Diffusion Of Renewable Energy Technologies Research Articles

Future Scenarios and Assessment of Gradual Diffusion of Renewable Energy Technologies towards 2050: Case Study of a Japanese Municipality

Future Scenarios and Assessment of Gradual Diffusion of Renewable Energy Technologies towards 2050: Case Study of a Japanese Municipality

Exploring Cutting-Edge Approaches to Reduce Africa's Carbon Footprint through Innovative Technology Dissemination

This paper investigates the possibility of revolutionizing Africa's carbon footprint through innovative technology dissemination strategies for GHG emission reduction. It highlights the importance of harnessing renewable energy sources to mitigate climate change and promote sustainable development in Africa. This paper also examined several technology diffusion theories in order to unleash Africa's climate-smart potential by tying them to the recommended techniques for dealing with technological diffusion concerns. These theories varied from diffusion of innovation theory to planned behaviour theory. By analysing these theories, it was found that the most appropriate technology diffusion theory for the assessment of innovative technology dissemination strategies for GHG emission reduction in Africa would be the Diffusion of Innovations Theory. This is due to the theory's emphasis on the dissemination and adoption of new ideas, technologies, or innovations by people or groups within a social system. It would give useful insights into the variables influencing the adoption and dissemination of novel technology for reducing GHG emissions in Africa. The paper also discusses the challenges and barriers faced in the diffusion of renewable energy technologies across the continent while proposing innovative strategies to overcome these obstacles and unlock Africa's untapped climate-smart potential. These strategies include promoting policy and regulatory frameworks that incentivize investment in renewable energy, fostering partnerships between governments, private sector entities, and international organizations to support technology transfer and capacity building, and implementing financial mechanisms such as green bonds and carbon pricing to mobilize funding for renewable energy projects. These proposed strategies were also used to develop seven policies required for innovative technology dissemination strategies for GHG emission reduction in Africa. These policies aim to address the unique challenges faced by African countries in adopting and implementing innovative technologies for GHG emission reduction. By focusing on capacity building, financial incentives, and knowledge sharing, these strategies seek to promote the widespread adoption of sustainable technologies across the continent. They emphasize the importance of collaboration between governments, private sector entities, and international organizations to ensure the successful implementation and long-term sustainability of these policies.

Are households willing to adopt solar home systems also likely to use electricity more efficiently? Empirical insights from Accra, Ghana

The diffusion of renewable energy technology, such as solar home systems (SHS), has great potential to reduce GHG emissions. However, households’ energy efficiency (EE) and curtailment behavior (CB) play a crucial role in this process. This study examines the rooftop solar PV potential, households’ willingness to adopt SHS, and their EE/CB implications for mitigating CO2 emissions through SHS adoption. A survey of 216 households was carried out alongside rooftop solar PV potential analysis in a high-income gated estate and a middle-class neighborhood using secondary data. First, we find that rooftop solar PV has the potential to offset all grid electricity and its associated CO2 emissions for at least 63.5% of households. Secondly, the willingness to adopt SHS is lower in the high-income neighborhood than the middle-class ones. This dynamic is explained by the occupancy status, where most of those in the high-income neighborhood tend to be renters – a group known to have a low willingness to adopt SHS. Thirdly, our results affirm that energy-saving behavior is more common in a middle-class neighborhood where the propensity to adopt SHS is also high. Our results suggest that households willing to adopt SHS are more likely to engage in EE/CB. However, this tendency is common among middle-class households, who, in practice, may not be able to afford the SHS. Our findings underscore the need for more targeted policy interventions for SHS, and EE and CB among homeowners, high-income neighborhoods, and real estate developers.

The role of sustainability characteristics in the diffusion of renewable energy technologies

This paper aims to investigate the role of sustainability factors in the diffusion of solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies. A combined economic innovation-diffusion model that accounts for additional sustainability aspects is proposed. Two and three-stage least square methods were used for the empirical estimation, and the results were compared to a maximum entropy econometric estimation. The findings indicate that sustainability characteristics (i.e., cell efficiency) have a statistically significant positive effect on installed capacity in all solar PV technologies under analysis. Results show that multijunction PV modules have a learning rate of 17.1%, while Monojunction and the global aggregate have similar learning rates of 19.5% and 19%, respectively. Thin film PV modules have learning rates of 17.9% for the period 1991–2019. Cost reductions in solar PV modules can be largely attributed to learning-by-doing activities, the effects of learning by searching are ambiguous and depend both on the estimation methodology and the period under analysis. The study recognizes the difficulty in measuring sustainability characteristics, such as social aspects of the SDGs or indirect environmental implications but suggest that qualitative research can complement the quantitative analysis.

