successfully resist the influence of the resources sector, by providing cheap, secure renewable energy and supporting affected workers into roles in the renewable energy sector using a reflexive, representative network governance approach. Data analysis reveals how the application of just transition principles has already engaged communities and unions that were previously sceptical of renewable energy. Overall, this study suggests that the just transition management framework assists in identifying the political barriers to transitions and energy justice more broadly, while also providing a management approach which creates powerful niche actor-networks to counter the narratives and influence of the incumbent resource sector. Thus it could support successful transitions that achieve the distributional, recognition and procedural justice needed for energy justice globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies targeting energy efficiency and renewable energy are sometimes viewed as more politically feasible than carbon pricing in pursuit of emission reduction goals. This paper assesses underlying drivers of energy policy development. These factors include economic, social, environmental, and institutional variables. The between estimator for panel data is an appropriate method for our focus on some exogenous variables that vary more across countries than over time. We find that larger oil reserves per capita have a negative relationship with renewable energy policy development. Education and political globalisation have strong positive relationships with both energy-efficiency and renewable-energy policy development. These results suggest that greater participation in global political groups can be an indirect approach toward energy policy development, in cases where direct and immediate policies are hard to implement. OECD countries have higher policy scores by 33 and 25 points in energy efficiency and renewable energy respectively. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis shows that these higher scores are primarily due to social and political institution predictors rather than economics and physical endowments. • Large-n cross country international sample on continuous policy score measurement. • Political globalisation is positively linked with renewables and energy efficiency policies. • Education is positively linked to energy policy development, especially for efficiency. • Higher OECD countries' policy scores are primarily due to social and political predictors. • Higher incomes are unlikely to lead to automatic improvements in energy policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most commonly, hydropower operation focused on the economic and social benefits of the humankind, whereas neglecting the riverine ecosystem conservation. This conventional approach of operation led to the degradation of the riverine ecosystem. As research progressed, adoption of natural flow variability in the operation of reservoir gained momentum. Flow variability is a major driver of the healthy river ecosystem, whereby discharging a certain amount of water could potentially reduce the adverse effect of reservoirs and dams on the riverine ecosystem. On this preface, the study presented here constitutes a multi-objective optimisation model of cascade reservoirs to maximise the power generation while minimising the shortage of environmental flows considering five environmental management classes. This paper analyses the case studies for Liujiaping-Yumitan cascade reservoirs. The environmental flows regarding each environmental management classes were calculated using "Global Environmental Flow Calculator", the model was solved using an anon-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II). The NSGA-II helps to find Pareto optimal sets of solutions, NSGA-II, however, cannot be used solely for taking a comprehensive decision. Therefore, the Projection Pursuit Cluster (PPC) model has been used additionally for the optimal sequencing of the compromised optimal solutions. The maximum annual power production considering five environmental management classes were respectively: 1.121, 1.109, 1.103, 1.109, and 1.117 (x108 kWh) with environmental flows shortage of 2060.82, 616.497, 200.52, 28.88, and 0.004 (x104 m3) respectively. Findings resulted from this study, highlight the necessity for power production compromise for a better degree of environmental protection. In contrast, the environmental benefit is more important not only for the sustainable operation of the hydropower but also for fulfilling the universal needs of the riverine ecosystem. Therefore, the outcomes of this study can be a guideline for decision-makers to improve the comprehensive benefits of the Liujiaping-Yumitan cascade hydropower station along with the conservation of the environmental health of the river. Image 1 • NSGA-II algorithm is capable of providing reasonable trade-offs between hydropower production and e-flows. • For higher environmental management classes, the e-flows shortage increases. • Annual power production remains nearly the same in all environmental management classes. • More power generation must be compromised to increase the degree of environmental protection. • GEFC approach can be used only for preliminary planning and operation purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability transition of electricity sectors is a matter of competition between multiple emerging renewable systems and dominant, established conventional systems. These transitions are multi-dimensional and are featured with non-linear and causal interactions between social, technical, economic and political components. Understanding the dynamic of transitions, i.e. how transitions unfold, can inform effective policy interventions. This paper aims to present a narrative-modelling approach to improve the understanding and description of transition dynamics in electricity sectors. The central ideas of the paper are: (1) the use of qualitative transition narratives helps to capture the co-evolving nature of society and technology which are simplified in modelling approaches; (2) narratives, with concepts from the sustainability transitions field, also guide the development of a model structure; and (3) computational models, in return, reproduce the complexity of transition dynamics, i.e. feedback loops, non-linearity, and time delays—the features which are impracticable to analyse with transition narratives alone. We use the historical transition of India's electricity sector to demonstrate the implementation of our proposed approach. First, an overview of the transition narratives is presented and the model structure, developed based on the narratives, is explained. Then, it is argued how the coupling of the narratives and model improves our understating of the positive impacts as well as the side-effects of stable feed-in tariffs and accelerated depreciation on the penetration levels of wind and solar electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global biodiesel production grew by 23% per annum between 2005 and 2015, leading to a seven-fold expansion of the sector in a single decade. Rapid development in the biodiesel sector corresponded to high crude oil prices, but since mid-2014, oil prices have fallen dramatically. This paper assesses the economic and policy factors that underpinned the expansion of biodiesel, and examines the near-term prospects for biodiesel growth under conditions of low fossil fuel prices. We show that the dramatic increase in biodiesel output would not have occurred without strong policy directives, subsidies, and trade policies designed to support