Energy Value Chain Research Articles

Broadening energy resilience: How does the digital economy affect the global energy value chain?

The frequent occurrence of global economic black swan events has affected the development of the global energy value chain (GEVC) and exposed countries to considerable uncertainty. However, digital economy development can offer new solutions and perspectives for countries to mitigate external shocks, ensure energy security and improve energy resilience. This study examines 71 countries from 2010 to 2019, innovatively obtaining GEVC from input–output tables to explore the impact and mechanism of the digital economy on GEVC in terms of countries’ dimensions of participation and position. The relevant results are threefold. First, the digital economy increases countries’ participation in GEVC and pushes them to move downstream of the GEVC. This result still holds after robustness tests. Second, the mechanism test demonstrates that the digital economy can influence factor allocation and innovation to affect countries’ GEVC participation. Third, the effect of the digital economy on a nation's ability to participate in the GEVC varies depending on the external and internal threats that the nation faces. This study enriches the research on global value chains and has important implications encouraging countries to advance digital economy development, navigate external shocks and accelerate digital economy and GEVC integration.

Role of energy value chain in carbon neutrality: A review

Value chain analysis is an important tool for optimizing operations and decision-making in enterprises. As the concept of sustainable development gains recognition worldwide, research on value chains is increasingly focused on sustainability. Traditionally, energy management and value management have operated in parallel with limited intersections. However, after the 2015 Paris Agreement set the goal of achieving net-zero emissions, carbon management has become integral to national strategies, necessitating a re-evaluation of traditional value chains. In this paper, the “energy value chain” is introduced, a novel concept that integrates energy consumption with value creation and carbon emissions, emphasizing the coupling relationships among “energy flow”, “value flow”, and “carbon flow.” From a review of current value chains in the power, steel, petroleum, and transportation industries, the specific energy value chain for each industry is defined and its rationale and effectiveness are discussed. This integrated analytical method provides a strategic tool for industries or enterprises to optimize energy consumption, reduce carbon emissions, and enhance competitive advantage.

A Study of Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Yojna and Its Impact on Household Electricity Costs and Decreasing Dependency on Conventional Energy Sources

According to research, the Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Yojna has a significant impact on sustainable energy practices by lowering household electricity costs through rooftop solar installations and reducing India's dependency on foreign energy sources. The Yojna lessens the environmental effect of traditional energy usage by enabling homes to switch to greener options by promoting access to renewable energy. The program's subsidies and incentives increase access to solar energy, promoting its widespread adoption by both urban and rural families. In addition to lowering household power costs, its widespread adoption helps India meet its challenging targets for lowering carbon emissions and fostering environmental sustainability. Through the creation of chances for local manufacturers, skilled workers, and industries to engage in the solar energy value chain, the project also promotes socioeconomic development. The initiative supports India's larger sustainable energy aims by offering a framework for rooftop solar panel installations, guaranteeing long-term financial gains and promoting energy independence. There are difficulties, mostly associated with the initial high cost of installing solar panels and the difficulties in obtaining funding or subsidies, but they are gradually being resolved by means of incentives and policy changes from the government. Overall, by making solar energy more accessible, cheap, and appealing to Indian homes, the Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Yojna has played a significant role in defining sustainable energy habits and supporting the nation's wider economic and climatic goals.

How to optimize government R&D budget allocation? A review of recent studies and research gaps

