Renewable Energy Sources Support Research Articles

Use of solid recovered fuels for heat production - analysis of Czech legislation

The article is about solid recovered fuel (SRF) and its legislation possibilities to use them as a fuel in heating plants. This solution is quite popular because it brings solution of two very problematic tasks – the decreasing of waste landfilling and the end of fossil fuel (especially coal) combustion. Due to these arguments are there many producers which offer SRF (often in the pellets form) to conventional heating plants. However heating plant have flue gas cleaning technologies, which are able to combustion SRF and keep current emissions limits, the usage of SRF is forbidden for them. The reason is in the classification of origin material as a waste and the permission and limits as a waste combustion is required. The criteria and limits for waste combustion are much stricter and for heating plants is very difficult to reach them if it is possible. The article is about view of Czech legislation, where some of law had different interpretation about waste material and SRF combustion. Article compare requirements and results for SRF from waste and SRF from waste biomass. The interpretation is described from a view of waste, air protection, IPPC, EU ETS and support of renewable energy sources law based on Czech a EU law documents. The most important is origin of SRF. When the SRF is made by waste (municipal or industrial) all laws must assess final combustion technology as waste combustion technology, the support for renewable energy sources is not allowed (except biodegradable municipal waste) and CO2 emission permit is not required. With new regulation No. 169/2023 Coll. is possible to combustion SRF, which is based on waste biomass from forestry and agriculture. The permits and limits for combustion plants are same as biomass combustion, support for renewably energy sources is possible and CO2 emission permits are not required. Investment to SRF combustion technology is not advantageous, because purchase prize of SRF will be higher than standard waste but requirements for technology will be same. Meaning of the newest legislation was not in possibilities to use of more SRF in heating plant, but bring waste and air protection law into accord, because some of waste biomass was possible to combust, however it was waste by waste law.

Strategic evaluation of the 2021 Nigeria Climate Change Act: Surmounting challenges, paving the way for success, and envisioning future trajectories

The 2021 Climate Change Act is a pioneering initiative aimed at addressing the pressing global issue of climate change. This study evaluates the Act's impact, and its prospects for achieving energy security, environmental sustainability, economic prosperity, and social justice. The paper dissects the hurdles facing the Act and outlines a strategy to realize the Act's ambitions via public investments in green infrastructure, technology, energy efficiency and robust support for renewable energy sources. The study delves into the Act's capacity to shape the trajectory of future climate policies, identifying focal points and strategies essential for its successful implementation. It underscores the Act's potential and the obstacles it must surmount to be an effective instrument for climate change mitigation via reforms. Employing a rigorous doctrinal legal research methodology, this study relies on an extensive array of primary and secondary legal sources. The study unveils the struggle in combating the repercussions of climate change, due to reliance on fossil fuels as a primary revenue source. It concludes that low-carbon energy is an option, recommending the domestication of the CCA, 2021, establishment of a Forest Commission to safeguard forests and advocates the use of windfall and solar energy for a transition towards a green economy.

Challenges and Opportunities for the Energy Sector in the Face of Threats Such as Climate Change and the COVID-19 Pandemic—An International Perspective

New threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic have brought forth not only threats to human health but also changes to many other sectors of the global economy. Despite strict lockdowns, the highest annual number of global renewable energy installations were completed in 2020, including onshore wind power stations and PV power stations. The development of these two types of renewables is increasing rapidly. Transformations in terms of renewable energy require both governmental and public support; thus, it is important to note that the pandemic did not weaken the public commitment to fight climate change. This article aims to evaluate the actual level of support for renewable energy sources in different countries of the world and how the pandemic has affected public opinion regarding this issue. Our analysis suggests that, regardless of the pandemic, public support for renewable energy remains strong in different regions of the world.

TAXATION AND INCENTIVES IN RENEWABLE ENERGY INVESTMENTS

This research suggests that the under-one-roof taxation and incentives approach combined with a regularly adjusted subsidy may be the best course of action for learning by doing in renewable energy technology. In terms of financial investment, the study looks at how tax incentives and other forms of support for renewable energy sources are evaluated. The essential features of renewable energy sources are that they help to protect the environment, and renewable energy investments are a hot topic on the agendas of many countries. The Turkish energy market has been exposed to the liberalization process. So, the government, investors, and the people of the country are the main owners of these projects. Each partner directly or indirectly affects these investments or is involved in them. These things should be managed in a way that keeps the whole system in balance. This method turns the problem into a multi-objective optimization problem, with the goal of maximizing the benefits for all stakeholders. This research investigates the items related to renewable energy investments to analyse the risk factors for system risk mitigation and tax approaches.

PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

In today’s process of the transformation of the electrical energy sector, renewable energy sources and cogeneration have remained at the halfway point: on the one side, it is indisputable that they are in keeping with the growing trend to reduce negative environmental impact and on the other side they require public support that would rather accept a solution from the past than a market choice. This article attempts to respond to important questions that are posed due to the ambiguous status of renewable energy sources, such as how much support for them should be secured in order for them to become competitive, to what extent is such support justified, and what forms of promotion would achieve the maximum social benefit? After the initial determination of the framework of the policy for the support of renewable energy sources, cogeneration and energy saving, limitations to the emission of CO2 and financial limitations are discussed.

Advances in Process Modelling and Simulation of Parabolic Trough Power Plants: A Review

The common design of thermal power plants is fundamentally oriented towards achieving a high-process performance, with market demands necessitating enhanced operational stability as a result of ongoing global support for renewable energy sources. Indeed, dynamic simulation represents one useful and cost-effective choice for optimizing the flexibility of parabolic trough power plants (PTPP) in a range of transient operating conditions, such as weather changes, resulting again in variations of the output load as well as varying start-up times. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of steady-state and dynamic modelling for PTPP design, development, and optimization. This gives us a greater opportunity for a broad understanding of the PTPPs subjected to a variety of irradiance solar constraints. The most important features of the steady-state and their uses are reviewed, and the most important programs used in steady-state modelling are also highlighted. In addition, the start-up process of the plant, thermal storage system capacities and response dynamics (charging and discharging modes), and yearly electricity yield can be analyzed using dynamic modelling. Depending on the dynamic simulation, specific uses can be realized, including control loop optimization, load estimation for critical in-service equipment, and emergency safety assessment of power plants in the event of an outage. Based on this review, a detailed overview of the dynamic simulation of PTPP, and its development and application in various simulation programs, is presented. Here, a survey of computational dynamic modelling software commonly applied for commercial and academic applications is performed, accompanied by various sample models of simulation programs such as APROS, DYNAMICS, DYMOLA, and ASPEN PLUS. The simulation programs generally depend on the conservation equations of mass, momentum, species, and energy. However, for the equation of equilibrium, specific mathematical expressions rely on the basic flow model. The essential flow models involved, together with the basic assumptions, are presented, and are supplemented through a general survey covering popular simulation programs. Various previous research on the dynamic simulation of the PTPP are reviewed and analyzed in this paper. Here, several studies in the literature regarding the dynamic simulation of the PTPP are addressed and analyzed. Specific consideration is given to the studies including model verification, in order to explore the effect of modelling assumptions regarding the simulation outputs.

Energy trading strategy for storage-based renewable power plants

Despite the continuous growth and the widespread support of renewable energy sources, solar and wind power plants pose new challenges for Transmission System Operators and Distribution System Operators. Their uncontrollability limits their applicability; therefore, to encourage their further growth, fundamental modifications are needed. The research presented in this paper focuses on the predictive control of storage-based renewable power plants, and suggests a new model for profit optimization. Profit optimization is based on electricity price prediction and effective trading strategies that match the projected electricity prices. For the electricity price prediction, a recurrent Long Short-Term Memory neural network was developed and fine-tuned. For the optimization of the electricity trading, two trading strategies, namely an adaptive gradient-descent method and a differential evolution method were developed. Both optimization techniques were tested on mathematical models of most commercially available hybrid inverter systems and one year of historical data of electricity prices. As a result, a novel model predictive control workflow and sizing guide is proposed, which may significantly increase the profit generated by the system.

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.

Public Attitudes toward Renewable Energy in Croatia

Renewable energy sources (RES) play a key role in achieving the European Union’s energy and climate objectives. As a member of the European Union, Croatia has committed to adopting European Directive 2009/28/EC, a directive on promoting the use of RES. Croatia shows good potential for the use of different types of RES. In the period 2009–2019, the share of renewable energy in energy consumption increased from 23.6 to 28.5 percent. The Croatian energy strategy aims to increase the national share of renewable energy to at least 32 percent by 2030. Acceptance and public support are essential for renewable energy to be introduced into energy policy and particularly to encourage renewable energy implementation in the residential sector. The purpose of the paper is to explore the public perception of renewable energy and citizens’ willingness to pay for the use of RES. Data were collected through a 2021 survey of citizens 18 years and older. The survey results show a low level of implementation of RES technology in the residential sector; more than 80 percent of respondents did not use any sources of renewable energy in their households. Results related to respondents’ knowledge of different sources of renewable energy suggest they have the most knowledge of solar, wind, and hydropower energy. Respondents believe that combating climate change, reducing dependency on energy imports, reducing environmental impacts, and improving health are the most important benefits of RES implementation. The survey reveals general support for RES among respondents; almost 89 percent of them would purchase renewable energy from local suppliers. In addition, 79 percent of survey participants were willing to pay for the introduction of RES technology into their households. The research shows that environmental concerns are the primary reason for citizens’ higher willingness to pay for RES.