agricultural interests, rural economic development, energy security, and climate targets. Given the important role of policy—and the political context within each country that shapes policy objectives, instruments, and priorities—case studies of major biodiesel producing countries are presented as a key element of our analysis. Although the narrative of biodiesel policies in most countries conveys win-win outcomes across multiple objectives, the case studies show that support of particular constituents, such as farm lobbies or energy interests, often dominates policy action and generates large social costs. Looking out to 2020, the paper highlights risks to the biodiesel industry associated with ongoing regulatory and market uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides a complete and reliable ranking to the states of India in the renewable energy generation arena. The methodology adopted in the article rests on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). One of the recently developed super-efficiency DEA formulations is integrated with a procedure to allow for non-discretionary input variables. The integration may fail to be feasible in certain cases. To deal with infeasibility, a heuristics is proposed. Using a simulation, it is demonstrated that the approach yields complete and fairly reliable rankings in the vast majority of the cases. Tamil Nadu appears as the leader followed by Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh are the laggards. Rankings will be useful for policy-makers in identifying the leaders and the laggards in the renewable energy sector, and hence, for fine tuning the policies to promote better renewable energy deployment. Rankings will also be helpful for investors in the sector by providing them with a simple tool to identify lucrative investment options. The approach is fairly generalizable to many other practical cases. Image 1 • Super-efficiency DEA model is amalgamated with non-discretionary input model. • A heuristics is used to avoid infeasibility; its efficacy is shown via simulation. • Indian states are ranked based on performance in renewable energy sector. • Tamil Nadu appears as the leader and Madhya Pradesh as the laggard. • Further application is demonstrated by providing ranks to countries in wind energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limiting the negative effects of human-induced global warming is the focus of climate policy worldwide. In the European Union (EU), the target for reaching carbon neutrality is set to 2050, including a proposed renewable energy target of 45% for 2030. In Finland, the government has pledged to reach net-zero emissions already by 2035, which is expected to require large increases in wind and nuclear capacity, as well as sector coupling with, e.g., transport and heating. In view of these plans, this study evaluates the feasibility of attaining carbon neutrality in Finland by 2035, while considering delays from potential bottlenecks, such as limited raw material availability, fuel availability, manufacturing capacity, and import reliance. The literature review highlights the considerable dependence of renewable technologies on critical raw materials and other minerals, largely imported from non-EU countries. Modelling revealed how increased biomass usage considerably reduces the size of national carbon sinks, vital for reaching net-zero emissions in Finland in the coming decade. In light of this, current climate strategy was shown to be partially outdated and short of reaching carbon neutrality by 2035, already without including potential delays from the analyzed bottlenecks. Subsequently, alternative measures to improve sustainability and reduce emissions are presented. The findings of this paper are also relevant for other countries aiming to reach net-zero emissions, especially for those which have climate strategies emphasizing bioenergy and wind power. [Display omitted] • Raw material and manufacturing bottlenecks can delay renewable implementation. • Maintaining carbon sinks critical for climate neutral Finland in 2035. • Limits to biomass usage are needed, but result in adverse industrial impacts. • Further nuclear capacity needed for 2035 climate target and electricity sufficiency. • Finland will rely on electricity imports in 2035, despite plans to become exporter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey’s rapid economic growth followed by increasing gap between domestic energy production and consumption signifies the large-scale integration of low-carbon and renewable resources into energy system. Turkey’s energy demand is increasing and supplying fossil energies such as oil and gas is becoming more challenging due to the lack of domestic hydrocarbon resources. The country is facing two main issues; first, maintaining energy balance and second, handling environmental issues. Nevertheless, Turkey has substantial renewable and low-carbon energy resources with co-benefits for the country’s fast growing economy and environmental sustainability. This paper aims to present a comprehensive update on Turkey’s renewable and low-carbon energy sector. It reviews not only the current status of the technology, policy and economy, but also provides an insight into the social aspects as well. From a policy point of view, the paper critically discusses Turkey’s energy strategy and perspectives and from the social point of view, the paper argues that there is a research gap in recent literature regarding public awareness and social acceptance of low-carbon energy technologies. Also, the future challenges for promoting low-carbon society in Turkey are discussed in terms of sustainable development and socio-environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Majority of the power generation in India is carried out by conventional energy sources, coal and fossil fuels being the primary ones, which contribute heavily to greenhouse gas emission and global warming. The Indian power sector is witnessing a revolution as excitement grips the nation about harnessing electricity from various renewable energy sources. Electricity generation from renewable sources is increasingly recognized to play an important role for the achievement of a variety of primary and secondary energy policy goals, such as improved diversity and security of energy supply, reduction of local pollutant and global greenhouse gas emissions, regional and rural development, and exploitation of opportunities for fostering social cohesion, value addition and employment generation at the local and regional level. This focuses the solution of the energy crisis on judicious utilization of abundant the renewable energy resources, such as biomass, solar, wind, geothermal and ocean tidal energy. This paper reviews the renewable energy scenario of India as well as extrapolates the future developments keeping in view the consumption, production and supply of power. Research, development, production and demonstration have been carried out enthusiastically in India to find a feasible solution to the perennial problem of power shortage for the past three decades. India has obtained application of a variety of renewable energy technologies for use in different sectors too. There are ample opportunities with favorable geology and geography with huge customer base and widening gap between demand and supply. Technological advancement, suitable regulatory policies, tax rebates, efficiency improvement in consequence to R&D efforts are the few pathways to energy and environment conservation and it will ensure that these large, clean resource bases are exploited as quickly and cost effectively as possible. This paper gives