Ambitious Renewable Energy Targets Research Articles

Impacts of large-scale deployment of vertical bifacial photovoltaics on European electricity market dynamics

Self-sufficiency, climate change and increasing geopolitical risks have driven energy policies to make renewable energy sources dominant in the power production portfolios. The initial boom in the mid-2000s of global photovoltaic installations demonstrated the feasibility of the ambitious renewable energy targets. However, this rapid scale-up has introduced challenges, including price volatility and system integration issues. This communication calls the attention to these emerging challenges and offers quantitative insights on how rapid adoption of a more diversified photovoltaics deployment strategies can mitigate price volatilities, reduce fossil fuel dependence and steer Europe towards a forward-thinking sustainable energy pathway. The analysis reveals that as innovative bifacial photovoltaic systems are incorporated on a large-scale disruptive scenario, four main patterns emerge: economic value of solar production increases, base-load electricity price decreases, sun-rich countries expand their solar contributions, whereas nations with ample grid interconnections enhance their energy imports from neighbouring countries. It also underscores the importance of maintaining photovoltaics an attractive option for energy investors and traders in the future. Establishing this groundwork is critical since a successful integration of large-scale solar systems contributing to decrease price volatilities in Europe and US will carry significant repercussions for global energy policy formulation.

ПОТРЕБИ СЕКТОРІВ ЕКОНОМІКИ УКРАЇНИ В ІНОЗЕМНИХ ІНВЕСТИЦІЯХ У ЗВ’ЯЗКУ ЗІ ЗБИТКАМИ ВІД ВІЙНИ

The article explores the economic repercussions of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, focusing on the damage inflicted and the subsequent need for recovery. It identifies the most impacted sectors – residentialconstruction, industry, logistics, and education – as a not only requiring significant aid but also presenting attractive investment opportunities. The analysis extends to potential investment avenues across these sectors, emphasizing the importance of foreign aid and strategic government intervention to secure foreign investment. Infrastructure, particularly housing, is pinpointed as a critical area for investment to support the return of refugees and internally displaced persons in the post-war period. Despite considerable losses, the industrial and trade sectors, including the military-industrial complex, logistics, and education, are highlighted for their investment potential. The energy sector, deemed strategically crucial, faces challenges from mine-infested territories and the European Union’s ambitious renewable energy targets. Yet, it retains its competitiveness and ability to attract investments amidst the conflict. The article calls attention to significant obstacles, such as the dependency on fossil fuels and the need to align with the EU’s renewable energy ambitions.

АКУМУЛЯТОРИ ТЕПЛОВОЇ ЕНЕРГІЇ

The article provides an analytical review of thermal energy storage. The reasons determining their demand are shown. It has been established that the market of thermal accumulators is developing quite dynamically. According to the forecast of the International Renewable Energy Agency, the global market for thermal accumulators may triple by 2030 from 234 GWh of installed capacity in 2019 to about 800 GWh in 2030. Investments in the development of thermal accumulators are expected to reach 13–28 billion US dollars. Their capacity for power generation can be 491–631 GWh, for heat supply – 143–199 GWh, for cooling – 23–26 GWh. Bloomberg NEF considers the main drivers of such a sharp increase in energy storage capacity are the US Inflation Reduction Act, which provides for more than $369 billion in financing for clean technologies, as well as the European Union's RE Power EU plan to reduce dependence on gas from Russia. The significant additional storage capacity expected from 2025 in the utility sector is in line with the very ambitious renewable energy targets set out in the REPowerEU plan. The purpose of this review is the search and analysis of thermal energy storage technologies for their possible use in the centralized heat supply of Ukraine. The conducted review showed that the most advanced technology for the accumulation of thermal energy is heat capacity of the material storage. It is the cheapest and most common in centralized heat supply. For short-term storage of heat energy, it is advisable to use storage tanks and main heat networks. Special insulated concrete underground storages of both natural and artificial origin are used for seasonal accumulation of thermal energy. A promising technology for seasonal thermal energy storage is an ice battery developed by the Viessmann company, which requires much less space than the heat capacity of the material storage technology. Thermochemical batteries are in the early stages of development, their demonstration samples may be manufactured by 2050. Keywords: battery, thermal energy, heat capacity, phase transition.

