National Energy Strategy Research Articles

ENERGY SECURITY AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY PRIORITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN

Energy security and related energy efficiency issues are part of the national energy strategy in most economically developed countries. In the modern world, energy security also includes issues related not only to the quantity of consumption, but also to its quality. In this regard, a sustainable socially oriented state does not separate energy security from energy efficiency and considers it an important indicator of the country's level of development. The Republic of Azerbaijan is also among the countries of the world with abundant hydrocarbon energy resources in terms of current and future prospects. Although energy security is ensured in the country, its strengthening and enrichment with elements of energy efficiency are the main priorities of the ongoing reforms. This issue is also of scientific relevance. In this regard, the article deals with issues related to energy security and energy efficiency priorities in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

A comprehensive approach: Diffusion of environment-friendly energy technologies in residential photovoltaic markets

The rapid upsurge in distributed solar adoption in Malaysia provides an opportunity for adopters to lower electricity bills and gain additional community benefits, including grid stability and lower grid emissions. The main factors for rising electricity generation from renewable fuels are gaining independence from fossil fuels and combating climate change. Solar photovoltaic (PV) is believed to have the most significant potential between renewable technologies. The National energy strategies have stated that a renewable energy system, such as a photovoltaic (PV) system, plays a vital role in the minimization of energy consumption. Therefore, the successful installation has given rise to a progressive response cycle whereby amplified customer acceptance resulted in reduced demand from Utility providers. However, the number of individuals adopting solar photovoltaic technologies is still comparatively small. Elsewhere, innovation and monetary influences and ecological incentives seem to be significant for associating renewables with energy reserves. However, this paper has highlighted numerous factors that were founded on the modified norm simulation model based on the Theory of planned behavior (TPB) and value-belief-norm theory (VBN). The researcher examined how eco-friendly enthusiasm and other socio-psychological, socio-technical, and socio-economic aspects influence the PV adoption behavior among households consumers. Several norms reinforce the customer adoption rates of the PV system. Also, researchers have discussed the current trends and benefits towards the adoption of PV systems, whereas past research in PV systems has only been discussed in the domain of monetary benefit. Lastly, some future research directions are suggested for further advancement towards the reduction of energy consumption, which will lead to new insights for policymaking concerns and from the consumer aspect.

Sustainability of Investment Projects with Energy Efficiency and Non-Energy Efficiency Costs: Case Examples of Public Buildings

According to the European Commission Energy Union strategy from 2015, some of the main objectives are to improve energy efficiency, reduce dependence on energy imports, cut emissions, and drive jobs and growth. Achieving the objectives of the Energy Union requires significant financing, particularly for investments in energy efficiency. Serbia and Croatia included the objectives of the Energy Union in their national strategies and have implemented various investment projects in this area. This paper focuses on the sustainability of energy efficiency projects for public buildings which include not only energy efficiency investment cost but also non-energy efficiency investments. By applying the European Commission methodology for cost-benefit analysis, we assessed the sustainability of several projects in Serbia and Croatia. The sustainability assessment is done by quantifying energy savings, greenhouse gas emission reductions and the social and economic benefits that are related to non-energy efficiency project components. The values of economic performance indicators imply that society would be better off with projects that would contribute to achieving not only the targets set in national energy strategies but also to creating broader social benefits.

Smart Siting and Energy Infrastructure Development: A Challenge to Decarbonization

Changing climate conditions will continue to impact investment choices in energy production and generation and the infrastructure used to deliver energy to customers. Although significant gains in efficiency continue to be made, new sources of power will be required to meet growing demand and support a national clean energy strategy. Industry participants and customers have more technology choices and service options available to them than ever before. With the proliferation of distributed energy resources (DER) located at or close to loads, including demand management and DER aggregation, customers are meeting some of their own energy needs and retail energy providers are supplying energy to customers previously served by utilities.

Weak congruence between public opinion and policy outcome in energy and climate policy – Is there something wrong with Finnish democracy?