China's optimal development pathway of intermittent renewable power towards carbon neutrality

The carbon neutrality target proposes challenges for China's intermittent renewable power, which has experienced rapid growth in recent years. This study quantitatively analyzes the competition effects of wind power and solar photovoltaics (PV) by way of a competition model and describes their diffusion mechanisms in the energy system. Taking minimum cost as the objective, it constructs a dynamic programming model to explore the optimal development pathway of China's intermittent renewable power to 2060 under the carbon neutrality target and other typical constraints, which enriches the application of competition model in the energy sector, especially in the field of renewable energy technology diffusion. Besides, it also explores the key factors affecting the pathway by way of scenario and sensitivity analyses. This empirical study finds that solar PV outweighs wind power in the long run because the diffusion of wind power is obviously negatively affected by solar PV, whereas the inverse relationship is slightly positive. Wind power will reach its diffusion cap of 660 GW after steady growth; by comparison, solar PV will achieve its diffusion cap of 1790 GW later, but with a much higher growth rate. Investment constraint and technological level slightly affect the development pathway in the early and middle stages, but grid absorptive ability is the critical factor over the entire study period. These discussions will help governments design pathways for developing intermittent renewable energy that match carbon neutrality targets, taking into account the impact of wind power and solar PV interactions.

Democratizing Sustainable Energy Technology through Collaborative International Spaces

Reliance on fossil fuels has exacerbated climate change and created geopolitical instability. As seen recently with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, key players in the energy sector often exert outsized influence on sovereign states and world markets. The ongoing sustainable energy transition provides an opportunity to change the geopolitical influence of these states while limiting global warming. Countries have an opportunity to use diplomacy to increase the diffusion of renewable energy technologies, particularly to developing countries. This can both reduce the inflated influence of fossil fuel producing states on the global stage and achieve a net zero (NZ) world. In anticipation of this latter transition—and to promote growth in energy diplomacy—we propose two UN initiatives: a multilateral energy research and storage collaborative, the World Institute for Energy Storage (WIES), and the biennial International Renewable Energy Conference & Expo (IRECE).

Diffusion of renewable energy technology on Spanish farms: drivers and barriers

The aim of this paper is to identify the drivers and barriers of on-farm adoption of renewable energy systems (RES) in Spain and to determine how the existing mix of policies (subsidies, regulation and communication) affected the decisions of the farmers. The analysis is based on the results of a national survey that was completed by 719 farmers, representing the main types of farms and production regions. Statistically significant correlations have been observed between the probability of on-farm RES adoption and variables such as the use of contract farming, interest in new technologies and risk tolerance. Findings suggest that the diffusion of on-farm RES was at an early stage. Farmers are hesitant to adopt RES because the level of economic and regulatory uncertainty is perceived as too high in relation to the return and payback time typical of RES investments. Tailored business models and financing solutions should be implemented and promoted to overcome the described issues. Furthermore, relevant and reliable information should be available within farmers’ most common professional networks such as cooperatives and farmers’ associations. These aspects should be combined or even prioritized over providing direct economic incentives when producing on-farm RES supporting policies.

Innovation systems for technology diffusion: An analytical framework and two case studies

Existing theories on the diffusion of innovations fail to sufficiently account for contextual factors such as institutions, infrastructure, and supply-side dynamics. This paper presents a novel framework to analyse technology diffusion from a sociotechnical systems perspective, intended as an analytical tool to identify and assess drivers and barriers to diffusion that could be addressed through policy or business strategy. This framework, referred to as the diffusion innovation system (DIS) approach, is positioned within the innovation systems literature. The framework is applied to two empirical cases of renewable energy technology diffusion in Sweden: solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind power. The cases illustrate how key factors related to institutions, infrastructure, adopters, and supply co-develop over time as the technologies diffuse, hence demonstrating the merits of the framework. As these changes are both a reaction to and a cause of diffusion, the sociotechnical diffusion system develops through positive feedback loops. Although the systems' development is largely conducive of diffusion, some remaining and potential barriers are identified.

