Energy

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A significant proportion of Eastern Africa is a relatively poor with a predominately rural population and lack access to modern energy services. Reliance on traditional biomass has created severe problems for both the environment and the health of the population: improved access to cleaner fuels would solve this and achieve multiple policy goals. The Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) is utilised to simulate future scenarios. The study suggests the optimal subsidy policy implementation and recommendations.

Achieving a decarbonised electricity sector is difficult, the main problem lies in integrating new energy sources e.g. Renewable Energy Sources (RES) into existing energy systems. This research is focused on achieving a decarbonised electricity sector in Greece and include both generating and storing clean energy at the local level. The DREEM model was calibrated for the case of Greece and simulated for 3 scenarios. Resulting with 2 policy scenarios.

In 2008, the Climate Change Act was established in the UK, committing to achieve 80% GHG emission reduction by 2050 compared to 1990. The UK electricity supply will need to be largely decarbonised by around 2030. The UK Government has supported both the development of renewable energy and nuclear power, but more the focus on the latter. There has been wide-ranging interest in the possibility of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), but also risk and uncertainties.

Part of the transformation to meet climate change mitigation goals will be a reduction in GHG emissions from the energy sector in the EU and Member States. This may involve large economic costs, particularly for investments. The ‘carbon bubble’ is a major financial concern, which may arise through the transition into a low carbon economy. Analysis suggests that investors’ risk perceptions of renewables have more of an impact than the perceived risk of fossil fuels.

Low carbon investments need to increase if the world is to achieve the Paris Agreement aim of keeping global warming below 2°C. A fundamental transformation of the global energy system can be achieved with a comparatively modest increase in overall investments. Shift of investments away from fossil fuels and toward renewables/energy efficiency is needed. Current incentives like the NDCs will not provide sufficient impetus for the “pronounced change” that are needed for the energy system.

Kenya has committed to reduce domestic GHG emissions by 30% by 2030 but also is attempting to grow its economy against a backdrop of international agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This will mean harnessing the country’s significant renewable energy potential. The study covered three technologies: wind, solar, and the third, geothermal, is more specific to Kenya due to the Great Rift Valley. Overarching areas of interest and policy recommendations are given.

The ‘Winter Package’ in the EU focusses on clean energy for all Europeans and contains specific goals for energy and climate and calls upon Member States to formulate Integrated National Energy and Climate Plans (INECPs). Case study findings in support of INECP formulation are assessed in this report of three case studies: Greece, Austria and the Netherlands.

Photovoltaics (PV) has become the cheapest source of electricity in many countries and every two years, the capacity is roughly doubled, but it is uncertain if this growth will be sustained. If potential barriers to deployment are addressed, PV could cost-competitively supply 30-50% of global electricity by 2050. Two potential barriers which need to be addresses could hinder continued growth: integration challenges, as many options exist, and the financing costs require international cooperation.

Deploying popular renewable energy technologies at scale requires significant amounts of land compared with most fossil fuels. Solar is deployed on rooftops, but increasingly also on agricultural land. Land-use change emissions could be very large if renewable electricity targets are completely met by solar or bioenergy but contains significant regional variability. This study underlines the importance of including land-use impacts in policy assessment, particularly that encourages the large-scale use of solar and bio-energy.