This paper describes a real-life case of national-level energy and climate policy preparation during the 2015–2019 parliamentary term in Finland and examines the extent to which policy decisions on energy and climate policy measures were in line with public opinion collected as a part of the formal policy preparation process. As part of national energy and climate policy preparation, civil servants collected public opinion on a large number of possible energy and climate policy measures through an online public survey (N = 364). We compared the results of the survey with the actual policy measures that the politicians later chose to implement through Finland’s National Energy and Climate Strategy and conducted a statistical analysis using the Chi-square test and logistic regression.The results suggest that in our authentic case study, the politicians did not make their decisions on the basis of citizens’ opinions. Public opinion had very weak congruence with the policy decisions on energy and climate policy measures. Some policy decisions were even completely contrary to the views of the citizens. We discuss the possible reasons for this result, for example, competing sources of advice for policy preparation and the special nature of energy and climate policy in terms of designing new policy measures and changing current policy.

Analyzing existing UAE national water, energy and food nexus related strategies

Since 1971, United Arab Emirates strategies on water, food, and energy were top priority for the country and many of the conducted reports were done independently. Today and from security aspect, strategies should take into consideration the interlinkages between the current energy, water, and food strategies, and hence the nexus approach. The paper at hand will identify the historical development of these strategies and their potential relations to the nexus. In addition, the major public and private stakeholders/actors that influence the decision making process are identified. Finally, many of the recent policies that are related to the nexus are evaluated to determine if there are consensus among major stakeholders/actors in the country. Gephi software, network analysis and visualization package, was used to analyze the strength of the relationships among stakeholders/actors. KTAB, a toolkit for behavioral analysis model, is also used to analyze the level of consensus for several selected policies related to the nexus among the major stakeholders that influence the policy decision making in UAE. Results show a consensus among the major stakeholders/actors regarding the relevant policies but the linkages between the different stakeholders/actors need to be enhanced.

INVESTIGATION OF THE WATER CONTENT OF CH4-H2 SYSTEM

Hydrogen, as the clean energy carrier of the future can play a significant role in climate policy efforts in the near future. The study National Energy Strategy 2030 published in January 2020 defines the natural gas network as a seasonal energy storage. Several European countries have investigated whether hydrogen predominantly from renewable sources can be introduced to the natural gas system to reduce GHG emission. One of the important parameters of the natural gas fed into the gas network is the water vapor content, its maximum value of which is regulated by law. In this article, the authors examined whether hydrogen, which differs significantly from the properties of methane, causes a significant change in water saturation. The investigated pressure and temperature ranges cover every state found in the processing and transportation of natural gas. To carry out the calculations the Aspen HYSYS program was used.

Multi-criteria analysis of heating sector sustainability in selected North European countries

Decarbonization of heating sector is an important part of the global low carbon energy transition, and an essential step towards implementing climate change mitigation commitments as this sector accounts for 40–50 % of global energy consumption and is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition, this sector is sensitive in terms of energy vulnerability and energy poverty. The aim of this paper is to develop a set of indicators and evaluation tool for assessing sustainability of the heating sector at national level and to apply developed methodology for comparative assessment in selected North European countries. The set of indicators developed address concept of sustainability in holistic way and could also be applied universally to compare the European Union (EU) countries and to track the achievements of measures taken at the EU level and in national energy strategies and plans. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) performed by applying the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and four scenarios of heating sector sustainability assessment revealed that three Nordic Countries are the highest ranked according to all sustainability assessment scenarios. These countries can be the cases of the best practice in the heating sector.

Driving and Influencing Factors of Biomass Energy Utilization from the Perspective of Farmers

Biomass energy is one of the most important renewable energy sources. Full utilization of this energy helps to optimize agricultural development, improve our living environment, and replace some non-renewable energy sources, thereby promoting the eco-environment across the country. However, biomass energy has not been extensively utilized in rural areas of China. Many farmers are not very enthusiastic about the use of biomass energy. Many scholars have tried to boost the willingness of farmers to utilize biomass energy. Therefore, this paper collects the relevant data from six aspects, namely, environmental factor, cost factor, income factor, behavior factor, policy factor, and personal factor, and constructs a binary logistic regression model. On this basis, the driving and influencing factors of biomass energy utilization were empirically analyzed from the perspective of farmers. The results show that the development of biomass energy is mainly affected by the farmers’ awareness of national energy strategy, the relevant costs of biomass utilization, and the attitude of family members and village committee. The research provides an important reference for further promotion of biomass energy, elevation of its utilization efficiency, and optimization of energy structure in rural China.