Channeled through trade: How foreign environmental regulations induce domestic renewable energy innovation

Innovation and diffusion of renewable energy technologies is critical to meeting the demands of climate and environmental policies. An emerging body of literature shows that innovators respond to aggregate global demands for climate change mitigation technologies. Indeed, innovation and trade in renewable energy technologies has accelerated as countries throughout the globe have introduced more stringent environmental regulations to confront the climate crisis. Yet most of this research, while it does consider trade and competitiveness, fails to explicitly incorporate the foreign demand inducement effect—that is, foreign climate and environmental policies can induce innovation from innovators in other countries. In this study, we argue that trade acts as an important channel whereby foreign environmental regulatory stringency signals are conveyed to induce domestic renewable energy innovation. Based on a sample of 32 countries over 16 years, we find strong empirical evidence that foreign environmental regulations, weighted by bilateral trade, have significant innovation inducement effects across borders. Hence, our findings fill a critical gap in the literature by empirically exploring the interplay of green industrial policy, global political economy, trade, innovation, and development.

What besets entrepreneurs in renewable energy sector? – Insights from the Indian state of Gujarat

PurposeIndia has acquired global leadership in renewable energy (RE) deployment because of its commitment to achieve 175 GW of installed capacity by 2022. Entrepreneurship driven by innovation and policy push is essential for energy sector transition. Despite policy focus on the diffusion of RE technology, there are several challenges that plague innovation and RE entrepreneurship development in Gujarat, India. Hence, the purpose of this study is to apply an empirical approach to identify major challenges faced by RE entrepreneurs operating in Gujarat.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical correlational analysis has been taken up to explore individual- and firm-level characteristics of 54 RE entrepreneurs in Gujarat across six districts. Moreover, challenges faced by them related to policy and market have been investigated. Gujarat has been selected as the study area, as it has an installed capacity of 11,000 MW and houses around 11% of the total RE potential of the country.FindingsMajor challenges faced by RE entrepreneurs in Gujarat comprise of financial risks, market incumbency, low profitability, uncertainty of demand and lack of skilled labour.Practical implicationsThis study offers an empirical grounding to policymakers for fostering an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation specific to RE sector in India and other developing nations.Originality/valueThis study is unique, as previous studies on sustainability-driven entrepreneurship are majorly theoretical and lack empirical foundations. Moreover, there are even lesser quantitative studies exploring challenges to RE entrepreneurship specific to India.

Barriers for Renewable Energy Technologies Diffusion: Empirical Evidence from Finland and Poland

A harmful impact of climate change and global warming has concerned various sectors of the international community. Numerous energy policies aiming at climate change mitigation have been implemented on a national and global scale. Renewable energy technologies (RETs) play a critical role in enhancing sustainable solutions that significantly limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Such innovative technologies can facilitate energy transition through providing, e.g., energy security, sustainable development, and effective usage of indigenous resources. However, the commercialization of RETs is extremely challenging. The barriers can be of a different nature, although this study focused on socioeconomic and regulatory issues. There is ample evidence that energy policies play a central role in supporting adoption of renewables. It is also claimed that RETs require the whole ecosystem to support their successful diffusion. In this study, we explored multifarious barriers for widespread RET diffusion in two European Union countries, Finland and Poland, indicating the most common barriers existing in the literature as well as analyzing major bottlenecks from the viewpoint of renewable energy companies’ executives. We also present statistics of the most commonly used RETs in these countries in order to express the diffusion issues more appropriately. The research shows that inflexible, ineffective, and excessive regulatory frameworks; limited financing options; as well as an insufficient level of societal awareness have been seen as the main bottlenecks for RET diffusion in both countries. The outcomes of this study provide useful insights for the researchers in the energy transition field as well as practical managerial and regulatory implications aimed at overcoming these challenges.