Purpose Research and Development (R&D) activities are important for technological innovation and present opportunities for entrepreneurship. These activities depend on the flow of funding. This paper aims to review approaches used in R&D project selection and budget allocation. Design/methodology/approach This study conducts a systematic review, examining the content of 60 relevant papers (spanning 2000–2022) concerning public R&D budget allocation. The analysis focuses on allocation methodology, R&D output evaluation, budget allocation efficiency and the management of uncertainty in the allocation process. Findings The systematic review reveals different methods proposed for allocating government R&D budgets. These methods range from classical optimization, multi-criteria analysis and hierarchical analysis to techniques such as balanced scorecard, data envelopment analysis and analytic hierarchy process, including fuzzy approaches. Recent trends indicate an increase in the use of advanced optimization, integration and simulation algorithms. Performance indicators for reflecting R&D project outputs or goals can be categorized into four main groups: output (e.g. publications, patents, graduates), outcome, productivity (e.g. citations, patent references, articles and patents per capita) and sector-specific metrics. Practical implications Future research directions in government R&D budget allocation may include optimizing allocation to maximize social, economic and political benefits, developing ranking models, decision-making frameworks, simulations and evaluations of factors influencing allocation type and strategy. Additionally, there is a growing interest in novel budget allocation algorithms leveraging artificial intelligence and self-adjusting meta-heuristic algorithms. Originality/value The systematic review showed that some important research gaps in (government) R&D budget allocation could be considered in future studies; for example, long-term social, economic and political benefits in budget allocation optimization models, comprehensiveness of allocating government R&D budgets to universities, higher education and research institutes, R&D budget allocation to strategic technology development, e.g. renewable energy sector, supply chain issues and renewable energy value chain; new budget allocation algorithms based on artificial intelligence and self-adjusting meta-heuristic algorithms; methods for optimizing the structures of government budget allocation to R&D, considering executive and regulatory conflicts.

Shifting wood between material and energy use: Modeling the effects of substitution

AbstractWood as a renewable material is relevant for climate change mitigation: Carbon sequestration in forests and carbon storage in harvested wood products (HWPs) contribute to carbon reduction in the atmosphere, and the substitution of carbon‐intensive products with wood products can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Since wood is a limited resource, it must be used efficiently and sustainably. Shifting wood from one application to another might result in decreased GHG emissions due to substitution effects. However, which wood application will lead to a GHG emission reduction is currently unknown. This study investigates the effects of shifting wood between applications and the resulting substitution effects from a system perspective. A system dynamics model describes the wood utilization system of Austria, including the value chains from the forest to wood‐processing industries and the substitution that takes place in these industries. These value chains are associated with the global warming potential. Seven wood utilization scenarios shifting between material use and use for energy are simulated. The results show that wood shifts lead to both a substitution effect (emission reduction) in industries where wood utilization is increased and a counter effect (emission increase) where wood is replaced. The two effects potentially outweigh each other partly, leading to comparatively small net effects. However, carbon sequestration in HWPs and future changes in substitution effects might lead to additional effects. To substantially contribute to climate change mitigation, alternatives other than shifting wood between material and energy value chains need to be found within the wood utilization system.

Climate true‐cost analysis of industrial goods and its regulatory implications on value chains and global competition

AbstractClimate change and its damaging consequences for ecology and humanity is advancing. Industry and its metals sector are responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions. Current costs of industrial goods do not reflect the true costs caused by the externalized climate damages of its production and thus offer no competitive incentive to decarbonize. Additionally, regional climate regulation can lead to competitive distortion. We therefore aim to investigate the impact of climate cost internalization on the metals industry. Using true‐cost analysis for an exemplary and widely used metal product, the effects of climate true costs depending on production region, technology, and energy mix, CO2e taxation and value chain are examined. Based hereon, the impact of internalizing climate true costs together with the introduction of a carbon‐border tax on the carbon leakage problem, climate protection, and the cost situation for companies in global competition are investigated. The results of the study show that steel and wire production is responsible for most CO2e emissions showing significant decarbonization effects by steel recycling whereas production location and logistics play a minor role. On a competitive level, cost internalization has hardly any effect on the product costs because of the currently low CO2e‐taxation rates. Thus, almost no incentive to produce or consume in a climate‐protective way is generated, incentivizing production in pollution havens versus highly climate regulated regions. Instead, to realize emission efficiency gains and innovations leading to a competitive advantage of decarbonized products and value chains, a significant increase of CO2e‐taxation rates together with a carbon‐border tax is necessary.