Energy security aspects related to the National Power Grid

National Power Grid is an important element within the National Power System, having in its composition critical infrastructures of national importance without which the national economy could not operate, and its non-operation, totally or partially (black/brown-out), generates energy insecurity, negative factor with devastating and catastrophic effects on industrial, economic and national security. Due to the fact that National Power Grid is of national strategic importance, it has to be assessed and monitored permanently in terms of security risks, in order to identify vulnerabilities, and this need for assessment also comes from the European perspective because Romania is interconnected to ENTSO-E (European Network of Transmission System Operators) which interconnects various power overhead lines from North to South, from West to East, or even with Africa and Asia. In order to secure the National Power Grid, the authors have set out in this paper to identify possible internal or external vulnerabilities and what impact they have on the National Power Grid and National Power System. By knowing the vulnerabilities, one can automatically identify the dangers and threats to which it is subjected and engaged, being able to develop national/European measures or strategies for the protection and security of the critical infrastructures related to. For this reason, it is considered that the identification of vulnerabilities must become a pressing issue of national, and European energy security and be a useful tool for authorities to develop a energy strategy (short – long term) for the proper functioning of the National Power Grid and the national economy, because all sectors of the economy depend on electricity. The identified vulnerabilities are eliminated by National Energy Strategy 2021 – 2036 (short, medium,and long term) proposed by the authors, with the aim of increasing energy and national security.

Calculation Method and Application of Inter-Regional and Inter-Provincial Market Trading Space for Promoting the Consumption of Clean Energy

Inter-provincial market trading is putting up with to implement the national energy strategy, increasing clean energy consuming and optimization energy allocation in large-scale. To promote energy consumption, the inter-province power transmission channel’ potential needs to be full excavate to deal with clean energy fluctuation, improving trading frequency and reduce transaction period. This article puts up with an inter-province power market trading space calculation method to calculate the available power transmission ability of inter-provincial transmission channel, discovering transmission channel and releasing transaction space. Besides, for certain transmission channel or supply-demand province’s electricity requirements, the calculation method can explore the trading market space, organizing clean energy evacuation to improve transmission channel utilization and safety checking pass rates, reducing blocking.

Design of intelligent integrated monitoring system under multistation fusion platform

With the continuous advancement of the national energy strategy of China, constructing multistation fusion platform (MSFP) of substations, energy storage stations, and data center stations by taking advantage of the remaining resources of substations is a development trend. The monitoring of equipment operation and environmental parameters is a powerful guarantee for the stable and reliable operation of MSFP. Thus, this study developed an intelligent integrated monitoring system construction method that consists of state perception, information fusion, and decision and control layers. First, the state of equipment and environmental parameters were monitored efficiently through built-in status signals and multisensing techniques. Then, the multilevel transmission network, composite data structure, and data interface are integrated to achieve the collection of multisite information. Moreover, the device object model and station-level digital model were designed. Finally, the abnormal fault diagnosis of equipment, data fusion regulation, and coordinated optimization control were completed by using knowledge graph, data optimization and neural network modeling, and hierarchical analysis of multiple application scenarios in MSFP. The intelligent monitoring system can monitor and control the equipment, operation, and environment in the MSFP efficiently, thereby providing technical support for the new development of China’s electric power industry.