an overview of the potential renewable energy resources in Indian context while evaluating the present status, the energy demand of the country and forecast consumption and production, with the objective to evaluate and assess whether India can sustain its growth and its society with renewable resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Southeast Asian countries stand at a crossroads concerning their shared energy future and heavily rely on fossil fuels for transport and electricity. Within Asia, especially India and China lead the world renewable energy generation undergoing a period of energy transition and economic transformation. Southeast Asian countries have huge potentials for sustainable energy sources. However they are yet to perform globally in renewable energy deployment due to various challenges. The primary objective of the study is to examine the renewable energy growth and analyse the government policies to scale up the deployment of renewables for power generation substantially. The study also offers policy recommendations to accelerate renewable energy exploitation sustainably across the region. To achieve the ambitious target of 23% renewables in the primary energy mix by 2025, ASEAN Governments should take proactive measures like removal of subsidies of fossil fuels, regional market integration and rapid implementation of the existing project. Eventually, each of this strategy will necessitate sustained leadership, political determination, and concrete actions from stakeholders, in particular, increased cooperation across the region. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Southeast Asia countries significantly rely on fossil resources. • Renewable energy development is constrained by strong economic growth. • Social, political and economic pressures hinder the implementation of renewable energy policy. • The paper suggests the exchange of ideas and increased cooperation as a mechanism for development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Worldwide, the demand for energy has increased significantly in last two decades, leading to an increased use of non-renewable energy resources. The global agenda aims to reduce the carbon intensity of energy in long-term climate change mitigation strategies, and to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG-7) on affordable and clean energy. Use of renewable energy (RE) can contribute to reducing global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while providing incremental financial resources to stimulate clean development mechanisms. Hydropower continues to be the leading RE option and has the additional benefits of water storage for agriculture and other uses. Drawing on the position of four Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) countries – Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan – this paper investigates the current status of hydropower generation and related policies, and attempts to identify the key challenges to and opportunities for hydropower development in the region. Collectively, four HKH countries have commercially feasible hydropower potential of nearly 190 GW. However, only one-third of this potential has actually been tapped so far. Nepal and Pakistan have tapped 2% and 12%, respectively, of their hydropower potential. The current hydropower supply has not been able to fulfill the electricity demand in the region, where 26–37% of the rural population is living without access to electricity, and future demand for electricity is likely to increase sharply. There are several economic, social, technical, environmental, ecological and political challenges to hydropower production in the HKH countries. Despite these challenges, hydropower remains an important option for achieving renewable energy goals in the region. To achieve these goals, we suggest capitalizing on emerging opportunities such as large hydropower development using a 'smart approach', micro-hydropower promotion, energy trade, and regional cooperation for collective energy development programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Traditional support policies for green energy have greatly contributed to the rise in prosumer numbers. However, it is believed that they will soon start to exert negative impact on stakeholders and on the grid. Policy makers advise to phase out two of the most widely applied policies – net metering and feed-in tariff, in favor of support policies that scale better with rising renewable generation. This work quantifies the impact of these traditional policies in future "what-if" scenarios and confirms the need for their replacement. Based on simulations with real data, we compare net metering and feed-in tariff to four state-of-the-art market-based mechanisms, which involve auction, negotiation and bitcoin-like currency. The paper examines the extent to which each of these mechanisms motivates not only green energy production but also its consumption. The properties and characteristics of the above mechanisms are evaluated from the perspective of key stakeholders in the low voltage grid – prosumers, consumers and energy providers. The outcome of this study sheds light on current and future issues that are relevant for policy makers in the evolving landscape of the smart grid. Highlights • Six support policies are evaluated in scenarios with various numbers of prosumers. • "What-if" scenarios are studied through multi-agent simulations with real data. • Net metering and feed-in tariff will cause issues in the immediate future. • Market-based support policies are a better fit when prosumer numbers rise. • Each policy offers different trade-offs between profits and costs for stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Capacity expansion planning model for the integration of CSP-TES. • Evaluation of the systemic economic and operational benefits provided by CSP-TES. • Analysis of multiple technology and policy scenarios for the Chilean power system. • Study of complementarities between CSP-TES and other technologies. • Investigation on the role of CSP-TES as a flexibility provider to the system. Abstract This paper presents a study about the impacts of the integration of concentrated solar power (CSP) with thermal energy storage (TES) in electric power systems. The main tool for this study is a comprehensive long-term power system capacity expansion planning model that integrates a specific module to represent the operation of CSP-TES power plants. The model determines the optimal investments on generation and transmission assets over a twenty-year planning horizon, ranging from 2018 until 2037, and employs projections for the various parameters involved (e.g. load growth, capital costs for the different generation technologies, fuels costs). One of the main features of the model is its ability to capture the hourly operational dynamics of the system through the consideration of multiple representative days for each of its investment periods. This feature allows a better understanding of the role of CSP-TES as a significant provider of flexibility to support a high penetration of variable renewable energy sources, as compared with traditional planning models based on load blocks. The model is applied to a case study for the Chilean electricity system. In order to study the impacts of CSP-TES, various scenarios of future capital costs and carbon tax levels are defined and analyzed for two market dominant CSP-TES technologies. The results show that for low CSP-TES capital costs, or high carbon taxes, the integration of CSP-TES in the system is significant towards year 2037, potentially reaching about one third of the total