A qualitative inquiry into sustainable transitions and business models in Icelandic energy-related companies

In the face of escalating environmental and social crises, the potential for a sustainable transition within the current sociotechnical system has emerged through innovation and alternative technologies. Despite offering diverse perspectives, sustainable transitions remain uncertain in terms of their nature and pathways. The research aims to bridge theory and reality through a case study to investigate the potential for sector-specific businesses to contribute to a sustainable transition within the current sociotechnical system. This study focuses on five Icelandic energy-related companies and two governing bodies within the energy value chain, and examines the sustainability of companies' business models and their contributions to different futures, and contextualizes the results within economic theory. The study identified two alternative economic paradigms, Green Growth (GG) and Post Growth (PG), as potential frameworks for achieving sustainable futures. The findings suggest Icelandic energy-related companies align with GG and predominantly prioritize energy efficiency, transparency enhancement, and environmental impact reduction, reflecting contributions to medium-term tactical level changes within the sociotechnical system. Challenges arise in fully implementing PG principles due to the complexities of reconciling energy production, consumption, and growth goals. The findings underscore the pivotal role of energy-related companies in sustainable transitions but emphasize the need for policy interventions to guide macroeconomic activities towards environmental and social wellbeing. The theoretical contribution of this study is the identification of alternative economic paradigms and construction of a sustainable business model for energy related companies. The practical contribution of this study is the framework used in evaluating the business model of companies in the energy sector which can provide practical understandings of the implementation of sustainable business models and a company's sustainability performance.

Strategic Autonomy, REPowerEU And The Internal Energy Market: Untying The Gordian Knot

The “open” strategic autonomy discourse now serves altogether as a new narrative and overarching principle of EU energy policy. This article conceptualizes EU strategic energy autonomy (SEA) as the Union’s ability to choose autonomously its own path towards a decarbonized “energy mix”. Realizing EU SEA demands a more holistic energy policy to tackle external dependence on foreign suppliers of energy commodities, technologies, and raw materials critical to the green transition. In this context, joint external action is important; but coordinated internal action is even more so, as the nature and magnitude of external constraints also depend on internal choices among the Member States concerning transition pathways. The article focuses on the internal dimension of EU energy policy. The REPowerEU plan and related emergency measures adopted under Article 122 TFEU to guarantee solidarity in tackling the impending energy crisis only brought a partial answer and once again raised the question of the EU competence to act on energy security issues. It is argued that the shared competence and related limitations foreseen in the TFEU should not prevent the EU from implementing a long-term holistic policy to pursue a resilient decarbonization policy throughout the energy value chains. The EU may well become more relevant than in the past when it comes to the energy security of Member States. New regulatory tools may be needed to support the integrity of the cornerstone of EU energy policy to date – the internal energy market – in the pursuit of an “open” SEA. The potential contribution to safeguarding “open” SEA from EU foreign direct investment screening, the forthcoming carbon border adjustment mechanism, and the new EUforeign subsidy regulation are discussed in this context.

Assessing aspects of solution-based chemical synthesis to convert waste Si solar cells into nanostructured aluminosilicate crystals

An affordable, scalable, and easily adoptable solution-based processing route provides a potential way of converting waste Si solar cells into aluminosilicate minerals to contribute to sustainability in the solar energy value chain.