The Impact of Renewable Energy Targets on Natural Gas Export Policy: Lessons from the Israeli Case

Evidence indicates that various countries around the world set renewable energy targets in an effort to promote clean and sustainable energy sources at the expense of polluting, fossil fuel-based energy systems. While scholars have discussed extensively how these targets affect the promotion of renewable energy sources, their effect on fossil fuel policy at the national level has been neglected. The current study addresses this research lacuna, examining the impact of renewable energy targets on decision making vis à vis fossil fuels, given that these energy sources are considered substitutes. This is achieved by focusing on intra-governmental discussions in Israel during 2020–2021 that sought to formulate the country’s natural gas export policy as a function of its ambitious renewable energy targets. The study demonstrates how renewable energy targets, which are often set by politicians, can significantly influence decision making concerning fossil fuels, even when they contradict professional regulators’ positions and from their perspective represent a risk to national energy security.

An overview of wind energy development and policy initiatives in India.

The Indian renewable energy sector has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 15.51% in the last five years, where wind growth is about 8%. The Indian government has been adopting changes to create a safe, cheap, and sustainable energy system to fuel vigorous economic growth. The government has made significant efforts in ensuring universal access to energy, giving power to its residents. It is implementing a large-scale deployment of renewable energy, particularly solar and wind. This paper examines the country's wind sector in-depth, including the government policy, financial incentives, and accomplishments. The study goes on to discuss the prospects and problems of the wind sector, as well as solutions to overcome them to reach the estimated target of 140–150 GW by 2030. Wind power growth in the country has weakened in the last few years which may hamper the country’s ambitious renewable energy targets. Wind industry is facing several hindrances ranging from discontinuation of incentives, land acquisition, DISCOM’s poor health, change in bidding scheme, old wind sites, etc. Certain steps, such as repowering outdated wind farms, giving generation-based incentives, tax concessions, reassessing the country’s wind potential, and constructing competitive renewable energy zones could aid in reviving the wind energy sector.Graphical abstract

Scenarios for future power system development in Finland

This paper demonstrates how various part-solutions can be combined in different scenarios for a more climate-neutral electric energy system. The case study is the Finnish electric energy system. Four scenarios are discussed. A base scenario for 2030 consists of already agreed future investments in new energy production facilities by 2022 supplemented by additional consumption and a moderate increase in renewable energy generation. Alongside the base scenario 2030, two scenarios with more ambitious renewable energy targets and flexibility issues are examined. The fourth scenario is for year 2050 analyzing the operational properties of the system with high share of variable renewable generation, flexible loads, and high-capacity energy storages. These scenarios help to assess how, for example, investing in wind or solar production, heat pumps on a large scale or the battery storage of electric vehicles influences the other components of the system and the implications for emissions.

Decarbonizing the Chilean Electric Power System: A Prospective Analysis of Alternative Carbon Emissions Policies

In this paper, we investigate potential pathways for achieving deep reductions in CO2 emissions by 2050 in the Chilean electric power system. We simulate the evolution of the power system using a long-term planning model for policy analysis that identifies investments and operation strategies to meet demand and CO2 emissions reductions at the lowest possible cost. The model considers a simplified representation of the main transmission network and representative days to simulate operations considering the variability of demand and renewable resources at different geographical locations. We perform a scenario analysis assuming different ambitious renewable energy and emission reduction targets by 2050. As observed in other studies, we show that the incremental cost of reducing CO2 emissions without carbon capture or offset alternatives increases significantly as the system approaches zero emissions. Indeed, the carbon tax is multiplied by a factor of 4 to eliminate the last Mt of CO2 emissions, i.e., from 2000 to almost 8500 USD/tCO2 in 2050. This result highlights the importance of implementing technology-neutral mechanisms that help investors identify the most cost-efficient actions to reduce CO2 emissions. Our analysis shows that Carbon Capture and Storage could permit to divide by more than two the total system cost of a 100% renewable scenario. Furthermore, it also illustrates the importance of implementing economy-wide carbon emissions policies that ensure that the incremental costs to reduce CO2 emissions are roughly similar across different sectors of the economy.