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.

ТЕОРЕТИКО-МЕТОДОЛОГІЧНЕ ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ІНВЕСТИЦІЙНОГО РОЗВИТКУ «ЗЕЛЕНОЇ» ЕНЕРГЕТИКИ В УКРАЇНІ

Анотація. Сучасний світ, включаючи високорозвинуті країни, які націлюють значну частину своїх фінансових потоків на нарощення екологічних потужностей з пропагандою та закликом до зупинки процесів глобального потепління, досить відкрито демонструє свою прихильність поповнення і відновлення «зелених» запасів. На сьогодні в системі економічних відносин та фінансового забезпечення розвитку економіки України дедалі більшого значення набуває залучення екологічної складової такого розвитку. При вивченні альтернативних джерел енергії як відносно нового шляху для України встановлено, що розвиток такої енергетики впливає на низку соціально-економічних чинників, зокрема: стан транспорту, навколишнього середовища, безпеки здоров’я і харчування, систему агропромислового господарювання, енергетику тощо. Державне забезпечення, супровід, підтримка і формування загальної стратегії розвитку інвестування в альтернативну енергетику повинні стати пріоритетними напрямами в нарощенні процесів екологізації у країні. Єдиний концептуальний підхід до забезпечення розвитку «зеленої» енергетики є гарантією налагодження механізму забезпечення інвестиційного потенціалу напряму. Для ефективного функціонування відновлюваних джерел енергії (ВДЕ) потрібно привести національне законодавство у відповідність до міжнародних вимог, зокрема до міжнародних актів країн Європейського Союзу. Створення оптимальних гарантій і надання квот для інвесторів. Необхідними умовами розвитку є: розроблення програмного і техніко-технологічного забезпечення не лише генерації, акумулювання та використання, а й накопичення та узагальнення інформації, обліку, аналізу, контролю за витрачанням і реалізацією такої енергії; інноваційно-інвестиційний супровід на рівні поглиблення і розширення наукових досліджень, створення робочих програм, проєктів та груп; інституціональне забезпечення залучення інвестицій у розвиток «зеленої» енергетики, розроблення державної цільової програми розвитку та підтримки ВДЕ. Ключові слова: інвестиції, «зелена» енергетика, відновлювальні джерела енергії, «зелений» тариф, розвиток. Формул: 0; рис.: 0; табл.: 1; бібл.: 34.

Policy mix of renewable portfolio standards, feed-in tariffs, and auctions in South Korea: Are three better than one?

This study examines the effects of policy mix supporting electricity from renewable energy sources (RES-E) in South Korea. South Korea relies on a renewable portfolio standard as the main support scheme along with a feed-in tariff and long-term supply contract auctions as complementary schemes to support RES-E. This study investigates whether there is synergy among RES-E support policies. It also investigates how the policy mix affects RES-E markets. Although this study only focuses on a particular case of Korea, a policy mix generally can be an effective way to overcome the drawbacks of a single policy instrument in supporting RES-E.

Formation of an institutional environment conducive to the development of renewable energy in Russia

Renewable energy is developed only with appropriate state support. In the context of increasing environmental awareness, the need to reduce the carbon burden on the environment, and lower prices for renewable energy technologies, the lag in the level of use of renewable energy sources poses a threat to the development of countries within the framework of global trends. Despite the high availability of traditional energy sources in Russia, renewable energy has received state support. In Russia, there are various mechanisms of state support in the retail and wholesale electricity and capacity markets. The article examines the process of formation of the current mechanism of state support in the wholesale electricity and capacity market. В The main stages and reasons for the formation of a system of support for renewable energy sources in Russia are highlighted. The effectiveness of the contract for the provision of capacities (PDM) as a mechanism for state support of renewable energy sources in Russia is analyzed. The relationship between the functioning of the mechanism of the renewable energy DPM and the increase in the level of competition in the renewable energy market is demonstrated. It is shown how the development of renewable energy in Russia can contribute to the development of related sectors of the economy. A comprehensive approach to the development of the industry within the framework of the renewable energy technology cluster in Russia is presented. The territories for which the development of renewable energy is especially relevant have been identified.