dispatched energy in the Chilean electric power system, yielding important operational, economic, and environmental benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an overview of the development and perspectives of biogas in and its use for electricity, heat and in transport in the European Union (EU) and its Member States. Biogas production has increased in the EU, encouraged by the renewable energy policies, in addition to economic, environmental and climate benefits, to reach 18 billion m 3 methane (654 PJ) in 2015, representing half of the global biogas production. The EU is the world leader in biogas electricity production, with more than 10 GW installed and a number of 17,400 biogas plants, in comparison to the global biogas capacity of 15 GW in 2015. In the EU, biogas delivered 127 TJ of heat and 61 TWh of electricity in 2015; about 50% of total biogas consumption in Europe was destined to heat generation. Europe is the world's leading producer of biomethane for the use as a vehicle fuel or for injection into the natural gas grid, with 459 plants in 2015 producing 1.2 billion m 3 and 340 plants feeding into the gas grid, with a capacity of 1.5 million m 3 . About 697 biomethane filling stations ensured the use 160 million m 3 of biomethane as a transport fuel in 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the positive momentum achieved by the renewable energy sector in recent years, there are substantial challenges that need the attention of the global community, and one of the more pressing issues is dealing with the deleterious external costs of power generation. One of the parameters to compare costs of energy across various technologies is levelised cost of energy (LCOE), but it has been conventional practice to neglect the external costs in estimating the LCOE of power generation technologies. Furthermore, as LCOE is a critical indicator for policy and decision makers, there is a need to juxtapose actual costs of renewable and conventional power generation technologies. This research paper attempts to internalise some of these external and GHG emission costs across various power generation and storage technologies in all the G20 countries, as they account for 85% of global power consumption. As future investment decisions are largely influenced by costs, estimates in this research prove renewables and storage to be far cheaper than fossil and nuclear sources by 2030, even without considering external costs. The myth that renewables are ‘way too expensive’ has been debunked repeatedly, and the cost decline of wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies have outpaced most industry expectations. The results of this research not only substantiate this trend, but also statistically display that all the G20 countries have the opportunity to decrease their energy costs significantly, between now and 2030. Renewable energy technologies offer the lowest LCOE ranges across G20 countries in 2030. Utility-scale solar PV generally shows the lowest values ranging from 16 to 117 €/MWh el and onshore wind LCOE range is from 16 to 90 €/MWh el . Rooftop solar PV generally offers the next lowest LCOE ranging from 31 to 126 €/MWh el , followed by LCOE of offshore wind power ranging from 64 to 135 €/MWh el . Solar PV and battery systems are highly competitive on an LCOE basis at utility-scale ranging from 21 to 165 €/MWh el and at residential scale from 40 to 204 €/MWh el . The G20, as well as other countries, can continue to develop their economies in a sustainable manner, along with substantial co-benefits in adjacent policy fields such as higher national welfare, better health of citizens, lower respective health costs and improved energy security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia's framework for energy development was established in the early 1970s. Henceforth, many successive policies were introduced as potential resources for electricity generation and utilization. Currently, as a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Malaysia is sparing a number of effort to comply with the policy to meet the challenges of mitigating over-dependence on fossil fuels, reducing carbon levels, and achieving sustainable national development. This paper reviews the baseline studies on electrical energy policies and the measurement indicators used in Malaysia's electric power system. This research involves a comprehensive survey of electrical energy policies in Malaysia that focus on issues pertaining to energy supply, utilization, its environmental impact and considerations, renewable energy (RE) policies, production and consumption, energy efficiency, and feed-in tariffs. Fourteen energy indicators for sustainable development in Malaysia were investigated through the identification of energy policies in significant areas, such as reliability, safety, adequacy and cost-effectiveness of energy supply; increasing energy efficiency; minimizing environmental impact; and enhancing quality of life in terms of social well-being. The policies and the indicators are classified into different sustainable dimensions and summarized in tables along with the corresponding key references. In this study, future energy planning and options, especially in nuclear and RE programs, as well as the conflict between them, are illustrated through the overall performance relative to targets and benchmarks for past and future projections up to the year 2030. This review seeks to examine the past, present, and future policies and indicators to provide a sufficient overview of Malaysian energy policies for optimizing sustainable development. The goal is for this review to lead to increased efforts to accommodate the increasing demand for the management and utilization of RE, promote energy efficiency, and improve performance in achieving sustainable national development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the net effect of renewable energy policy in Spain from 2002 to 2017 and calculates its cost-effectiveness in terms of CO 2 emission reductions in the production of electricity. Our conclusions indicate that although the phasing out of Feed-in Tariffs reduced the regulatory costs, it also limited renewable participation in the electricity market, leading to an increased electricity price and higher emissions. According to our results, the joint effect of (i) the value of avoided emissions due to renewable energy participation and (ii) the merit order effect was able to compensate for the regulatory costs (subsidies) up until 2010, while the sign of the net effect was reversed from 2011 to 2017. Finally, we find that the economic implications of emission reductions are highly dependent on how the social cost of carbon is measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concentrating solar power (CSP) has received significant attention among researchers, power-producing companies and state policymakers for its bulk electricity generation capability, overcoming the intermittency of solar resources. The parabolic trough collector (PTC) and solar power tower (SPT) are the two dominant CSP systems that are either operational or in the construction stage. The USA and Spain are global leaders in CSP electricity generation, whereas developing countries such as China and India are emerging by aggressive investment. Each year, hundreds of articles have been published on CSP. However, there is a need to observe the overall research development of this field which is missing in the current body of literature. To bridge this gap, this study 1) provides a most up-to-date overview of the CSP technologies implemented across the globe, 2) reviews previously published review