Global Renewable Energy Development Research Articles

Carbon pricing policies and renewable energy development: Analysis based on cross-country panel data

While studies have theoretically discussed the impact of carbon pricing on renewable energy, the practical implementation and effectiveness of these policies remain uncertain. This study empirically examines the role of carbon emissions trading and carbon tax in global renewable energy development using panel data from 196 countries and regions and employing the staggered difference-in-differences (DID) model and Bacon decomposition method. The results suggest that: (1) From the perspective of policy shocks, carbon trading has increased non-hydro renewable electricity generation by 73.32%, while carbon tax has increased it by 31.79%. This indicates that the overall impact of carbon trading on renewable energy is greater than that of carbon tax. However, the elasticity coefficients of renewable energy to carbon trading prices and carbon tax rates are 0.1801 and 0.1845, respectively, suggesting a slightly greater marginal effect of carbon tax on renewable energy compared to carbon trading. (2) Both carbon tax and carbon trading have mitigated the growth of fossil electricity and encouraged public investment in renewable energy, thereby fostering its development. (3) The influence of carbon pricing on renewable energy varies by income level; notably, the implementation of these policies in high-income countries has diminished their promotional effect on renewable energy. (4) The contribution of technological innovation to renewable energy development is smaller than that of policies including carbon trading and carbon tax, indicating that renewable energy development during the sample period was predominantly driven by policy measures. The findings indicate that the application of carbon pricing policies should be further promoted to accelerate the energy mix transition.

Comparative assessment of anticipated wind power capacities in Bulgaria and Kazakhstan

This paper presents a detailed comparative analysis of the projected growth in wind power capacities in Bulgaria and Kazakhstan from 2023 to 2030. It explores the development strategies, anticipated capacities, and the economic and environmental implications associated with these strategies in both nations. Bulgaria, with its strategic advancement under the European Union’s regulatory and financial framework, is set to expand its wind power capacity to 3.9 GW by 2030, including notable developments in both onshore and offshore wind energy sectors. The country's efforts are bolstered by governmental initiatives aimed at streamlining grid connections and facilitating faster project approvals, indicative of a mature market moving towards an integrated renewable energy system. Conversely, Kazakhstan, while starting from a lower baseline, displays significant potential for rapid expansion in its wind energy sector, aiming for a total capacity of approximately 4 GW by 2030. The focus primarily remains on harnessing its extensive onshore resources, with plans for offshore development still in the conceptual phase. This growth trajectory is driven by Kazakhstan's national priorities to enhance energy security and economic sustainability through renewable energy investments. This analysis underscores the varied approaches taken by Bulgaria and Kazakhstan in capitalizing on their geographic and political contexts to expand wind power, reflecting broader trends in global renewable energy development. The study provides valuable insights into the dynamics of renewable energy strategies in transitioning economies and their implications for regional energy markets.

Is global renewable energy development a curse or blessing for economic growth? Evidence from China

The global shift to renewable energy is conducive to carbon reduction, but its impact on the economy is still uncertain. Unlike existing research focusing on the effect of domestic renewable energy (RE), this paper considers the global RE connection among countries and examines the impact of global RE development on economic growth (EG) using China as a sample. In addition, we apply a novel wavelet-based quantile-on-quantile method, which can estimate the local influence of the α-quantile of global RE on the β-quantile of the EG in different periods. The finding shows that the upper quantiles of RE promote EG, and this effect is greater at the upper quantiles of EG in the medium- and long-term. This is mainly because China plays a leading role in RE development and has an advantage in exporting RE-related products with the development of global RE. The finding proves the growth effect, indicating that RE is a blessing for China's EG. However, in the short term, a higher level of global RE development impedes China's EG due to high upfront costs of RE production, fierce competition from other countries, and insufficient energy supply when significant investment shifts from non-renewable energy to RE. The empirical results provide important policy implications to balance RE's short-term inhibitory effect and long-term promoting effect on EG in the process of the global energy transition.