A further decline in battery storage costs can pave the way for a solar PV-dominated Indian power system

India, mainly powered by coal, has adopted ambitious renewable energy targets and currently considers a climate neutrality target for 2050. The rapid growth of solar PV power faces challenges due to its variable generation resulting in a decline in its economic value. In this paper, we evaluate the potential of battery storage to stabilize the market value of solar PV for three scenarios of further battery costs decrease. We estimate optimal battery storage and power generating capacities and their hourly operation in a 2040 Indian wholesale electricity market using an open-source power sector model. We find that battery storage increases the optimal solar PV shares from ∼40-50 % (without batteries) to ∼65 % (90%) in our central (optimistic) battery cost scenarios, while they hardly increase in our pessimistic battery cost scenario. We conclude that if battery cost drop to below ∼200 USD/kWh (including balance-of-system costs) they could become essential in a transition to a solar PV-dominant Indian energy system.

Why is there an implementation gap in community energy planning?

In community energy planning, a persistent disconnect has been observed between the targets and plans announced by local governments and the application of effective policy to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We use two methods to explore this implementation gap. First, we apply energy-economy modelling tools at the urban level to evaluate the effectiveness of various policy options available to local governments. Our case study for these exercises is the leading jurisdiction of Vancouver, British Columbia. Second, we report and analyze the results of a survey we administered to community energy practitioners in Canada. The modelling results point to jurisdictional reach as an important contributor to the implementation gap. We find that, while Vancouver can make significant progress by implementing policies that are clearly within its jurisdiction, the city is unlikely to meet its ambitious renewable energy and GHG emissions targets without the support of higher levels of government. The survey responses suggest that capacity limitations of local government also have a role in perpetuating the implementation gap.

Nexus between willingness to pay for renewable energy sources: evidence from Turkey

The willingness to pay (WTP) plays a central role in directing appropriate policy regarding ambitious renewable energy targets. Based on this discrepancy, this study intends to investigate the willingness to pay (WTP) for Turkish citizens regarding green electricity by using a one-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA). The interviews were conducted comprising 2500 households in 12 major metropolitan cities of Turkey, which is based on the contingent valuation method and consists of 26 questions. The results indicate that for a 20% share of renewable energy, middle-income groups are willing to pay higher than lower and upper-income groups. Moreover, highly environmentally conscious people tend to pay more for a 20% share of green energy. On the other hand, high-income groups and old age groups indicated a positive and high willingness to pay for a 30% share of renewable energy (RE) sources. In addition, primary school and undergraduate educational groups recorded highly significant results for willingness to pay. The results also indicate that Turkish citizens are willing to pay 9.25 Turkish liras (TL) per month for a 20% share and 4.77 Turkish liras per month for a 30% share of renewable energy in total energy production.

Integrating Land-Use and Renewable Energy Planning Decisions: A Technical Mapping Guide for Local Government

Land-based, utility-scale renewable energy (RE) systems using wind or solar resources to generate electricity is becoming a decisive solution to meet long-term carbon emission reduction goals. Local governments are responding in kind, by adopting their own goals and/or establishing policies to facilitate successful implementations of RE in their jurisdiction. One factor to successful RE development is to locate the most suitable lands, while continuing to sustain land-based economies and ecosystem services. Local governments often have limited resources; and this is especially true for small, land-constrained local governments. In this paper, we illustrate how a standardized RE technical mapping framework can be used by local governments to advance the implementation of RE in land-constrained areas, through a case study in the Town of Canmore, Alberta. Canmore has a limited municipal area surrounded by the Canadian Rockies, along with complex land-use bylaw and environmentally sensitive habitats. This mapping framework accounts for these conditions as it considers theoretical resources, technically recoverable lands, legally accessible lands, and the spatial capital cost of connecting new RE facilities. Different land-use planning scenarios are considered including changing setback buffers and expanding restrictions on development to all environmentally sensitive districts. The total RE potentials are then estimated based on the least-conflict lands. Technically speaking, even under restrictive land suitability scenarios, Canmore holds enough land to achieve ambitious RE targets, but opportunities and challenges to implementation remain. To eventually succeed in its long-term emission reduction goal, the most decisive step for Canmore is to balance the growth of energy demands, land-use changes, and practicable RE development. Mapping systems that can study the influence of land-use planning decisions on RE potential are critical to achieving this balance.