articles on this issue to highlight major findings and 3) analyzes future research trends in the CSP research. Text mining approach is utilized to analyze and visualize the scientific landscape of the research. Thermal energy storage, solar collector and policy-level analysis are found as core topics of discussion in the previous studies. With a holistic analysis, it is found that direct steam generation (DSG) is a promising innovation which is reviewed in this study. This paper provides a comprehensive outlook on the CSP technologies and its research which offers practical help to the future researchers who start to research on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a set of policy recommendations for the market design of a future European electricity system characterized by a dominant share of renewable energy supply (RES), in line with the stated targets of European governments. We discuss the market failures that need to be addressed to accommodate RES in liberalized electricity markets, review the evolution of the EU's RES policy mechanisms, and summarize the key market impacts of variable RES to date. We then set out economic principles for wholesale market design and use these to develop our policy recommendations. Our analysis covers the value of interconnection and market integration, electricity storage, the design of RES support mechanisms, distributed generation and network tariffs, the pricing of electricity and flexibility as well as long-term contracting and risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the paper is to identify factors which determine energy policy in the EU countries in the middle of 1990s. This objective is achieved in three stages. First, the changes in the distribution of RES in 26 EU countries in the period between 1995 and 2014 are investigated. The analysis demonstrates that over the last 20 years the EU countries diversify the RES they use, which results in substantial changes in their distribution. Second, the distribution of energy sources in 1995 is described, as it is assumed that the distribution might be a crucial factor influencing energy policy in each country. Third, several other factors related to energy security, environmental concerns, economy and politics are considered as potential determinants of renewable energy development. Two statistical methods of variable selection, namely, the best subset regression and the LARS method, reveal that the present (in 2014) share of RES in the energy mix significantly depends on the condition of the EU countries in the middle of 1990s. The distribution of energy sources in 1995 is the crucial determinant of renewable energy development. Countries without their own fossil fuel sources are the ones which develop renewable energy to the greatest extent. Other important factors boosting RE development include: GDP per capita, concentration of energy supply (SWI), and the costs of consumption of energy obtained from fossil fuels in relation to GDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The population of Pakistan is increasing rapidly and hence the energy demand. Since ninety׳s, people of Pakistan has been experiencing load shedding because of the intense shortfall throughout the country. Pakistan, being an agricultural country, has a lot of potential of renewable energy sources especially biomass. The thing is to utilize the potential in a right direction. This paper presents the policy direction to get rid of the current energy crisis in the country through utilization of different types of biomass. The animal manure, municipal solid wastes and the crop residues are the main biomass sources in the country. This study also focuses the potential of main biomass sources present in the country and its technical routes for the production of bioenergy. The design parameters for standard bioreactor of gasifier and anaerobic digestion and their economic comparison are highlighted with respect to Pakistan environmental conditions. The development of anaerobic digestion technology is reviewed critically. This paper also discusses the different scenarios for the use of biomass sources in urban and rural environment. This verifies the use of biogas energy as the cheapest and the safest way to remove the crisis from the country. The stand-alone biogas plants should be constructed throughout the country where there is not electrification infrastructure exists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on financial support from EU Structural Funds to sustainable energy development in Baltic States. The paper aims to compare the use of Structural Funds support for sustainable energy development in Baltic States in two financing periods: 2007–2013 and 2014–2020 and to assess the impact of EU structural support in helping Baltic States to implement energy efficiency and renewable energy development targets set in EU energy policy documents. The paper analyses EU sustainable energy policy priorities and energy efficiency and renewable energy targets set for Baltic States and compares progress achieved in implementing energy efficiency and renewable energy targets in Baltic States after EU accession. The paper found that the EU Structural Funds have positively influenced the sustainable energy development in Baltic States. The major impact was related with increase in energy productivity because of energy savings achieved in refurbishment of residential buildings. Lithuania has achieved the biggest progress in energy productivity development since 2004 among Baltic States. Estonia was the only country from Baltic States which has allocated structural aid for promotion of wind energy and achieved the best results in increase of the share of renewables (mainly wind) in electricity generation. Latvia has the highest share of renewable in electricity generation structure and final energy consumption and did not provide support for renewable in 2007–2014 however support for biomass is foreseen in 2014–2020 financing period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth of China׳s installed wind power capacity in recent years is closely related to the wind energy policies issued by the Chinese government. Using content analysis and quantitative analysis methods, this paper studies the historical evolution of Chinese wind energy policies. Based on 72 wind energy policies issued in the past two decades (1995–2014), this paper analyzes the issuing organization, form, number and stringency of wind energy policies and compares different policy instruments in two periods. The results show that the number and stringency of wind energy policies fluctuated greatly from 1995 to 2014 and that more than twenty organizations had independently or jointly issued the policies. The main organization issuing wind energy policies, however, is the department that controls key economic and administrative resources and not the one that is in charge of wind energy. Of the 72 policies issued, twenty-three took the form of notices, and eleven were measures. As to the policy instrument, environmental policies are most widely applied by the Chinese government, and “regulation control” and “goal-planning” instruments are the ones most frequently adopted. Furthermore, the application of supply- and demand-type policies is inadequate, and few effective instruments have been adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to its promising benefits in energy and environment, distributed energy system (DES) has increasingly attracted extensive attention worldwide. The application of DES has been increased rapidly in recent years with the supportive government policies and financial incentives. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically summarize and analyze the development status of DES in China. This paper not only presents researches, applications and policies, but provides some relevant suggestion and prospects on DES of China. DES especially the hybrid energy system that gas-fired combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) with renewable energy (solar and wind) will become the mainstream of future energy supply technologies in China. The paper will be helpful for international stakeholders in energy field to have better understanding on the progress of DES in China, which will benefit them in two aspects: one is that the Chinese situation will be a reference for their own countries or regions to develop energy policy and technology regarding DES, another is that they may be helped to find opportunities in Chinese market, while to contribute to Chinese DES development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change urges that global CO 2 emissions from the power sector should be reduced by 90 percent or more below 2010 levels between 2040 and 2070. Such a reduction will most likely require greatly increasing the share of wind, solar, energy storage and nuclear energy in the energy mix in the next 40–50 years. This paper emphasizes the importance of developing large energy storage systems without which, wind and solar can only have a limited impact on CO 2 emissions as it will depend mainly on the energy mix used during wind and solar down time. The large areas that are required would be challenging, but not unrealistic, as long as a solution for energy storage exists. Carbon capture and storage has considerable potential to reduce CO 2 emissions from coal and gas power plants, but also from heavy industries such as cement and steel manufacturing. To give an idea of the scale of the required infrastructure, in the United States, coal and gas power plants emit approximately 2.4 billion tonnes of CO 2 per year; whereas the US annual petroleum consumption is about 0.9 billion tonnes (6.9 billion barrels). This paper also emphasizes that uranium and thorium used in breeder reactors represent an almost infinite source of low-carbon energy. The issues associated with the management of nuclear wastes are real, but they are not the uniquely difficult issues perceived by the media, much of the public and by many politicians. Finally, the investment necessary to implement a wind and solar powered economy would very likely be higher than that necessary to implement a nuclear powered economy because of the much larger number of GWe required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both developed and developing countries have committed to reduce their emissions through the increased use of renewable energy. This paper aims to compare renewable energy deployment in developed and developing countries represented by Australia and China. The paper firstly argues the validity of comparison of renewable energy deployment in Australia and China. Then, the governance structures in both countries are compared; the paper also compares management mechanisms in terms of funding and incentive support, renewable energy grid-connection and coordination between different levels of governments in both countries. Moreover, the current status of renewable energy development in two countries is summarized. From the study, it can be concluded both countries have set a Renewable Energy Target and promulgated legislation and regulations to enlarge the scale of renewable energy; China shows a stronger commitment to renewable energy than Australia. However, Renewable Energy Certificate mechanism is implemented more effectively in Australia than in China. The paper suggests: augmenting and rebuilding the electricity network and strengthening coordination between different levels of governments for both countries; enhancing manufacturing facilities and incentives for the solar and wind industry for Australia, while developing more-detailed implementation legislation and renewable power quota system for China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council have economically and politically been dominated by the exploitation of fossil fuels, recent years have seen an increasing adoption of renewable energy technologies, the reasons of which are not yet sufficiently understood. This paper argues that the recent adoption of renewable energy technologies in the Gulf and its striking variation can be explained by theories of policy transfer. In addition, we find some support for the alternative hypothesis of endogenous policy development regarding political leadership. Yet there is no support for the alternative hypothesis of a strong direct influence of the international climate regime. Furthermore, the policy transfer hypothesis and political leadership stand as coexisting influences on renewable energy adoption, rather than competing ones. Based on an extensive study of primary and secondary sources, local reports and country analyses of international organizations, and personal interviews with key experts, this paper lays out in detail how transfers of renewable energy policies take place in the Gulf; their drivers; and their impacts. We also discuss the factors that lead countries to lag behind, which can be helpful for prospective research on a more extensive utilization of renewable energy in the region and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy security was the major driver for several countries in the world to opt for alternative sources of energy and reduce CO 2 emissions. Being blessed with oil and gas reserves, the situation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries may look different, in a way that investments on Renewable Energy (RE) projects do not create adequate short-term financial returns. However, considering the extreme increase of energy demand locally caused by the industrial and economic development in the region will make seizing the emerging opportunity to develop RE projects a strategic decision. This paper targets regional decision-makers as well as multilateral stakeholders, in an attempt to formulate a set of recommendations on policies to promote RE deployment. It presents the results of the study that covered all GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman). The document summarizes GCC countries’ RE targets and highlights the main projects and measures established to start this transition. Furthermore, this paper provides an updated and comprehensive overview of the RE situation in the GCC countries, and it includes an assessment of the region’s RE potential, current installed RE capacity and project pipeline, institutional and market frameworks. This study analyses the main gaps concerning RE deployment in the region while discussing the financial, fiscal, political, legislative, technological and environmental aspects. Based on that, a set of recommendations is proposed to fill their gaps and help achieving their politically endorsed targets particularly in the electricity sector. The proposed recommendations will help to accelerate the development rate of GCC RE market, support governments’ efforts towards fulfilling future RE targets, and overcome potential barriers. However such policies analysis should be carried out individually for each country of the GCC region taking into consideration the specificity of each market and economic strategies with more adapted measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing transformation of the world's energy system requires detailed power-system models that help plan a cost-effective and reliable integration of variable renewables