The Role of Sustainability Characteristics in the Diffusion of Renewable Energy Technologies

The Role of Sustainability Characteristics in the Diffusion of Renewable Energy Technologies

Effects of cumulative energy aid projects on renewable energy generation capacity

Development cooperation plays an important role in helping aid recipient countries follow low carbon development pathways. Although the nature of cooperation varies across donors and recipients, intentions of renewable energy technology diffusion and structural changes are common for projects in the energy sector. Aid projects promoting renewable energy in developing countries are seldom assessed through econometric methods as the varieties and differences across projects and countries limit generalization. This paper attempts to explore how cumulative number of renewable energy aid projects enhances generation capacity in recipient countries. Using fixed-effect models on such type of projects from 2000 to 2013, we examine the effects of cumulative energy aid project numbers and other control variables on the yearly changes in generation capacity. A positive and statistically significant relationship was found suggesting cumulative learning effect from implemented projects. Presence of host country policies was also found to be important for growth in capacity. Findings of this study adds to the debate of whether density of energy aid projects leads to donor competition or greater fragmentation. Insights from this study can also improve aid providers’ strategy for interventions in the energy sector of recipient countries.

The impact of supply structure on solar home system installations in rural off-grid areas

Markets have an important role in the emergence and diffusion of renewable energy technologies. This paper investigates the impact of market concentration on solar home system installations in rural off-grid energy markets of Bangladesh. We use an extensive dataset that includes 4.11 million solar home systems installed in 503 markets over 15 years (2003–2017). We show that an increase in the degree of market concentration reduces both the number and the total capacity of installed solar home systems after controlling for relevant demand- and supply-side factors. The marginal effect is non-linear and is particularly strong at a higher degree of market concentration. Additionally, we find heterogeneous effects of market concentration depending on the size of the installed solar home system and customer group. Our study implies that policymakers and development authorities should take the supply structure of rural off-grid energy markets into account when designing universal electrification policies.

How renewable energy technological innovation promotes renewable power generation: Evidence from China's provincial panel data

The effect of technological innovation on renewable energy development has drawn attention from scholars and policymakers. Based on a panel dataset covering 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2017, the present study aims to examine how renewable energy technological innovation (RETI), represented by patent stock considering the decay and diffusion of renewable energy technologies, promotes renewable power generation (RPG) by nonspatial and spatial econometric models. The results indicate that 1) a 1% increase in the RETI level of a particular province, on average, leads to a 0.411% increase in RPG in that province directly and a 3.264% increase in RPG in its neighboring provinces through technology diffusion; 2) the effect of RETI on RPG will be underestimated by 12.7% if the decay and diffusion of technologies are not considered; 3) the estimation coefficients of RETI are insufficiently sensitive to the values of the decay and diffusion rates; 4) spatial dependence plays a vital role in exploring the impact of RETI on RPG, and this impact will be underestimated by 34.3% if spatial dependence is ignored.

Drivers for and barriers to the diffusion of biogas technologies through export

The technology diffusion literature has extensively analysed drivers for and barriers to the adoption of renewable energy technologies. However, there are relatively few studies that analyse drivers and barriers from the perspective of renewable energy technology suppliers. An analysis of the supplier-side is complementary to demand-side studies as policy makers seek to stimulate the international diffusion of renewable energy technologies. The international diffusion of renewable energy technologies is necessary for countries to reach their often-ambitious targets regarding independence from fossil-based energy sources. Thus, the aim of this article is to analyse the drivers for and barriers to the international diffusion of renewable energy technologies from the perspective of technology suppliers. In doing so, a survey was conducted amongst 85 biogas technology suppliers in Sweden, with a 34% response rate. Using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), we analysed differences between their perceived barriers and drivers in the international diffusion of biogas technologies through export. Our findings suggest the need for technology and market-specific export promotion initiatives to complement the generic initiatives available for all exporters and make them more effective.