Too good to be true: Sugarcoating nuclear energy in the Czech national energy strategy

Developing new nuclear projects in Europe is harder than ever. Governments still devoted to nuclear energy need to overcome substantial obstacles and justify their decision to other stakeholders as well as to the general public. In the Czech Republic, one of the last strongholds of nuclear energy in Europe, a pro-nuclear energy policy is often presented as the result of “rational evaluation of all alternatives”. Such an argument typically refers to the country’s national energy plan, which concludes that more nuclear energy is what the country needs. In this perspective, we critically examine the scenario analysis and the calculations featured in this plan. We argue that it was not intended to serve the usual purpose of collecting, categorizing, and evaluating information relevant for the decision-making situation, but to confirm the policy-makers’ pre-existing belief that nuclear energy is a desirable way forward. In a wider sense, this perspective illustrates how path-dependencies affect not only decision-making practices but also the production of background materials which feed into these practices. Finally, this perspective intends to appeal to policy-makers to do a better job in substantiating their decisions.

A Study on the Technology Diffusion of China’s Solar Photovoltaic Based on Bass and Generalized Bass Model

China’s solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation has been developing rapidly and is in a priority position in the national energy strategy. In order to effectively coordinate the development scale, speed of solar PV and economic development, the Chinese government has constantly issued various solar PV development plans. However, as a new renewable energy generation technology, solar PV is still making technological innovation to achieve technological breakthroughs. In addition, external factors, such as resource potential and power grid consumption capacity, will influence its development. It is very important to explore the development path of solar PV in China and analyze the action mechanism of each influencing factor on the development path of solar PV. Based on the technology diffusion model, this study analyzes and predicts the technology diffusion trend of solar PV generation in China. The research finds: that 1) cost is still a big obstacle facing the large-scale development of PV generation at present; that 2) national economic operation, policy incentive intensity and other factors have limited influence on the development of solar PV generation; that 3) technological innovation and power grid absorption capacity are key factors affecting the development path of solar PV.

The Dynamics of Cyclical Convergence and Decoupling in the Environmental Performance of Spanish Regions

Spain is aiming at moving towards a low-carbon economy. The success of this task will depend on the capacities of Spanish regions to follow the national energy and climate strategy and decarbonize their economies. In this paper, we analyze the CO2 fluctuations and links with economic activity, throughout the period 1990 to 2018, using dynamic factor and recursive estimation models. We confirm the robustness of our results by testing the stability of the estimated parameters. Our findings show that the dynamics of the pattern of synchronization and decoupling of the regions are quite similar. Nonetheless, there are significant differences regarding the comparison of levels and trajectories across regions, emphasizing the need to intensify efforts to achieve national objectives. This study highlights interest in utilizing the proposed approach for the analysis of the short-run dynamics of environmental performance.

Renewables for district heating: The case of Lithuania

Lithuania, as other European countries with cold climates, has well developed district heating systems. Lithuania’s national energy strategy aims to reduce the dependence on imported fossil fuels, reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere and increase the security of energy supply, and therefore, one of its principal objectives is to include sustainable renewable energy sources into the district heating system. This article serves as an overview of how Lithuania’s district heating sector uses renewable energy resources, in what state it is, and what perspectives and future trends are foreseen. The article also reviews the history of district heating and its different technologies as well as their benefits to the consumer: lower heating prices, additional jobs, and reduced environmental pollution. It also analyses market regulation and the influence that independent heat producers have on the development of district heating. Finally, visions of further development of this heating method in Lithuania are provided.

Energy potential of residual biomass from agro-industry in a Mediterranean region of southern Italy (Campania)

According to the Italian national Energy strategy elaborated in 2017, the biomass sector has one of the most important strategic roles in energy renewables policy. Thus, estimating the potential of this resource is crucial for its energy valorization. Therefore, in this paper, a method to assess the energy potential from residual biomass is presented. The availability of residual biomass and its energy potential are estimated by using statistical and literature data. To account for the variability of the factors taken into account a comprehensive literature review is carried out focusing on the case studies related to Mediterranean areas. Based on the collected data, uncertainty analysis and sensitivity analysis are performed to provide reliable results.As a case study, the energy potential of residual biomass from agro-industry in the Campania region (southern Italy) is considered. The proposed method allows estimating a total of about 14.5 PJ per year of recoverable primary energy potential in the Campania region, which may cover around 14% of its thermal demand. The analysis carried out is intended to be a useful tool for policymakers of Mediterranean regions, to integrate energy recovery from agro-industrial biomass in the regulatory and investment strategies of the energy sector.

