Renewable Energy Support Research Articles

Prospects and Challenges of Alternative Renewable Energy Resources Development in Georgia

Substitution of fossil energy resources by alternative, renewable energy-carriers is an acute problem on our planet today taking into account natural decrease of fossil resources and adverse consequences accelerating climate change. Presently there is widespread support for renewable energy, particularly of solar and wind energy, which provide electricity without rising of carbon dioxide emissions. Harnessing these for electricity depends on the cost and efficiency of the technology, which is constantly improving, and reducing costs per kilowatt. In this connection, the problems of substitution of fossil fuel by alternative, renewable energy sources are evaluated in Georgia too. The alternative renewable energy resources are evaluated and analyzed in the context of agreement between the EU and Georgia about priority use of renewable. The national development plan is made up to summarize existed and perspective resources and policy and goals to achieve. This plan is designating the share of renewable energy resources for 2020-2030 years in sectors of transport, electric power energetic, heating-cooling etc. taking into account energy efficiency.

Basic theoretical fundamentals, current state of development and trends of formation of green construction in Ukraine in the context of sustainable development

Sustainable development stimulates the introduction of environmental innovations and technologies in various sectors of the economy, including construction. In the article the basic theoretical foundations, the current state of development and trends of the of formation of a new kind of construction — green one — have been studied. The basic approaches to the formulation and substantiation of the definition of green construction have been analyzed. A number of features of the green buildings have been highlighted. The expediency of introducing green construction in Ukraine has substantiated as green buildings have a number of advantages over conventional ones. The main regulatory documents (agreements, decrees, strategies, orders), that promote the development and support of renewable energy, energy efficiency, building ecology and green construction in our country, have been considered taking into account the principles of economic feasibility and environmental protection. The benefits of green construction for all participants in the construction process, from the state to the residents of green buildings, have been specified. In the study the importance of green construction for sustainable development of the world in general and Ukraine in particular has been emphasized.

Whether feed-in tariff can be effectively replaced or not? An integrated analysis of renewable portfolio standards and green certificate trading

Nowdays, both the renewable portfolio standards and the green certificate trading policy have become the critical renewable energy policies for supporting the photovoltaic power generation firms. Whether the above emerging policies can effectively replace the feed-in tariff policy or not has become a key issue for China. To explore this problem, this paper establishes an evolutionary game model to analyze the impact of photovoltaic policies on government and photovoltaic power generation firms, and constructs a system dynamics model to simulate the evolution results according to different scenarios of game strategies and photovoltaic policies. According to the study's evolution and simulation analysis, the following implications can be obtained. (1) The renewable portfolio standards policy has significant advantages over the feed-in tariff policy according to the photovoltaic development, but its incentive measures still need to be promoted to reduce the time lag in the policy response of most photovoltaic firms. (2) The initial willingness of stakeholders and the subsidy price have a significant impact on the trading volume of tradable green certificates, but the social welfare of photovoltaic firms is mainly related to the subsidy price. (3) The total amount of government cash subsidy is smaller than the social effect, is the prerequisite of obtaining the appropriate renewable energy support policy for promoting both the photovoltaic development and the economic growth.

Sigma-Modified Power Control and Parametric Adaptation in a Grid-Integrated PV for EV Charging Architecture

This paper presents a sigma-modified adaptive control algorithm to enhance the charging profile in a multi-objective electric vehicle (EV) charging installation. The presented algorithm takes care of multiple parametric variations and provides an instantaneous control updation to achieve well-regulated charging dynamics in presence of grid non-idealities. With the support of renewable energy and battery energy storage, the present algorithm also ensures an uninterrupted charging profile with controller robustness and stability for bi-directional EV charging. An iterative grid frequency estimator is also adopted to update the reference error dynamics in accordance with each sample unit of supply voltage to guarantee improved power quality operation with non-linear charging dynamics. To further improve the reliability of EV charging installation and fast charging opportunities, a solar photovoltaic (PV) array in conjunction with the storage unit supports the ancillary services through maximum power point operation. Multivariable sliding mode control and rule-based phase-shift adaptation at different stages of power transformation assure faster convergence, stability, and controller robustness for the bi-directional EV charging operation. A 3.3kW PV-integrated off-board charging facility is designed and developed as a laboratory prototype to validate the multi-mode charging architecture with minimal grid dependency.