Technological advances of ammonia as energy storage solution

The renewable energy is playing an important role in transitioning to the decarbonization of the entire energy value chain. But how will the global energy industry accelerate this transition? Renewables and electrification of energy could be a perfect solution. However, intermittency of renewable energy production is the single biggest challenge faced by renewable energy sources, which can be mitigated when it is coupled with an appropriate energy storage system. First, you need to generate electricity from renewable sources and then store it so that it can be extracted whenever there is a demand. There are several energy storage systems that can be coupled with renewables such as fossil fuel storage, mechanical storage, thermal storage, electrochemical storage, and chemical storage. Studies have shown that chemical storage technologies provide clear advantage in terms of storage time and range of power it can store over other similar technologies. It also justifies the recent research activities around various new chemical storage technologies. A combination of the above energy systems works very well for most of the abundant and affordable energy. However, one area where there can be a significant improvement is the carbon emissions associated with fossil fuel-based storage systems. As a result, the energy industry is recently interested in the transition to renewables coupled with non-carbon storage of power as a long term solution to environmental issues. So the possible solution is producing chemical storage options from surplus renewable energy which solves both the hurdles of emissions as well as carbon-free energy storage system. This article analyses whether ammonia can be viewed as an efficient and technological solution to the problem of large-scale and long-duration energy storage in the decarbonized energy systems of the future. Throughout the article, references have been drawn from a wide range of resources and author’s academic and industrial experience. It is intended to use the article as a vehicle to share knowledge with a wide range of audience on utilization of ammonia for energy storage.

Challenges of a sustainable energy and vehicle-related value chain for BEVs and FCEVs through the 5th wave theory

Challenges of a sustainable energy and vehicle-related value chain for BEVs and FCEVs through the 5th wave theory

Developing a framework for integration of a green supply chain at energy production using fuzzy-QFD

The study aims to develop a framework for the integration of green supply chains at energy production using fuzzy-QFD. The study will identify green requirements (GR) and green factors (GF), propose a multi-criteria decision-making model to determine GR's priority weights and determine the relationships between GRs and GFs in the energy sector. The study also calculates absolute technical importance ratings and normalized ratings by using a fuzzy-quality function deployment approach. To validate the proposed framework, sensitivity analysis was performed which revealed that the adoption of GCM increased the cost by 20%, environmental quality by 25% and the efficiency level by 20%. These results will help to reduce carbon footprints and ensure sustainability in the process of energy transportation and energy value chain including all activities necessary for the production, distribution and consumption of electrical energy. The present study suggests developing internal operations in the light of green supply chain management in the energy sector. Moreover, the subjectivity of the developed framework needs to be assessed more in other sectors.

Comparative Techno-Economic Evaluation of a Standalone Solar Power System for Scaled Implementation in Off-Grid Areas

The increasing environmental concerns and dependence on fossil fuel-based energy sectors necessitate a shift towards renewable energy. Off-grid communities can particularly benefit from standalone, scaled renewable power plants. This study developed a comprehensive techno-economic framework, analyzed the objective metrics, and assessed the influence of economies of scale in solar PV power plants to electrify off-grid communities, taking Baluchistan, Pakistan, as a pilot case. Simulations and analyses were performed using the System Advisor Model (SAM). The results indicate a noteworthy reduction in the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) with increased power generation capacity. It was observed that utilizing bi-facial modules with single-axis tracking leads to a more cost-effective LCOE compared to the relatively expensive dual-axis trackers. The main cost factors identified in the analysis were capital costs, installed balance of plant (BOP), mechanical, and electrical costs. Notably, the disparity between the highest and lowest LCOE values across the six different power generation pathways amounted to approximately 38.5%. The average LCOE was determined to be 2.14 USD/kWh for fixed-mounted plants, 1.79 USD/kWh for single-axis plants, and 1.74 USD/kWh for dual-axis plants across the examined power generation capacity range. The findings can serve as a valuable benchmark, specifically for regional key stakeholders, in making informed investment decisions, formulating effective policies, and devising appropriate strategies for off-grid electrification and the development of renewable energy value chains.