Renewable Energy: Prospects for Energy Development Correction in Russia

The concept of sustainable development has identified the vector of technological development of the energy sector: support for renewable energy sources (RES) along with a reduction in the cost of electricity produced by them to the values comparable to traditional energy has led to the transformation of all parts of the seamless technological process of energy production and consumption. In the next decade in Russia, correction of energy development from the existing object system towards integration of consumers and energy producers by providing the ability to adjust power consumption to the generation schedule and the development of distributed cogeneration using the established heat consumption is a more effective way to reduce the negative human-induced impact in contrast to building of wind or solar power plants. Coverage of the peak load with cycling units in the mode of combined heat and power generation, having the ability to work according to the schedule of electric rather than thermal loads, as well as increasing the flexibility of power consumption, are the ways to increase the power utilization rate of traditional energy and reduce specific fuel consumption, and, in the future, to minimize costs for connecting stochastic renewable energy generation into the network.

Distributed Generation of Electricity and Sustainable Regional Growth

The rather high distributed generation (DG) ramp-up observed in the world is largely associated with the progress in low-power generation technologies and the measure of state support for renewable energy sources. Distributed generation delivers sustainable development of low electricity demand areas where centralized power supply is too expensive. In Russia, the installed electrical capacity of DG has reached 37 GW and its contribution to the country’s electric power industry turns out to be very significant: approximately 13.7%. Moreover, more than half of the available facilities are used as stand-by, peak-load, and seasonal sources of electricity. The technological basis of the DG in the country is thermal power plants. The article considers in detail the possible options for operating DG plants. It is shown that the priority areas for the DG application are areas with low density of electrical loads, including rural and low population areas. The presence of infrastructural restrictions for connecting new consumers to the electrical network favors the use of DG in the centralized power supply zone as well. Prospects for the further DG application in the world are associated with the development of renewable energy and the improvement of electrochemical technologies, primarily electricity storage devices. In Russia, apparently, DG technologies based on fossil fuels will prevail for a long time. The country’s great demand for thermal energy will contribute to the widespread use of cogeneration plants. A significant reserve for DG development is the reconstruction of the country’s numerous gas boilers in small CHP plants with a potential of 41 GW of electrical capacity.

How Renewable Energy Is Changing the German Energy System—a Counterfactual Approach

At least once a year, when the new levy for the support of renewable energy sources for electricity production (RES-E) is announced, the German public critically discusses the energy transition. Arguments against RES-E vary greatly, including that they are too expensive, contribute little or not at all to reducing CO2 emissions, present risks to the security of supply and require large grid investment. Whatever the criticism, it at least raises the interesting question of how the German energy system would look like without RES-E. To answer that question a counterfactual Germany power generation portfolio without RES-E is developed. The effects of German RES-E on the European power market are then derived from scenario analysis. The presented analysis is based on a counterfactual approach using the electricity market model ELTRAMOD, which is based on a cost minimization approach with a time resolution of 8760 h. The modeling problem is split into two models reducing the complexity of the modeled problem: ELTRAMOD-INVEST and ELTRAMOD-DISPATCH. At first, ELTRAMOD-INVEST is used to calculate the counterfactual power plant investments in Germany. Afterwards, the European power plant dispatch is determined with ELTRAMOD-DISPATCH. As RES-E emit no carbon emissions, the carbon price is modeled endogenously to see how German RES-E influence carbon prices and what the effects are. In the counterfactual scenario, where no German RES-E are installed, the conventional capacity increases up to 8 GW (about 8% of the overall conventional capacity) compared to reality in 2016. That indicates that RES-E prevented investments in conventional capacities. Furthermore power prices in the counterfactual scenario increase up to 18 €/MWh compared to real power prices, which equals the long-term merit order effect. It is composed of three parts: a changed power plant dispatch, higher CO2 prices and additional conventional capacity. The changed power plant dispatch and higher CO2 prices increase the power prices up to 12 €/MWh, in contrast the additional conventional capacity decreases the power price up to 3.5 €/MWh.

On the Effectiveness of Germany's Renewable Energy Sources Act

To what extent does environmental legislation achieve the objectives it pursues? The paper contributes to this discussion on effectiveness in two ways. First, it provides a conceptual framework from an economic and legal perspective. In particular, it clarifies that effectiveness in the narrow sense relates to achieving legally set goals ± which, in turn, depends on suitability and enforcement of rules. However, a comprehensive framework needs to go beyond effec- tiveness in the narrow sense: that is, the more demanding concept of cost-effectiveness, which requires goal achievement at a minimum of societal costs, as well as un-anticipated secondary impacts, may impact the overall assessment. Second, the paper evaluates the effectiveness of the main policy instru- ment to support renewable energy sources (RES) in the German electricity sector, i.e., the German RES Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz). To this end, the paper investigates in what respect the RES Act effectively contributes to achieving the objectives of the RES Act; subsequently, the analysis is extended to a more comprehensive approach, assessing both cost- effectiveness and secondary effects of RES support in Germany.