Creation of Namie using Renewable Energy and Educational Support through Revitalizics

Because of the occurrence of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the accident of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station has occurred, and we had experienced unprecedented large-scale disasters centered on Fukushima Prefecture. The biggest challenge for recovery from nuclear disasters is how to equalize the risk of radiation damage to the health of residents. The quicker risk management methods for safety and security can be applied, the sooner reconstruction can be achieved. In cooperation with the town of Namie in Fukushima Prefecture, we have created a new academic field called "Fukushima Revitalizics" by combining risk communication engineering with decontamination science, robot measurement engineering and renewable energy engineering, and have trained human resources through graduate student training, support for ICT(Information and Communication Technology) education at elementary and junior high schools, and support for science, culture, and robotics classes. In this paper, the creation of Namie Town using renewable energy and educational support through Revitalizics will be reported.

Why do some countries receive more international financing for coal-fired power plants than renewables? Influencing factors in 23 countries

Construction of new coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) continues around the world, jeopardizing efforts to mitigate climate change. In 2020, some 500 GW of projects are under construction or being planned, mostly in developing countries. Because of high costs and technological hurdles, construction in developing countries is largely assisted by public finance from richer nations. Troublingly, in recent years, financing has provided more support to coal-fired electricity than to renewables. An important question thus arises: What factors drive the flow of international financing toward coal or renewables? Prior research has not tackled this question systematically with quantitative methods and a large sample of countries. This study thus examines 23 countries receiving international financing from government-affiliated bilateral institutions for both coal and renewables. We use a novel “coincidence analysis” method to systematically identify the factors that explain why some countries received more investment for CFPPs than renewables. Two combinations of influencing factors are identified: countries with: (i) a bilateral agreement to promote coal industry development, and weak or absent carbon pricing; or (ii) weak policy support for renewable energy, and weak or absent carbon pricing. We explore the influence of these factors in four countries—Indonesia, Pakistan, Mongolia, and Vietnam—to deepen understanding of why some countries receive higher investment for coal than renewables. This analysis leads to important policy implications.

Hubungan Luar Negeri Provinsi Maluku dengan Selandia Baru dalam Mengembangkan Energi Terbarukan

Maluku Province is one of the regions that has the potential for renewable energy resources which are quite abundant, but they have not been utilized properly due to various obstacles and challenges in the region. In order to overcome the existing problems, Maluku Province has established foreign relations with the Government of New Zealand through the New Zealand Booking program - Maluku Access to Renewable Energy Support (NZMATES) starting from April 2018 to June 2023. This research aims to describe how the efforts taken by the Maluku Provincial Government and the New Zealand Government in developing renewable energy in the Maluku region. By using qualitative methods with data techniques through literature studies and internet-based document searches, this article argues that through the establishment of foreign relations between Maluku Province and New Zealand through the formation of NZMATES it can help and facilitate the process of developing renewable energy in the Maluku region. NZMATES can create a more competent work environment by engaging with several agencies with regional interests to participate in developing renewable energy in Maluku Province.

Steering Renewable Energy Investments in Favor of Energy System Reliability: A Call for a Hybrid Model

The global increase in electricity supply volatility due to the growing share of intermittent renewable energy sources together with recent extreme weather events draws attention to energy system reliability issues and the role of renewable energy sources within these systems. Renewable energy deployment strategies have already become a key element in debates on future global energy systems. At the same time, more extensive use of renewable energy sources implies a higher dependence on intermittent power, which puts the reliability of the electricity system at risk. Policymakers are introducing measures to increase the reliability of energy systems. Paradoxically, support for renewable energy and analyses of energy system reliability have been dealt with by two different and rarely overlapping research approaches. As a result, renewable energy promotion has often been designed without accounting for system reliability. To our knowledge, a model that captures those investment incentives and allows for tuning such financial support does not exist. This paper introduces a hybrid model that can potentially steer renewable energy investments in favor of energy system reliability. We demonstrate the idea of reliability-based support for renewable energy sources in action using a stylized case. Depending on the complementarity of different renewable energy power outputs available in the system, such reliability-based support can substantially reduce the necessity for greater backup capacity, can cut the overall costs of the energy system, and can reduce its environmental footprint.

Major US electric utility climate pledges have the potential to collectively reduce power sector emissions by one-third

Major US electric utility climate pledges have the potential to collectively reduce power sector emissions by one-third

Donations to renewable energy projects: The role of social norms and donor anonymity

This paper shows that interventions based on social norms and on increasing the visibility of people's decisions to others (“decision observability”) present promising pathways of generating public support for renewable energy development. In a laboratory experiment (n = 300), we show that social norms and decision observability increase support for renewable energy, even at a financial cost to oneself: When exposed to pro-environmental social norms, participants donated 35% more money to an existing renewable energy initiative than participants in the control condition (Cohen's d = 0.35). Participants whose decisions were observable to others donated 23% more compared to control (d = 0.23). And participants exposed to both treatments (their decisions being observed by others and learning about norms) donated 69% more compared to control (d = 0.67). In addition, our treatments had a positive effect on participants' post-decisional emotions of happiness and pride, which partly alleviates existing concerns about possible adverse side-effect of social influence interventions. Suggestions for policy makers and for future research in this area are presented.