and demand-side resources. The quality and depth of the results of these models depend on the existence of trustworthy, complete, and high-resolution data on extant electric power assets and the demand they serve, wind and solar resources, and projections on costs and performance of technologies that could be developed during the next three decades. This paper assesses the quality of China's power system's publicly available data compared to the U.S. It concludes that despite growing use of power system models to inform and analyze Chinese energy policy, the availability of necessary data is still a significant barrier that severely limits the transparency, replicability, relevance, and usefulness of their results. • Ongoing energy system transformation requires detailed power-system models. • Usefulness of models' results depends on reliable, complete high-resolution data. • Paper proposes criteria to assess the quality of publicly available data for models. • Publicly available data for China's electric power system is scant and low quality. • Filling data gaps will inform decisions for a sustainable electric power system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To stop the spread of COVID-19, governments have implemented confinement measures unprecedented in modern society. One of the main consequences has been the paralysis of commercial and industrial sectors worldwide, primary electricity consumers. This paper examines the impact of these measures on the electricity sector through a literature review accompanied by fieldwork on the impact of COVID-19 in Ibero-America and its energy regulatory response. First, we will review the causes of the reduction in electricity demand due to the confinement measures and their technical and financial consequences in the electricity sector. Second, we will examine the impact of COVID-19 on the wind and solar PV energy sectors, mainly affected by the paralysis of production and export of materials and components. Third, we will revise the regulatory measures implemented by the countries to avoid the interruption of electricity supply to households. This paper will end by reviewing economic recovery plans and their relationship to the energy transition. Although there are no fundamental differences between developed and developing countries in their regulatory reaction to this crisis in the energy sector, there are significant differences in economic recovery planning. While developed countries aim for a green economic recovery and the creation of green jobs, developing countries are allocating least resources to social protection and general economic stimulus programs, postponing climate objectives. In Latin America, this adds to the high levels of debt faced by utilities and the possible resurgence of social crises that were stopped by the COVID-19 outbreak, making a green recovery even more difficult. [Display omitted] • The reduction in electricity demand has caused technical challenges in the grid. • Electric utilities are facing growing and long-term financial problems. • Renewable energy projects have been delayed and financially harmed. • The measure to ban disconnection for non-payment has been implemented worldwide. • Latin American social crisis tempered by COVID-19 could hinder economic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To stop the spread of COVID-19, governments have implemented confinement measures unprecedented in modern society. One of the main consequences has been the paralysis of commercial and industrial sectors worldwide, primary electricity consumers. This paper examines the impact of these measures on the electricity sector through a literature review accompanied by fieldwork on the impact of COVID-19 in Ibero-America and its energy regulatory response. First, we will review the causes of the reduction in electricity demand due to the confinement measures and their technical and financial consequences in the electricity sector. Second, we will examine the impact of COVID-19 on the wind and solar PV energy sectors, mainly affected by the paralysis of production and export of materials and components. Third, we will revise the regulatory measures implemented by the countries to avoid the interruption of electricity supply to households. This paper will end by reviewing economic recovery plans and their relationship to the energy transition. Although there are no fundamental differences between developed and developing countries in their regulatory reaction to this crisis in the energy sector, there are significant differences in economic recovery planning. While developed countries aim for a green economic recovery and the creation of green jobs, developing countries are allocating least resources to social protection and general economic stimulus programs, postponing climate objectives. In Latin America, this adds to the high levels of debt faced by utilities and the possible resurgence of social crises that were stopped by the COVID-19 outbreak, making a green recovery even more difficult. [Display omitted] • The reduction in electricity demand has caused technical challenges in the grid. • Electric utilities are facing growing and long-term financial problems. • Renewable energy projects have been delayed and financially harmed. • The measure to ban disconnection for non-payment has been implemented worldwide. • Latin American social crisis tempered by COVID-19 could hinder economic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an analysis of renewable energy feed-in tariffs (REFIT) for the selected regions of the globe is done with the aim of drawing lesson for Saudi Arabia. A brief background and status of renewable energy sources (RES) utilization in Saudi Arabia is given at the beginning of this paper, followed by a review of the feed-in tariff (FIT) design models reported in literature. The application of the policy in Europe, the United States, Australia, Asia and Africa is then reviewed. Some observations from the analysis of the FIT application in different countries have been discussed and finally, lessons have been drawn from the study. Some policy recommendations have been given for Saudi Arabia. The analysis of the lessons identified shows that the application of FIT scheme in Saudi Arabia is likely to speed up the development of renewable energy resources within the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to promote the growth of renewable energy sector in Malaysia, feed-in tariff (FiT) mechanism has been introduced by Malaysian government in 2011, in accordance with Renewable Energy Act 2011 and Sustainable Energy Development Authority Act 2011. The tariff was enacted to overcome the shortcomings identified in the small renewable energy power (SREP) Program from 2001 to 2010. This paper highlighted some measures adopted to rectify the shortcomings identified during SREP, and the role of Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) in achieving the above mentioned task. The paper also includes the latest progress on renewable energy projects, especially those related to solar photovoltaic system. It is predicted that solar energy will become the main source of renewable energy in Malaysia by the year 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is vast, abundant and particularly plentiful in energy sources, due to which it has obtained remarkable achievements on economy. However, its energy structure is too simple to support the sustainable development of economy as coal still contributes to the majority of energy consumption in China. As a consequence, Renewable Energy Law was enacted in 2005, and Chinese government announced a series of policies to boom renewable energy industry. Subsidy policy is one of the major forms of these policies. This paper aims to present these subsidy policies and to analyze their effects according to relative data in energy industry 2005–2013, to find out the deficiencies and enlighten possible policy improvements. The original intentions and abstracts of 5 different levels of subsidy related policies are summarized, and the effects in reality are attentively analyzed. It can be concluded that subsidy policies have different short-term effect on different renewable energies, and they all show some negative effect to a certain extent. 