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This report outlines the JRC contribution to standardisation activities within the field of Photovoltaic Energy Systems. The JRC continues to play a significant role in European and International standardisation activities within the field of Photovoltaic Energy Systems. In particular JRC staff are convenors for working groups in both the relevant International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) technical committees, and were the project leader of two standards (IEC 61853-3 and IEC 61853-4) which were published by the IEC in 2018. JRC is also the project leader for another 3 standards (IEC 60904-1, IEC 60904-4 and IEC 60904-10) which are progressing through the standardisation process and has made contributions to 24 others (as part of the various project teams)., JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewables more...

The operation and economics of the power systems are constrained by the availability and temperature of water resources since thermal power plants need water for cooling and hydropower plants are fuelled by water to generate electricity. In Europe and North America water shortages or high river water temperatures have recurrently occurred in the last years, leading to monetary losses, power curtailments, temporary shutdowns, demand restrictions, and ultimately increased wear and tear of the power plants. On the other hand, the operation of the power system may impact on the quantity and quality of the water resources. The combined effect of increased water consumption, for energy and non-energy purposes, with lower availability of water resources due to climate change is expected to lead to similar problems in Africa. In most African energy systems hydropower is the dominant renewable energy source, but they rely heavily on oil- and gas-fired capacity, and lack interconnections with neighbouring countries. This report describes the modelling framework developed by the JRC for analysing the water-power nexus, and describes the results of applying it to the case of the West African Power Pool., JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Union more...

EMHIRES is the first publicly available European solar power generation dataset derived from meteorological sources that is available at country, bidding zone, NUTS-1 and NUTS-2 level. It was generated applying using the validated and robust PVGIS model to estimate the solar electricity potential capturing local geographical information to generate meteorologically derived solar power time series at high temporal and spatial resolution, validated with transmission system operators' data., JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Union more...

People, planet, prosperity and peace are four priorities shared by Africa and Europe, and areas where opportunities for beneficial cooperation abound. Over the past three decades, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has worked with many organisations and institutions across Africa. This report and its accompanying interactive online service ‘Africa StoryMaps’ present the key findings from this collaboration, and set out options the decision-making, research and education communities may consider. The report focuses on the African dimension of the partnership. It explores the opportunities and challenges arising from the fact that Africa has over twice the population of the European Union (EU), is the world’s most youthful continent, has an economy that is growing faster than that of the EU, is almost seven times larger geographically, yet is vulnerable to diverse internal and external stresses. Tell us what you think about this report. Please fill out and return our feedback form (PDF) at https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/file/document/africa-report-feedback-form., JRC.D.6-Knowledge for Sustainable Development and Food Security more...

The Energy Efficiency and Renewables Unit of Directorate C of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre hosted the second annual joint training workshop with the Politecnico di Milano. The training workshop was held in the context of a special training day on Photovoltaic's for Integration of Renewable Energy Solution in the Mediterranean electricity markets. Participants from Mediterranean and African countries representing utilities, energy purchasers, economists, local and national governments and administrations from 14 countries attended the workshop. Presentations were made on: • The state of the art of Photovoltaic technologies, • The situation of African PV deployment with particular emphasis on the Mediterranean countries • The applications and potential for the JRC PVGIS model to help planning deployment, management and monitoring of distributed installations • The role that international standards play in ensuring the reliability and quality of supply from renewable energy sources., JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewables more...

EMHIRES is the first publically available European wind power generation dataset derived from meteorological sources that is available on NUTS-2 level. It was generated applying an innovative methodology capturing local geographical information to generate meteorologically derived wind power time series at high temporal and spatial resolution. This allows for a better understanding of the wind resource at the precise location of wind farms., JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Union more...

This report describes the current status and limitations of the power sector in Burkina Faso and develops a new methodology that through spatial analysis processes aims to provide a possible pathway for universal electricity access through a sustainable energy mix. Two percent of the rural population in Burkina Faso has access to electricity and supply is lacking at many social structures such as schools and hospitals. Energy access achievements in Burkina Faso are still very modest. The rural electrification strategy for Burkina Faso is scattered in several electricity sector development policies: there is a need of defining a concrete action plan. Planning and coordination between grid extension and off-grid electrification programmes is essential to reach a long-term sustainable energy model and to avoid high unnecessary infrastructure investments. This report describes the development and the results obtained with a dynamic planning tool to support national government and development partners in defining an alternative electrification plan. Currently, the common national policy for electrification is dominated almost exclusively by grid extension with the government subsidising fossil fuel electricity production. However, the results of our analysis suggest that an electrification plan mainly based on further grid extension becomes inefficient and unsustainable in order to reach the national energy access targets. Our results also suggest that Burkina Faso’s rural electrification strategy should be driven by distributed minigrids powered by local renewable resources. We find that this approach would connect more people to power more quickly, and would reduce imported fossil fuel dependence/consumption that would otherwise be necessary for grid extension options., JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewables more...

Knowledge of solar energy resource has been generated over the past years within several European and national projects. Large steps forward have been made for the benefit of research, renewable energy industry and the environment. Nevertheless, these multiple efforts have led to a fragmentation and uncoordinated access: different sources of information and solar radiationproducts are now available, but uncertainty about their quality remains. At the same time, communities of users lack common understanding how to exploit the developed knowledge. The project MESoR aims at removing the uncertainty and improving the management of the solar energy resource knowledge. The results of past and present large-scale initiatives in Europe, will be integrated, standardised and disseminated in a harmonised way to facilitate their effective exploitation by stakeholders. This coordination action will contribute to preparation of the future roadmap for R&D and strengthening the European position in the international field. The project includes activities in user guidance (benchmarking of models and data sets; handbook; best practices), unification of access to information (use of advanced information technologies; offering one-stop-access to several databases), connecting to other initiatives (INSPIRE of the EU, POWER of the NASA, SHC and PVPS of the IEA, GMES/GEO) and to related scientific communities (energy, meterology, geography, medicine, ecology), and dissemination (stakeholders involvement, training, future R&D, communication). To that purpose, a consortium has been assembled that gathers several partners having co-ordinated large international projects in the domain and other partners bringing the necessary expertise to the achievement of the objectives. The consortium provides a unique interface/ point of contact for the renewable energy community for retrieving data necessary to establish solar renewables as fully competitive energy option. more...

This study provides an insight into the spatial distribution of uncertainty of Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI)as estimated from the relative cross-comparison of five data sources offering solar resource and climate data for Europe: Meteonorm, Satel-Light, NASA SSE, SOLEMI, and PVGIS. The results show that within 90% of the study area the uncertainty of DNI expressed by relative standard deviation may go up to 17%. This high value indicates a need for further improvement of the data inputs and solar radiation models. more...