Research on Restoration and Intelligent Management of the Global Village

A sharp rebound in global energy emissions in 2018 is disappointing as the carbon-dioxide data monitored by mon ppm, hawaii reached 415.09 on may 3, the highest level in at least 800,000 years. We are well known to emit 0.272 kg of carbon dust ,0.997 kg of carbon dioxide (C02),0.03 kg of sulfur dioxide (S02),0.015 kg of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and huge amounts of heat to the earth for each electricity we use a 1 degree thermal power plant. Therefore, the full use of renewable energy instead of fossil energy, not only to achieve reduction The effective measures to open the era of boiler and automobile cold emission are also the trend of the development of national environmental protection and energy strategy.

AN APPROACH TO THE LARGE-SCALE INTEGRATION OF WIND ENERGY IN ALBANIA

Recently, the Albanian government has compiled national energy strategy with a special focus on promoting the use of renewable energy sources (RES) which identifies a target of 42% of the final energy consumption from RES by 2030. In this paper, analyses are conducted in order to investigate to which extent and way the absorption capacity of the power system from RES electricity can be improved. As an effective approach of implementing wind power, fostering the accommodation of renewable energy sources, especially on large-scale, a detailed techno-economic analysis of the 164 MW installed grid-connected wind farm, considered as a potential source, Korça district is analyzed. Conjoining two different types energy tools, RETScreen, a tool used on plant scale level and EnergyPLAN model applied for large energy system on national level including all energy sectors an optimization process is notably focused to attain 42% of the final energy consumption from RES by 2030, which was highly preformed in EnergyPLAN model. The results execute in EnergyPLAN identifies that the wind power capacity should be at least1850 MW and an installation cost not more than 1.1m€/MW considering a bench mark price of electricity €76/MWh. The results of the study highlight the importance of high levels of RES integration which not only reduces greenhouse gases but will technically favor the creation of a flexible and sustainable energy system over time. Finally, the need for a sustainable and clear national energy model is inevitable, reshaping key points factors that hamper the integration on large-scale of wind power in Albania.Keywords: wind power, techno-economic feasibility, Albania, EnergyPlan, RETScreen.JEL Classifications: Q4, Q42DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.9917

Lithuanian electricity market price forecasting model based on univariate time series analysis

Electricity price changes can significantly affect expenses in energy intensive industries, adjust profits or losses for electricity retailers and cause problems for country’s national energy strategy implementation. Forecasting models based on statistical methods and previous variable values help to predict future values and adjust strategy according to the forecast. This paper concentrates on the Lithuanian electricity market and presents the widely used ARIMA forecasting models based on the univariate time series analysis. The Lithuanian electricity market is selected due to a lack of statistical researches based on electricity market prices in Lithuania, as well as significant future electricity market liberalization projects. Electricity price data for analysis are taken from the Nord Pool electricity market operator website. The Nord Pool represents the Northern Europe electricity market operator where Lithuania and other 14 European countries trade electricity on a daily basis. To provide a long-term electricity price outlook average monthly data from July 2012 to December 2019 are selected for analysis. Before building the ARIMA model data are tested with various statistical tests to guarantee that time series are stationary, there is no autocorrelation or structural breaks. Once the data validity is confirmed, the time series is divided into train and test sets. The train data set is used to create a fitting ARIMA model, while the test set is used to define forecasting accuracy. Created forecasts of models are compared between each other using common comparison statistics, and the most accurate models are defined. Finally, the selected model is trained on a full dataset and the electricity price forecast for the year 2020 is constructed. The created AR (1) model had the smallest error value compared to the test dataset, while the SARIMA (1,1,1) model had the best approximation statistics. By combining both models the weighted SARIMA (1,1,1) model is constructed with the features of low forecasting error and precise actual time series approximation. The final model forecast for the year 2020 shows the monthly average electricity price decrease at the beginning of the year, a significant increase at the second half of the year and a price drop at the end of the year. Forecasting results can help companies to plan their electricity production and maintenance periods to maximize income from sold energy and minimize potential losses due to planned shutdown.