Market Design for Cross-Border Co-Optimised Energy-Reserve Allocation

To achieve its energy goals, the European Union (EU) needs to establish a geographically large market by initially improving its cross-border electricity interconnections. The Hungarian project focuses on this topic. A geographically large market, based on imports and exports of electricity, could increase the level of competition, boost the EU’s security of electricity supply through creating alternative routes to the customers and integrate more renewables into energy markets. Electricity should, as far as possible, flow between Member States as easily as it currently flows within Member States, in order to increase sustainability potential and real competition, as well as to drive economic efficiency of the energy system. To this end, Facilitating Regional CROSS-border Electricity Transmission (FARCROSS) aims to address this challenge by connecting major stakeholders of the energy value chain and demonstrating integrated hardware and software solutions that will facilitate the “unlocking” of the resources for the cross-border electricity flows and regional cooperation. The targets of the project are to optimise the usage of the available cross-border capacity for reserve procurement while transitioning from ATC to Flow-based mechanism, to achieve simultaneous interconnector reservation for energy and balancing capacity to enable reserve market coupling and to create state-of-art technologies to materialise market coupling platforms.

Barriers to the adoption of social welfare measures in the electricity tariff structure of developing countries: A case of Pakistan

Energy tariff plays an important role in ensuring affordable energy availability in a country. Various developed countries have incorporated social welfare indicators in their electricity tariff structures to support their lower-income groups. The developing countries, riddled with multifaceted challenges in their energy value chains have not taken care of access to affordable energy for the poor (SDG7). Existing literature on developing countries and Pakistan has not sufficiently highlighted the drivers of social welfare mechanisms in the electricity tariff structure for poor households. This study aims at examining the factors contributing to the decline in social welfare for electricity household consumers in Pakistan. The study has utilized a mixed analytical approach, incorporating NVIVO analysis and Q methodology. The results highlighted a lack of regulatory performance, political influence, suboptimal governance, and financial constraints as barriers to enhancing the residential consumer's social welfare in Pakistan. Our findings may help to devise and revise the policies such as power sector subsidies for the determination of better electricity tariffs for the poorer segment of society in Pakistan. Other developing countries may also benefit by improving the relevant policy circumstances (main barriers from this study) of the electricity subsidies for poor households.

Modelling renewable energy communities: assessing the impact of different configurations, technologies and types of participants

BackgroundEnergy communities (ECs) have emerged as a solution to support governments mitigating climate change and comply with decarbonization goals, while introducing end-users on the energy value chain. In this paradigm, citizens have an active role in reducing electricity demand from the utility grid, by generating, sharing and/or trading locally generated renewable energy, such as solar energy. However, the economic and environmental outputs of energy communities are dependent on a variety of factors, such as technology features (renewable energy generation, existence of flexible equipment and/or energy storage systems), types of participants (consumers and prosumers with different electricity intensity and load profiles), and electricity sharing/trading agreements. As such, assessing the impact these will have on delivering benefits to the energy community and its participants is of paramount importance.MethodsThis work models different energy communities’ design typologies in Lisbon, Portugal considering different types of consumers with heterogenous electricity demand profiles and willingness to participate, multiple technology deployment scenarios (solar systems installation, batteries, and electric vehicles), and electricity trading (collective self-consumption versus peer-to-peer trading).ResultsResults demonstrate community electricity cost savings are up to 42%, with self-sufficiency rate up to 12.5%, which is considerably low due to the participation of high demanding sectors (such as industry or retail). At participants’ individual level, electricity costs savings can reach 48% and 53%, for residential consumers and prosumers, respectively, while for high-demanding participants are slightly lower: 43% for hotel, 44% for retail, 13% for industry and 5% for university. Individual self-sufficiency rates register highest results for the residential prosumers (35% for PV prosumers, 28% for PV + electric vehicles and 54% with PV + batteries) while for other participants results fall between 6% (retail) and 26% (industry).ConclusionsWe conclude that for ECs deployment, individual PV self-consumption assets are not sufficient, thus greater PV sizes and higher adoption rates should be considered, according to consumer and prosumers shares. The share/trade of PV surplus, paired with competitive aggregation tariffs results in positive economic and environmental outputs, for the majority of both consumers and prosumers.