Global renewable energy power generation efficiency evaluation and influencing factors analysis

The progress of renewable energy development varies around the world, and it's necessary to quantitatively measure the power generation efficiency (PGE) of each country. This study considers five types of renewable energy installed capacity as input indicators and renewable energy power generation as an output indicator. Based on panel data of 36 countries from 2009 to 2018, renewable energy PGE is calculated based on the super-efficiency data envelopment analysis model and is decomposed annually using the Malmquist index. Finally, a random forest regression model was used to evaluate the influencing factors of renewable energy PGE in each country. The results show that the global renewable energy development space pattern has formed. The differences in PGEs between countries are evident, and the correlation between the ranking of renewable energy installed capacity and the average ranking of PGE is weak. The reverse effect of technological progress hinders the growth of renewable energy PGE. Only 41.67 % of all countries are improving PGE, and renewable energy power generation technology is in urgent need of improvement. Among the eleven influencing factors, carbon emissions level and industrial structure have the greatest impact on PGE, followed by electricity structure, technology level, and economic level.

Hydrodynamic performance of vertical axis hydrokinetic turbine based on Taguchi method

Hydropower generation is an important part of global renewable energy development. The vertical axis hydrokinetic turbine (VAHT) is a typical device to capture the kinetic energy of water. The optimization of its hydrodynamic performance can improve power coefficient. In this study, the Taguchi method was used to optimize the typical parameters of the vertical axis turbine, i.e., airfoil (NACA), pitch angle (β), enwinding ratio (ϖ), solidity ratio (σ), and small shaft position (O). An orthogonal array with five parameters and four levels was established; then, sixteen runs were simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. A signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio analysis of the CFD simulation results was carried out, and the hydrodynamic performance of the optimized VAHT was studied. The results show that the influence strength order of each parameter on the power coefficient of the VAHT is featured by the relation NACA >σ > O > ϖ > β. According to the S/N ratio, the optimal combination of the five factors is as follows: NACA = 0020, β = 0°, ϖ = 1.25, σ = 0.382, and O = 0.5. In comparison with the initial design, the optimized minimum self-starting torque coefficient of the turbine is increased by 15.9%, which means that the self-starting performance is optimized. The power coefficient (CP) of optimized turbine is 0.1951, which is 17.59% higher than in the initial design, and the power coefficient fluctuation is 87.56% lower. Finally, the research findings could provide a reference for the optimal design of vertical axis turbines.

The Belt and Road Initiative and its Implications for Global Renewable Energy Development

Purpose of ReviewThis article first demonstrates the natural potential of renewable energy development in BRI countries; second, the Rising Power Framework is introduced to investigate the improvement brought by BRI for renewable energy development in host countries. Finally, the political and economic challenges as well as those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic for renewable energy development are also identified.Recent FindingsThe review shows that the BRI project indeed improved the renewable energy development in host countries, while the scale of renewable energy development, especially solar and wind energy, is heavily dependent on the amount of funding; moreover, the degree of technological improvement is determined by host countries’ development needs and absorption capacity.SummaryIn conclusion, this paper proposes a consideration related to the structure of energy investment under the BRI.

Insights for global energy interconnection from China renewable energy development

Vigorously developing global renewable energy such as wind energy, solar energy, and hydropower and realizing global clean resource sharing are paramount driving forces for building the Global Energy Interconnection (GEI). With the help of a comparative analysis of renewable energy development and global renewable energy development scenarios, this paper expounds on the similarities between China1 and global renewable energy development. Based on the analysis of renewable energy development and the status of global renewable energy development in China, this paper summarizes the relevant experience and problems of renewable energy development in China. According to these problems, this paper also puts forward the corresponding solutions and measures, that is, to promote the healthy and steady development of renewable energy in China through the source-network-load-storage and market coordination. Finally, by analyzing the development requirements and current foundation of GEI, insights and suggestions are proposed for the future development of renewable energy for the GEI construction.