Decarbonisation through coal phase-out in Germany and Europe — Impact on Emissions, electricity prices and power production

Coal power accounts for a major share within electricity production and significantly contributes to the overall greenhouse gas emissions in many European countries. According to official reports, Germany will not achieve its emission reduction targets in 2020. Therefore, a shut-down of coal capacities is currently being discussed and a plan is developed by the so-called Coal Commission.In this study, we analyse the effects of a national coal phase-out policy on carbon emissions and prices, and compare these to the effects of EU-wide coal phase-out policies. Considering high CO2 certificate prices and ambitious renewable energy targets, a coal phase-out in Germany would have a minor additional impact on overall European emissions. An EU-wide coal phase-out however, would significantly reduce the emissions, by around 19%. Alternatively, a very high CO2 certificate price policy provides an even greater reduction in CO2 emissions.

Capacity vs energy subsidies for promoting renewable investment: Benefits and costs for the EU power market

Policy makers across Europe have implemented renewable support policies with several policy objectives in mind. Among these are achieving ambitious renewable energy targets at the lowest cost, reducing CO2-emissions and promoting technology improvement through learning-by-doing. Using a detailed country-level model of generation markets, we address the question of how policies that subsidize renewable energy (feed-in premia and renewable portfolio standards (RPSs)) versus capacity (investment subsidies) impact the mix of renewable investments, electricity costs, renewable share, the amount of subsidies, and consumer prices in the EU electric power market in 2030 and how they interact with other policies such as the EU ETS. Our analysis shows that subsidies of energy output are cost-effective for achieving renewable energy targets in the short run, whereas policies tied to capacity installation yield more investment and might be more effective in reducing technology costs in the longer term. The difference in costs between these two policy options diminish with higher CO2-prices. Although the differences are significant, they are smaller than cost impacts of other renewable policy design features, namely the effect of not allowing EU members to meet their individual targets by trading renewable credits with other member states.

Locational Marginal Network Tariffs for Intermittent Renewable Generation

The variability of solar and wind generation increases transmission network operating costs associated with maintaining system stability. These ancillary services costs are likely to increase as a share of total energy costs in regions with ambitious renewable energy targets. We examine how efficient deployment of intermittent renewable generation capacity across locations depends on the costs of balancing real-time system demand and supply. We then show how locational marginal network tariffs can be designed to implement the efficient outcome for intermittent renewable generation unit location decisions. We demonstrate the practical applicability of this approach by applying our theory to obtain quantitative results for the California electricity market.

Hidden outlaws in the forest? A legal and spatial analysis of onshore wind energy in Germany

Onshore wind power has become one of the most important technologies for renewable electricity production throughout the world, with Germany being one of the global leaders. More than 27,000 wind turbines are currently spinning across Germany. Given the government’s ambitious renewable energy targets, their numbers will continue to rise rapidly. It has now become technically and economically feasible to install wind turbines in forested areas. Our interdisciplinary analysis combines legal knowledge with spatial land use and wind power data to analyse the past development of wind farms in German forests and check whether the existing planning instruments successfully steer their spatial distribution. Our results reveal that, since 2011, a growing number of wind turbines are being installed in forests, even if they only account for 5.5% of the total number (8% of the total installed wind power capacity) and are almost exclusively limited to six of the 16 federal states. As there are no nationwide, uniform regulations governing wind turbines in forested areas, the federal states developed their own specific regulations. While some, especially those with high forest shares, generally permit wind farms in forests for reaching their renewable energy targets, others aim to keep their forests clear. So far, planning law and regional planning could successfully steer the hitherto comparatively slow expansion of wind energy in forest areas and ensure that windmills in forests are by no means “outlaws”.

