Supplying clean, affordable, and secure energy

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The largest short-term reduction in energy use and largest short-term reduction in energy use and carbon emissions in a lifetime is a result from the Covid-19 pandemic and are still in the process of being assessed. This had led to significant changes in people’s day to days lives that are unparalleled in the last few decades.

Different Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) projects has pros and cons for cooperation, so the policy goals in the importing and exporting countries, which partially depend on the context conditions in these countries, should be considered. This post discusses and derives policy implications from CSP projects and how this effects cooperation.

Renewable energy cooperation is expected to play a role to ensure an effective and affordable energy transition in the EU. Besides cost savings in meeting the RES targets, there are multiple factors that determine a Member States’ willingness to engage in a cooperation agreement. Regarding CSP deployment in the past and potential obstacles to the use of cooperation mechanisms, several barriers stand out for cooperation discussed in this post.

There is no uniform format in the energy sector of the EU, although there are some initiatives for regional cooperation leading to intense cooperation between governments in specific parts of Europe. The main asset of regional cooperation lies in the ability of the involved actors to co-ordinate more efficiently. More work is required to address issues related to the further deployment of RES from 2020 to 2030 e.g., the most efficient use of RES potential.

Researchers take a critical look at the use of energy efficiency indicators in energy policy and state the strategy of energy efficiency to save energy is very simple. However, efficiency is problematic to implement. Oversimplification of efficiency measurements can have a detrimental effect on the choice of energy policies. Proposed method unpacks and structures energy input and output information in a meaningful and transparent way by generating a rich multi-level and multi-dimensional information space.

No business model is the same for CSP due to the complexity of projects in terms of engaged actors across the different stages. MUSTEC project team investigated the CSP industry to identify the existing business models and found that the CSP industry has been forced to adjust its original business models. This post further discusses risks and barriers for the CSP industry but also financing opportunities.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has presented scenarios based on observation of impacts from climate change. TRANSrisk combines modelling tools with input from stakeholders to develop climate models by developing an quantified quantitative four stage analysis and gives conclusions from the analysis results for mitigation scenarios.

Renewable energy has the potential to play a big role in the transition pathways towards a low carbon society in Europe and has many recognised benefits. So, the European Union has aimed to increase the share of renewable energy in the electricity industry to at least 50% by 2030. The Innovation Readiness Level (IRL) studied the readiness of renewable energy technologies along 5 dimensions of technology readiness level and provides recommendations for policymakers.

This post discusses the decarbonisation of the European Union (EU) from a biophysical perspective when analysing a shift to renewable energy. A complete decarbonisation of the economy is “feasible and viable” by the EU, and the main hurdles to decarbonisation are framed as financial. The H2020 MAGIC project modelled two pathways for the decarbonisation of the EU’s power sector to 2050, the first with high curtailment and the second with high storage.

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.