Legal Systems, National Governance and Renewable Energy Investment: Evidence from Around the World

AbstractThis paper examines renewable energy (RE) investment and the role of a country's legal system in shaping investment decisions. Analysing data from 236 renewable energy companies between 2000 and 2017 across the world, our study establishes that those in a common law system are more responsive to growth opportunities in RE investment, while facing greater financial constraints than their counterparts in civil law systems. Our study demonstrates that the global imbalance in RE development is caused by the influence of a country's legal system, which determines the regulatory and business ethos that impacts on the trajectory of investment, and by the varying degrees of accountability implicit in a country's governance environment. Our research raises the implication that the opportunity costs of forgone economic gains are in direct conflict with long‐term environmental goals, retarding the transition from carbon‐based to sustainable sources of energy, and provides insights into how development can be stimulated by fiscal incentives, favourable regulations, societal engagement, improved access to finance and the alignment of national strategies. Our findings contribute to the economic literature of legal origin theory and establish fundamental principles for refining global RE development strategy and confronting the challenge of climate change.

Global renewable energy development: Influencing factors, trend predictions and countermeasures

Promoting the development and utilisation of renewable energy is the current trend of energy policy in various regions. First, we divide the world into seven regions based on the Engineering News-Record (ENR) regional classification—Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Canada, the United States, Latin America, Europe and Africa—and analyse the status of renewable energy from political, technical, economic and social perspectives. Second, an integration forecasting model is proposed, which includes differential autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA), neural network model (NNM), support vector machine model (SVM), and predicts the development prospects of renewable resources by one-way regression in various regions. Finally, corresponding countermeasures are proposed for these seven regions.

Investigation on Optimization Design of Offshore Wind Turbine Blades based on Particle Swarm Optimization

Offshore wind power has become an important trend in global renewable energy development. Based on a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and FAST program, a time-domain coupled calculation model for a floating wind turbine is established, and a combined optimization design method for the wind turbine’s blade is developed in this paper. The influence of waves on the power of the floating wind turbine is studied in this paper. The results show that, with the increase of wave height, the power fluctuation of the wind turbine increases and the average power of the wind turbine decreases. With the increase of wave period, the power oscillation amplitude of the wind turbine increases, and the power of the wind turbine at equilibrium position decreases. The optimal design of the offshore floating wind turbine blade under different wind speeds is carried out. The results show that the optimum effect of the blades is more obvious at low and mid-low wind speeds than at rated wind speeds. Considering the actual wind direction distribution in the sea area, the maximum power of the wind turbine can be increased by 3.8% after weighted optimization, and the chord length and the twist angle of the blade are reduced.

MYCOFLORA OF FRUITS AND SEEDS OF SOME JATROPHA SPP. AND RICINUS COMMUNIS

Fungi associated with the fruits and seeds of some Jatropha species and their related species Ricinus communis were investigated in Benin City. Samples were collected from the Nigerian Institute for Oil palm Research (NIFOR), and Egor villages in the outskirts of Benin City. Some seeds of J. curcas for sowing obtained from the Global Renewable Energy Development Company (GREDC) in Ilorin were also investigated. Isolation and subculture of isolates on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA), identification of isolates and pathogenicity of fruit isolate were carried out. Isolates from the seeds were identified as Fusarium and Fusoma spp. from J. curcas, Fusarium sp, from J. gossipifolia and Fusarium and Cornularia spp. from Ricinus communis. The isolate from the fruit of J. curcas identified as Colletotrichum sp. gave positive pathogenicity results on fruits of J. curcas, J. gossipifolia and R. communis but proved negative on J. multifida. Fusarium and Colletotrichum spp. seem to be commonly associated with the seeds and fruits of the species respectively. Being a promising crop on bio-oil production, the common presence of Fusarium species may have implication on its storage and oil quality.