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The electrical power and land transportation systems of the Dominican Republic are facing significant challenges due to growing demand in both sectors. These two systems are responsible for around 62% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. With the deployment of electric mobility, the power and transport sectors can synergise and contribute significantly to long-term sustainable planning. This article analyses the impact of the penetration of electric mobility programmed by the Dominican Republic's National Institute of Transit and Land Transport (INTRANT), the country's goal of reducing GHG emissions by 27% by 2030 and the decarbonisation process. Using the open-source modelling system OSeMOSYS, four scenarios are built to explore strategies that contribute to sustainable development in the long term. Meeting climate change commitments necessitates that all coal-fired plants in the country will be closed or transformed by 2040. Despite the positive role of electric mobility in reducing GHG, decarbonising the electricity sector while facing the energy crisis requires investments totalling around 16 billion USD. Failing to make these investments will incur expenses of approximately 6 billion USD on the user's side in the period from 2024 to 2030 to cover energy needs; this figure represents more than 270% of the amount that should be invested in the electrical power system to supply these users' needs.

The land transport sector, impacting fossil fuel consumption, has been selected as one of the sectors to apply decarbonization strategies. Energy systems modelling is an applied tool to evaluate scenarios and strategies that can be implemented in the transport sector to achieve energy transitions. These energy modelling tools need a dataset that allows the simulation of alternative scenarios of the systems. For this purpose, a collection and processing of technical-economic data is needed to ensure a quality input for simulation tools. This article presents a set of open data to create a model of the energy system of the Dominican Republic to assess alternative scenarios and develop strategies to achieve the energy transition in the land transport sector. This exercise is performed to support the energy planning policies of the country. Although the dataset is presented for the conditions of the Dominican Republic, the insight regarding data gathering and processing can be applied to other island countries. The data obtained are an open-access database of energy regulators, generation agents, and representatives of the generation, transmission, and distribution sector, as well as websites, databases of international organizations, scientific journals, and standards. Therefore, the data presented can be updated as the technical-economic information becomes public.

Islands face unique challenges on their journey towards achieving carbon neutrality by the mid-century, due to the lack of energy interconnections, limited domestic energy resources, extensive fossil fuel dependence, and high load variance requiring new technologies to balance demand and supply. At the same time, these challenges can be turned into a great opportunity for economic growth and the creation of jobs with non-interconnected islands having the potential to become transition frontrunners by adopting sustainable technologies and implementing innovative solutions. This paper uses an advanced energy–economy system modeling tool (IntE3-ISL) accompanied by plausible decarbonization scenarios to assess the medium- and long-term impacts of energy transition on the energy system, emissions, economy, and society of the island of Mayotte. The model-based analysis adequately captures the specificities of Mayotte and examines the complexity, challenges, and opportunities to decarbonize the island's non-interconnected energy system. The energy transition necessitates the adoption of ambitious climate policy measures and the extensive deployment of low- and zero-carbon technologies both in the demand and supply sides of the energy system, accounting for the unique characteristics of each individual sector, while sectoral integration is also important. To reduce emissions from hard-to-abate sectors, such as transportation and industry, the measures and technologies can include the installation and use of highly efficient equipment, the electrification of end uses (such as the widespread adoption of electric vehicles), the large roll-out of renewable energy sources, as well as the production and use of green hydrogen and synthetic fuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes environmental attitude, willingness, and behavior using a relatively broad range of survey items from the four Environment Modules of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) in Germany. The ISSP Environment Module is a repeated cross-sectional large-scale survey in Germany covering a period of nearly 30 years with four survey waves (1993, 2000, 2010, and 2020). We find that environmental attitude, willingness, and behavior are relatively stable between 1993 and 2010 in Germany. However, in the fourth wave, we find a significant upward trend in attitude and willingness compared to 2010—even though the COVID-19 pandemic was omnipresent at the time of the survey. This could indicate that climate change and environmental issues have gained such significance that they cannot easily be fully displaced by other major events, such as a pandemic. Moreover, we detect systematic heterogeneity in environmental attitude, willingness, and behavior predominantly with respect to respondents' education, residential region, and political orientation but also some heterogeneity regarding gender, age, and income. Finally, we reveal that the dynamic of environmental attitude, willingness, and behavior also depends on certain socio-demographic characteristics, such as residential region, or political orientation. Our findings are essential for a better understanding of the social feasibility of transformation pathways towards a sustainable energy system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Egypt’s power system is facing major changes. Rising demand, scarcity of fossil resources and the falling capital costs of solar and wind energy technologies pose the potential to fundamentally remake the national power fleet. Against this backdrop, the paper at hand investigates potential pathways of the domestic power system with a particular focus on regional deployment and associated impacts on the transmission network. To this end, the open-source modelling framework OSeMOSYS was adapted and deployed. The analysis evaluates renewable energy potentials for 320 sites across Egypt in eight different sub-regions. The study concludes that wind and PV installations prove to be cost-competitive and capable of shouldering a large share of projected demand growth, while their regional deployment should take required grid investments into consideration. The results also indicate that a restrained expansion of renewable energy technologies targeted by the government proves to be more costly than a more aggressive deployment pathway.