A review of business models for decentralised renewable energy projects

AbstractThe diffusion of renewable energy technologies has often been suggested as a means to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, but emphasis tends to be placed on large scale projects. Adoption of renewable energy at the local level provides opportunities for both distributed energy schemes and domestic microgeneration. However, alternative models of ownership, governance and operation are not well developed. Locally managed energy solutions need to respond to varied end users' requirements to ensure that needs are met, so understanding of different types of end users is a prerequisite to the development of robust business models. This paper presents a review of existing models of decentralised energy generation in which actors such as community groups, energy cooperatives, charities and municipalities participate as owners and coproducers. End users can become involved in the design, development and delivery of energy services in a variety of ways. The focus is active user engagement through coconstruction, coproduction and coprovision of energy services. The following categories will be reviewed with reference to current understandings of both sustainable entrepreneurship and social enterprise: (a) energy service companies (ESCos) as commercial actors that undertake management of these projects, (b) energy cooperatives and (c) municipal energy. This analysis is used to reflect on and refine understanding of the relationship between technical, financial and operational constructs in models of decentralised energy generation which can contribute to social and environmental gains.

Optimal policy supports for renewable energy technology development: A dynamic programming model

Abstract Policy support has played a significant role in driving the rapid development of renewable energy technologies (RETs). This study constructed a dynamic programming model to derive the optimal policy supports for RETs, integrating both supply and demand sides. The sensitivity of policy performance on the cost and price elasticities of RET diffusion was also analyzed. The results show that policy supports could be a main force for RET development in their initial periods. In the long run, policy makers need to decrease the support level faster than the decrease in RET cost to maintain a high policy efficiency. Further improving the efficiency of policy is possible considering the influences of technical change on RET development.

Slow diffusion of renewable energy technologies in China: An empirical analysis from the perspective of innovation system

Renewable energy is particularly important for achieving energy security and emission reduction targets. However, China’s renewable energy technologies are still diffusing slowly. Based on the two-part model and the fixed-effect Tobit model, this paper investigates the factors affecting the diffusion of renewable energy technologies in 28 provinces in China between 2006 and 2017 from the perspective of an innovation system. It is found that increasing the renewable energy tariff surcharge subsidy, the share of relevant employees, and grid density will drive the diffusion of renewable energy technologies. Reducing the share of coal consumption will increase the probability of adoption of renewable energy technologies. Furthermore, a certain province’s or other provinces’ renewable energy technology patent stocks both provide the knowledge infrastructure for the increase in the share of renewable energy generation. In contrast, the crowding-out effect of foreign direct investment will hinder the expansion of renewable energy generation share. Therefore, the failures in the six aspects of institutional design, market structure, personnel factor, external interaction, knowledge infrastructure, and physical infrastructure, will lead to the slow diffusion of renewable energy technologies.

Long-Term Projection of Renewable Energy Technology Diffusion

The EU aims at increasing the use of renewable energy sources (RES), mainly solar-photovoltaic (PV) and wind technologies. Projecting the future, in this respect, requires a long-term energy modeling which includes a rate of diffusion of novel technologies into the market and the prediction of their costs. The aim of this article has been to project the pace at which RES technologies diffused in the past or may diffuse in the future across the power sector. This analysis of the dynamics of technologies historically as well as in modeling, roadmaps and scenarios consists in a consistent analysis of the main parameters of the dynamics (pace of diffusion and extent of diffusion in particular markets). Some scenarios (REMIND, WITCH, WEO, PRIMES) of the development of the selected power generation technologies in the EU till 2050 are compared. Depending on the data available, the learning curves describing the expected development of PV and wind technologies till 2100 have been modeled. The learning curves have been presented as a unit cost of the power versus cumulative installed capacity (market size). As the production capacity increases, the cost per unit is reduced thanks to learning how to streamline the manufacturing process. Complimentary to these learning curves, logistic S-shape functions have been used to describe technology diffusion. PV and wind generation technologies for the EU have been estimated in time domain till 2100. The doubts whether learning curves are a proper method of representing technological change due to various uncertainties have been discussed. A critical analysis of effects of the commonly applied models for a long-term energy projection (REMIND, WITCH) use has been conducted. It has been observed that for the EU the analyzed models, despite differences in the target saturation levels, predict stagnation in the development of PV and wind technologies from around 2040. Key results of the analysis are new insights into the plausibility of future deployment scenarios in different sectors, informed by the analysis of historical dynamics of technology diffusion, using to the extent possible consistent metrics.