Environmental sustainability in Vietnam: evaluating the criticality of economic globalisation, renewable energy, and natural resources.

Vietnam's goal of achieving a certain level of decarbonisation by 2030 is difficult despite its awareness of the threat posed by climate change. However, the country is endowed with natural resources and the increasing dependence on the global economy coupled with greater investment in alternative energy sources are some of the factors responsible for economic expansion in recent years. Hence, the question arises "what are the environmental impacts of economic globalisation, economic growth, natural resources, and renewable energy in Vietnam?", which constitutes a major policy problem. In this study, a time series dataset stretching from 1984 to 2019 is employed to scrutinise the impact of economic globalisation, economic growth, natural resources, and renewable energy on Vietnam's CO2 emissions. This goal is achieved by employing the ARDL bounds testing procedure, dynamic ARDL, and spectral Granger-causality test. Moreover, the outcomes from the dynamic ARDL showed that economic globalisation and economic growth lead to environmental deterioration, whereas it is mitigated by renewable energy. Lastly, the outcomes from the spectral Granger-causality test indicate that a feedback causality association exists between CO2 emissions and the regressors, namely economic globalisation, renewable energy, and economic growth, while no causality connection exists between CO2 emissions and natural resources. Hence, we suggest thatactionsfor reducing emissions should involve the implementation of energy-efficient techniques and renewable technologies within the energy value chain.

Ammonia Production from Clean Hydrogen and the Implications for Global Natural Gas Demand

Non-energy use of natural gas is gaining importance. Gas used for 183 million tons annual ammonia production represents 4% of total global gas supply. 1.5-degree pathways estimate an ammonia demand growth of 3–4-fold until 2050 as new markets in hydrogen transport, shipping and power generation emerge. Ammonia production from hydrogen produced via water electrolysis with renewable power (green ammonia) and from natural gas with CO2 storage (blue ammonia) is gaining attention due to the potential role of ammonia in decarbonizing energy value chains and aiding nations in achieving their net-zero targets. This study assesses the technical and economic viability of different routes of ammonia production with an emphasis on a systems level perspective and related process integration. Additional cost reductions may be driven by optimum sizing of renewable power capacity, reducing losses in the value chain, technology learning and scale-up, reducing risk and a lower cost of capital. Developing certification and standards will be necessary to ascertain the extent of greenhouse gas emissions throughout the supply chain as well as improving the enabling conditions, including innovative finance and de-risking for facilitating international trade, market creation and large-scale project development.

Batteries and beyond: Multi-vector energy storage as a tool to decarbonise energy services

With the 2015 Paris Agreement pursuing efforts to limit global temperature increase to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and the “energy trilemma” goals of energy security, energy equity and environmental sustainability, decarbonisation remains a priority across all of the United Kingdom (United Kingdom) energy system, not just electricity. Electricity and thermal energy storage technologies can offer a host of benefits across the energy value chain through the abilityS to capture, store and then release electricity or thermal energy over a period of time. These benefits include helping capture the full potential of renewable generation and providing services such as frequency response and reserve to Great Britain’s (GB) electricity system. In addition, with the aforementioned climate targets in mind, energy storage can also play a role in facilitating the decarbonisation of other activities and sectors. Here we delve deeper into how energy storage technologies can contribute to both energy sector transformation and more broadly, decarbonisation. Furthermore, we discuss the importance of ensuring a technology-agnostic approach to the development of policy and regulation with relevance to energy storage. This ensures that storage technologies with significant potential to contribute to the ‘energy trilemma’ goals are not precluded from entering the market due to unfavourable policy and regulatory frameworks.

Circularity in Mineral and Renewable Energy Value Chains: Overview of Technology, Policy, and Finance Aspects

Circularity in Mineral and Renewable Energy Value Chains: Overview of Technology, Policy, and Finance Aspects