Environmental interactions of tidal lagoons: A comparison of industry perspectives

Tidal lagoons are an attractive renewable energy option that could aid the UK in meeting its ambitious renewable energy targets. One of the main barriers to tidal range development in the UK to date has been regulatory environmental concern. In order for the nascent lagoon industry to move forward into development, the views of the developers and other influential stakeholders such as government bodies, regulators, conservationists and practitioners (herein referred to as ‘influencing stakeholders’ or ‘influencers’) need to be aligned. This study is the first of its kind using online questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to present and compare the views of both developers and influencing stakeholders on the environmental interactions of tidal lagoons. We find that, whilst both influencers and developers are working towards the common goal of a good environmental outcome for tidal lagoons, there are mismatches in their views in terms of the priorities given to the key environmental impacts, benefits and potential solution options. The work provides insight into what is at the forefront of developers' and influencers' minds, highlighting the key themes within their views and transforming this information into policy recommendations that will help the industry's development move forward.

Risk-based analysis and policy implications for renewable energy investments in Greece

Significant renewable energy (RE) investments have to be implemented in order to achieve the ambitious RE targets set in the EU for 2020 and beyond. Moreover, a great amount of capital has to be leveraged, as these projects are followed by high investment and financing costs. Main aim of this paper is the provision of a comprehensive assessment of the existing risk elements of RE investments in relation to the respective policies and the evaluation of their impact on the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) in Greece. A consultation procedure with key national energy stakeholders took also place, including policy makers, project developers, investors, equity providers, bankers and energy analysts in the Greek RE market, in order to provide a validation of the respective results. It has been concluded that the policy design risk represents the risk element with the greatest impact on the cost of capital and, thus, the level of RE investments’ deployment. Βased on the cost of capital valuation process followed, the WACC was estimated to reach approximately 12% for onshore wind and little lower values for solar PV projects in Greece.

Negative price spikes at power markets: the role of energy policy

In Germany, substantial drops in wholesale power prices have become a regular phenomenon. While such price drops have far-reaching implications for the functioning of the power market, their underlying determinants remain poorly understood. To fill this gap, we propose a Markov regime-switching model to investigate low-price events at the European Power Exchange. Our analysis focuses on the role of energy policies that promote renewable energies and have led to significant reductions of nuclear capacities after the Fukushima accident. We find that high electricity infeed from renewable sources increases negative price spike probabilities, while the decommissioning of nuclear plants under the Nuclear Moratorium had an opposing effect. Simulations of market outcomes under different energy policies indicate that reaching ambitious renewable energy targets increases the frequency of low-price events and compromises the financial viability of conventional generation units, while a nuclear phase-out or an increase in storage capacities mitigates these effects.

Negative Price Spikes at Power Markets: The Role of Energy Policy

In Germany, substantial drops in wholesale power prices have become a regular phenomenon. While such price drops have far-reaching implications for the functioning of the power market, their underlying determinants remain poorly understood. To fill this gap, we propose a Markov regime-switching model to investigate low-price events at the European Power Exchange. Our analysis focuses on the role of energy policies that promote renewable energies and have led to significant reductions of nuclear capacities after the Fukushima accident. We find that high electricity infeed from renewable sources increases negative price spike probabilities, while the decommissioning of nuclear plants under the Nuclear Moratorium had an opposing effect. Simulations of market outcomes under different energy policies indicate that reaching ambitious renewable energy targets increases the frequency of low-price events and compromises the financial viability of conventional generation units, while a nuclear phase-out or an increase in storage capacities mitigates these effects.

Grid Interactive Renewable Power in India—a Review

In February 2015, India announced 175 gigawatts (GW) of capacity additions in renewable power by 2022. Private sector dominates the Grid Interactive Renewable Power (GIRP) but at the same time is dependent on government policies substantially. The scenario of high investment costs is changing, especially in the case of wind and solar power, yet the challenges like high debt cost, variability output, inadequate grid infrastructure, and competition with conventional power prevail. A state-wise analysis reveals that the installed capacities in case of wind and biomass respond strongly to the power tariff for industries while the relationship with the benchmark tariffs is weak though positive. Solar potential is still largely untapped but gaining momentum. With time, it is important to create a scenario wherein GIRP responds strongly to the benchmark tariff identified by the states as presently it responds to power tariff for industries for augmented interest of private sector as one of the means of achieving the ambitious renewable energy targets.