ВИБІР КРИТЕРІЇВ ОЦІНКИ ЕФЕКТИВНОСТІ ПОЛІТИКИ ПІДТРИМКИ ВІДНОВЛЮВАНИХ ДЖЕРЕЛ ЕНЕРГІЇ

At the moment, Ukraine has set targets for expanding the use of renewable energy sources (RES), while one of the key tasks is to substantiate and accurately assess the economic efficiency of using RES with the use of various criteria and indicators. The purpose of the article is to research and develop scientific and economic decisions on the assessment of the efficiency of the use of renewable energy sources, and to justify the selection of criteria for assessing renewable energy support policies. Renewable energy policy is a matter of ongoing assessment, because it implies significant financial support that should be monitored continuously and thoroughly. The article highlights five criteria for assessing renewable energy support policies: efficiency, efficiency, equity, institutional feasibility, reproducibility (long-term functioning). The article substantiates the choice of criteria for assessing the effectiveness of the policy of supporting renewable energy sources, namely the criterion of economic efficiency, which includes static and dynamic efficiency. Effectiveness shows the ratio of realizing the goals of developing RES to the cost of resources that have been spent to achieve these goals. The article presents the calculation and justification of the use of indemnification indicators that characterize the criterion of economic efficiency. The criterion of justice and its estimation are analyzed. Comparison of the use of the provided indicators of political support for renewable energy sources has been com pared. The parameters of dependence of dynamic efficiency are determined. Advantages of RES technologies relative to traditional generation depend to a large extent on local conditions: where there are favorable conditions for implementation of RES technologies, it is possible to achieve lower generation costs based on RES, rather than fossil fuels. In most cases, generation costs based on RES are higher than in traditional generation. Over time, these costs will fall, but by the time that renewable energy reaches the parity with traditional generation, the state will have to bear additional support for the industry with appropriate political support using a variety of criteria with the appropriate set of indicators.

The missing link: The influence of instruments and design features on the interactions between climate and renewable electricity policies

Climate and energy targets and instruments coexist in many countries, leading to interactions. In particular, the combination of CO2 targets, the European Union (EU) emission trading scheme and promotion of electricity from renewable energy sources (RES-E) have raised significant concerns in the past, given the allegedly negative influence of RES-E support on CO2 prices. This (negative) interaction has been analysed with modeling techniques, but an assessment of the impact of specific instruments and design features on those interactions has so far been neglected. The aim of this paper is to provide an initial attempt to cover this gap. An analytical framework to discuss the impact of instruments and design features on the interactions is provided and the comparative impact of different instruments and design features on the interactions between RES-E support and CO2 mitigation instruments is evaluated. Our results show that, while negative interactions can be mitigated through coordination, adaptability depends on the choice of instruments and design features. The negative interactions are more likely under quantity-based than under price-based CO2 mitigation instruments. In contrast, they are more likely with price-based than with quantity-based RES-E support instruments. Notwithstanding, the choice of design features critically affects this result.

Development of renewable energy in China: Studying the experience and making recommendations for Russia

The article reviews a state policy of China, due to which the country has managed to develop the world’s largest sector of renewable energy sources (RES). Basic aspects of the formation and development of a comprehensive system of state support for the sector, i.e., the creation of scientific and technological advancement, stimulation of renewable energy equipment manufacturing, and support for RES electricity generation, are studied. Key programs implemented in specific stages are analyzed. Considerable attention is paid to the role and characteristics of foreign technology transfers. The dynamics of China’s RES sector and the results of its rapid growth with the active participation of the state are researched. On the basis of the analysis, it is concluded that, in general, China’s experience in development of RES is successful. Using the example of China, it is safe to say that, in the presence of a balanced state policy, a country is able to create in a decade a strong renewable energy equipment industry and to become a leader in the area of RES electricity generation. Specific features and main problems of the Russian RES sector are considered. On the basis of China’s experience, recommendations for improving the state policy in RES are made for Russia. According to the authors, first of all, a sharp increase in state support for scientific research and development (R&D), pilot and demonstration projects, recognition of RES as a part of the fuel and energy sector at all tiers of authority, guarantees of state support for RES in the long run, ensuring access to long-term funds, and the creation of state programs supporting households participation in the distributed power generation are needed.