Due to the imperative nature of addressing climate change, the energy transition is currently underway, prompting the recognition of its urgency. Energy system optimisation models have emerged as crucial tools to assist policymakers in formulating laws and regulations that facilitate the transition towards carbon neutrality. While numerous models have been developed to explore various scenarios and define long-term objectives, only a few models focus on optimising the specific pathway to achieve these objectives. Many existing models lack the necessary time resolution to capture the integration of intermittent renewable energies; or are not open-source, creating a challenge in terms of transparency and reproducibility. This paper introduces EnergyScope Pathway, an open-source and documented model that addresses these limitations. It specifically optimises investment strategies for the whole-energy system over a 30-year period, or more, and optimising its hourly operation. This approach allows for a comprehensive evaluation of the effective integration of intermittent renewable energy sources. The model has a concise and efficient formulation, enabling its execution on personal laptops within approximately 15 min. By applying the model to the case study of Belgium, which presents challenges due to limited potential for renewable energy, we illustrate the importance of four pillars: energy efficiency, renewable energies, sector coupling, electrification and imports. The result pave the way to a new and incremental tool to support decision makers. In comparison to non open-source models, we verified the model's results with similar studies and found consistency in terms of technico-economic estimations. • Linear formulation of an optimisation model to represent a whole energy system transition pathway with an hourly resolution. • Short computational time, 15 min on a personal laptop • Quantify the pillars of the transition: efficiency, renewable energies and sector coupling. • Offers a new and incremental tool to support decision-makers in the energy transition. • Comparison of different approach to represent the transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrical power and land transportation systems of the Dominican Republic are facing significant challenges due to growing demand in both sectors. These two systems are responsible for around 62% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. With the deployment of electric mobility, the power and transport sectors can synergise and contribute significantly to long-term sustainable planning. This article analyses the impact of the penetration of electric mobility programmed by the Dominican Republic's National Institute of Transit and Land Transport (INTRANT), the country's goal of reducing GHG emissions by 27% by 2030 and the decarbonisation process. Using the open-source modelling system OSeMOSYS, four scenarios are built to explore strategies that contribute to sustainable development in the long term. Meeting climate change commitments necessitates that all coal-fired plants in the country will be closed or transformed by 2040. Despite the positive role of electric mobility in reducing GHG, decarbonising the electricity sector while facing the energy crisis requires investments totalling around 16 billion USD. Failing to make these investments will incur expenses of approximately 6 billion USD on the user's side in the period from 2024 to 2030 to cover energy needs; this figure represents more than 270% of the amount that should be invested in the electrical power system to supply these users' needs. • This paper analyses the decarbonisation of the power and transport sector by integrating electric mobility. • Achieving the NDC regarding CO2eq emissions implies coal-fired power plants accelerated conversion. • Long-run benefits of decarbonisation implicate significant investments in the short term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We develop narrative futures to analyze the impact that the energy transition may have on the electricity sector's organizational model: re-arrangement, incremental change, or first steps in a paradigm shift. What trajectories might the changes in the electricity sector follow? We look back at the way the centralized and standardized model was constructed before laying out how that model is being disrupted by the changes currently underway and then exploring the different factors – political, institutional, technical – that might influence change in the electricity sector and the scale of transformation it may undergo. Highlights • The impacts of energy transition for the electricity sector may be substantial. • We propose three different scenarios of systemic evolution. • Trajectories of change are not only technological-driven, they are also "social construction". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Egypt's power system is facing major changes. Rising demand, scarcity of fossil resources and the falling capital costs of solar and wind energy technologies pose the potential to fundamentally remake the national power fleet. Against this backdrop, the paper at hand investigates potential pathways of the domestic power system with a particular focus on regional deployment and associated impacts on the transmission network. To this end, the open-source modelling framework OSeMOSYS was adapted and deployed. The analysis evaluates renewable energy potentials for 320 sites across Egypt in eight different sub-regions. The study concludes that wind and PV installations prove to be cost-competitive and capable of shouldering a large share of projected demand growth, while their regional deployment should take required grid investments into consideration. The results also indicate that a restrained expansion of renewable energy technologies targeted by the government proves to be more costly than a more aggressive deployment pathway. • Cost-optimal future development of the Egyptian power plant fleet. • Inclusion of renewable potentials for 320 sites across Egypt. • Regional implications for the domestic transmission network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power purchase agreements govern a significant fraction of the transactions from independent renewable energy projects. As the costs of wind, solar and storage have plummeted in recent years and accelerated the growth of renewables towards decarbonization, the nature of wind and solar-based power purchase agreements is also evolving from traditional energy contract to power contract that supplies on-demand renewable electricity. The work presents a linear optimization model to examine how an optimal design and tariff will change as renewable energy contracts begin supplying firm renewable electricity for a few hours a day to 24 × 7. The findings indicated that oversizing and curtailing under energy contracts was a cheaper alternative to storage for attaining a highly renewable system (up to 80% as per the present study). Hybrid systems produced the cheapest electricity followed by wind and solar, respectively. Further, solar-only systems required substantial storage capcity to capture peak-hour production due to the inherent daytime generation limitation, while overbuilding was cheaper for wind-dominated systems to achieve high levels of penetration. The research supports developing project-level contracts for purchasing firm renewable energy and also highlights the importance of integrating micro-models with the existing dispatch and capacity expansion models deployed large-scale to examine the generation-mix and cost implications of the energy transition. [Display omitted] • Explores contractual pathways to support highly renewable energy transition. • Optimizes commercial contracts for supplying continuous renewable electricity. • Storage necessary for solar but overbuilding cheaper for wind-dominated systems. • Continuous supply contract costlier than high capacity factor contract. • Limited benefits of geographical pooling for independent small-scale projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]