Financing conditions of renewable energy projects – results from an EU wide survey

This data note aims to present a dataset with values for financing conditions for renewable energy projects in Europe. This includes weighted average cost of capital, cost of debt, cost of equity, debt share, debt service coverage ratio and loan tenors. The dataset was elaborated in the framework of the "Auctions for Renewable Energy Support II" project (AURES II). The main goal of the AURES II project is to provide policy support to the Member States of the European Union in order to improve the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of auctions for renewable energy support. As part of the AURES II project, an extensive survey (structured interviews) was conducted between September 2019 and April 2020 with different stakeholders involved in the renewable energy industry, such as banks, project developing companies, and investment funds, among others. The technologies covered were solar photovoltaics (PV), wind onshore, and wind offshore. Interviewees were asked to provide values for financing conditions for specific projects (for certain cases, country estimates or ranges of values were provided). Spain, Portugal, Greece, Germany, and Denmark were selected as focus countries, for which the interviews also included qualitative questions to discuss the observed quantitative data in these countries. The presented data has been used as the main input to elaborate an AURES II report on renewable energy financing conditions in Europe.

The Impact of Carbon Prices on Renewable Energy Support

The Impact of Carbon Prices on Renewable Energy Support

Supporting Renewable Energy Market Growth through the Circular Integration of End-of-Use and End-of-Life Photovoltaics

Energy demand continues to grow with the world’s burgeoning population. Meeting energy needs through renewable sources allows for market growth with limited environmental impact, but sourcing constraints can limit production, creating industrial and environmental problems. The exploitation of end-of-use and end-of-life photovoltaic (PV) options that are traditionally treated as waste offers a valuable opportunity to support renewable energy market growth with fewer sourcing constraints and minimal environmental impacts, but this circular investment has not yet been broadly implemented, nor is broad guidance widely available to aid its implementation. From a business perspective, this paper discusses the technical issues, assesses the anticipated market growth issues, and proposes a combination of circular economy, industrial ecology, and process integration principles to contribute a theoretically supported, practical framework to improve the management of end-of-use/life PV products and support renewable energy market growth.

Public Acceptance and Support of Renewable Energy in the North-East Development Region of Romania

Concern about energy in the European Union (EU) has been a recurrent issue from the very beginning. Though initially addressed at the state level, energy is now a shared competency as stressed by article 194 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. New challenges, added from time to time, need public support in order to be properly addressed. Such is the case of substituting traditional energy production with renewable energy sources. Our paper seeks to determine whether the Romanian public opinion favors such an evolution, which is traditionally associated with significant investment efforts. The study is focused on the north-east development region, which has the highest population and registered the fastest economic growth in 2019. The topic was explored through a survey applied to a sample of 649 household respondents. The results suggest strong support for introducing renewable energy sources, serious concerns about climate change, and a preoccupation for energy saving. Concerns regarding climate change or various economic factors, behaviors oriented towards reducing energy waste, as well as perceived knowledge on the matter are the factors with the biggest impact on supporting electricity production based on renewable energy sources. However, TV and online exposure have a negative impact on support. Demographics, along with social and political values remain mostly not significant.

Financing Power: Impacts of Energy Policies in Changing Regulatory Environments

Power systems with increasing shares of wind and solar power generation have higher capital costs and lower operational costs than power systems based on fossil fuels. This increases the importance of the financing costs for total system cost. We quantify how renewable energy support policies can affect the financing costs by addressing regulatory risk and facilitating hedging. We use interview data on wind power financing costs from the EU and model how long-term contracts signed between project developers and energy suppliers impact financing costs. Regression analysis of investors’ financing costs and an analytical model of off-takers financing costs reveal that between the support policies, the costs of renewable energy deployment differ by around 30 percent, but can be significantly lower or higher, depending on the financial situation of energy suppliers.