6 core problems are summarized in this paper, and remedy strategies are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia, as a developing country and a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is looking into inexhaustible and repeatable alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, mini-hydro and biomass. The estimated GDP at 2010 is $15,385 per capita and the economic and industrial growth of the country implies that energy demand is growing very fast. In addition, the growing prices of fossil fuels, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, make inevitable renewable energy solutions for the country. Geographically, Malaysia is located in a region of tropical and humid climate which provides easy access to a variety of renewable energy sources. The government of Malaysia has initiated renewable energy policies to encourage industries and individuals to employ renewable-energy-powered systems in power applications. This paper first gives a brief overview of the current status of renewable energy in Malaysia. Then it provides the energy policies, specifically the renewable energy policies in Malaysia, in Section 2 . The renewable energy programs are reviewed in Section 3. The building energy efficiency program with green aspect is provided in Section 4. Lastly, the conclusion and forecasts of this paper are given in Section 5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines both the potential of and barriers to grid-scale energy storage playing a substantive role in transitioning to an efficient, reliable and cost-effective power system with a high penetration of renewable energy sources. Grid-scale storage is a term that describes a number of different technologies with a wide range of characteristics. This versatility leads to the use of storage to perform a number of grid-services. We first enumerate these services, with an emphasize on those that are best suited to mitigate the effects of uncertainty and variability associated with intermittent, non-dispatchable renewable energy sources. We then provide an overview of the current methods to evaluate grid-integrated storage, summarize key findings, and highlight ongoing challenges to large-scale adoption of grid-scale energy storage. We focus on one particular area that is critical to both the efficient use of energy storage in the power grid and its long-term economic viability: the conflict between the technical benefits of this resource, which can provide both power and energy related grid-services (in some cases simultaneously), and the economic challenges of compensating these services within the current market structures. We then examine recent progress in addressing these issues through regulatory changes and other initiatives designed to mitigate previous market failures. This discussion is followed by some remarks about ongoing regulatory and market design challenges. The paper closes with a summary of the ideas presented and a discussion of critical research needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Many countries are searching for ways to reduce the energy and carbon impact of housing. The terms net zero-energy home and net zero-carbon home have entered the policy lexicon, without clear definitions and without widespread understanding of the likely policy impact. Is the concept limited to bespoke architect driven buildings for specific green clients, or does it have relevance in the mainstream house building sector and for typical households? When we consider volume house building and contemporary lifestyles, what is the energy end-use reality of so called zero-energy homes? Can government policy instruments deliver housing estates that are thermally comfortable, energy efficient and powered by renewable energy? The Lochiel Park Green Village in South Australia represents a genuine attempt through government policy processes to create a suburb of (nearly) zero-energy homes in a near zero-carbon estate. The development includes 103 highly energy efficient homes of various sizes, all utilising solar thermal and solar photovoltaic sources, and built to stringent environmental urban design guidelines. The energy used and generated at each house is being monitored and analysed to extend our understanding of what happens when families bring their energy habits to near zero-energy homes. Appliance and equipment audits are conducted to extend our knowledge of the energy services utilised in contemporary digital-age lifestyles. This paper provides an insight into the quanta of energy using appliances and equipment that fill our homes and satisfy our ever-growing needs. The paper presents key results from the first two years of monitoring for the initial tranche of houses, demonstrating that although significant reductions in operating energy use have been achieved, few households have reached a net zero energy standard. The research highlights the extent to which our choice of energy systems and our individual behaviour affect the total annual energy use. The energy end-use and energy generation results are examined to identify the contribution of near zero-energy homes to the twin policy challenges of anthropogenic climate change and peak power demand. Using empirical evidence from extensive monitoring, this paper throws new light on the energy use of actual families in contemporary near zero-energy homes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Situated at equator level, Central Africa is a wetted area, sunny and not that windy. The region owns important renewable energy potential, namely solar, hydro and biomass. For a number of reasons, this important potential is still suffering from poor development. The main cause of the poor use of renewable energy is the poor commitment and dedication of governments who have not taken the necessary measures to boost enough decentralized and renewable energy. Thermal plants are hence unfortunately heavily used where other alternatives are possible. The purpose of this paper is among other things aiming at showing how solar and hydro energy sources of Central Africa are currently developed and addressing the problems faced. The work also addresses the issue of filling the gap between the abundant solar and hydro resources and its poor development compare to the rest of the world. Based on some case studies in Cameroon, actions to sustain ongoing initiatives and promote their development are suggested. This paper also addresses the problems actually faced and recommends actions for mitigation for a significant improvement of energy infrastructure in remote areas. In such areas, the promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency are very important for poverty alleviation. From lessons learned, suggestions will be made to help the countries of the region develop a vision aiming at developing adequate clean energy policy to increase the status of solar and microhydro energy sources and, thus, better contribute to fight against climate change. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]