Kazakhstan: Assessment of Renewable Energy Support and a Green Economy

The growth of renewable energy sources (RES) shows the desire of the government of Kazakhstan to meet challenges that affect the welfare and development of the state. National targets, government programs, policies influence renewable energy strategies. In the future, renewable energy technologies will act as sources of a green economy and sustainable economic growth. The state policy in the field of energy in Kazakhstan is aimed at improving the conditions for the development and support of renewable energy sources, amendments are being made to provide for the holding of auctions for new RES projects, which replaces the previously existing system of fixed tariffs. It is expected that the costs of traditional power plants for the purchase of renewable energy will skyrocket, provided that the goals in the field of renewable generation are achieved. This article provides an assessment of international experience in supporting renewable energy sources, as well as analyzes the current situation in the development of renewable energy in Kazakhstan and the impact on sustainable development and popularization of the «green» economy. The study shows that by supporting the development of renewable energy sources, economic growth is possible, which is achieved in an environmentally sustainable way.

Vector control strategy for motor‐generator pair drive inverters in parallel operation

In view of the weak moment of inertia for power system with high penetration of renewable energy and limited transient voltage support of power electronics, a synchronous motor-generator pair (MGP) is proposed as a possible solution for renewable energy integration to improve grid stability. In order to realize the large-scale renewable energy integration, parallel inverters drive MGP is an ideal control scheme. Firstly, the working principle and mathematical model of MGP are introduced. Then based on a comparative analysis of control of parallel inverters and torque control of synchronous motors, the decoupling vector control method of MGP is proposed. Considering the linear relation between q-axis current and the active power in the rotor flux-oriented mode, the strategy of parallel drive for MGP with vector control is established. Different control loop for off-grid and grid-connected operation is designed, and effectiveness of this control strategy is verified by simulation. Finally, a 5 kW MGP experimental platform with dual inverters is built, the parameters are selected to test stability of the system, and power distribution and efficiency are studied. The results indicate that the parallel operation of MGP is stable under dynamic conditions, the strategy can realize the independent control of each inverter.

Americans Support for Renewable Energy is Disconnected from their Understanding of Powerline Infrastructure as a Mechanism to Mitigate Climate Change

As nations are transitioning to renewable energy sources, they will need to expand and upgrade their energy infrastructure, including high-voltage power lines (HVPL). We have conducted the first nation-wide survey in the last thirty years to assess public attitudes toward HVPL in the USA. The study evaluates perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes toward building new transmission lines, as these relate to renewable energy, place attachment, and environmental impacts. Our results show that Americans do not recognize how new HVPL could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions; instead, respondents favor moving from centralized energy (large power stations and HVPL) to decentralized energy (local power supply and small scale solar panels and wind turbines. Our findings are consistent with studies from Europe in that citizens recognize negative human impacts on the natural world and support renewable energy, however, they have a limited understanding of the role of HVPL infrastructure in mitigating climate change.

Industry Leaders’ Perceptions of Residential Wood Pellet Technology Diffusion in the Northeastern U.S.

Within a shifting climate of renewable energy options, technology innovations in the energy sector are vital in combating fossil-fuel-driven climate change and economic growth. To enter this market dominated by fossil fuels, renewable energy innovations need to overcome significant barriers related to cost, relative advantages compared to fossil fuels, and policy incentive programs. A better understanding of the innovation diffusion of new technologies in establishing the renewable energy industry can aid policy makers in designing and implementing other renewable energy support programs and improving adoption rates within existing programs. This study assessed industry leaders’ perceptions through semi-structured interviews. We explored the innovation diffusion process of wood pellet residential heating technology, as well as policy needs and barriers within this industry that are hindering successful long-term diffusion and sustainability. We show that while there is high potential to the wood pellet industry in terms of local resources and overall advantages to fossil fuels, it can be difficult to achieve sustainable economic growth with current cost barriers and further policy programs and incentives are needed in addition to improved communication to reduce adoption barriers for wood pellet technology.

Advocating a just transition in Appalachia: Civil society and industrial change in a carbon-intensive region

Whereas research to date has focused on the role of governments and unions in leading just transition initiatives, this study explores the role of a broad range of civil society actors. It focuses on the central Appalachian region in the U.S. (Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia), which has significant fossil-fuel resources. Based on an analysis of 98 initiatives related to a just transition led by 70 civil society organizations during the 2010–2020 period, the study contributes to the just transitions literature by showing the role of non-labor civil society in defining and motivating a just transition in the context of resistance from actors associated with fossil-fuel industries. The study develops a framework for researching just transitions that is based on two sets of goals: societal change (democracy and equity) and sociotechnical system change (support for renewable energy and energy efficiency and opposition to fossil-fuel extraction and pollution). Results from the comparative and network analyses indicate that the four goal types are not equally represented and that civil society organizations tend to specialize with respect to the goals, with only a few organizations providing bridges across the goals. Implications for strategy for funders and advocacy organizations are discussed.