Electrifying the ‘eighth continent’: exploring the role of climate finance and its impact on energy justice and equality in Madagascar’s planned energy transition

In recent years, measures to stimulate local and rural communities’ involvement in the generation of renewable energy have been rather optimistically promoted as a means to engender greater legitimacy in and democratization of energy governance, tackle fuel poverty, and deliver energy justice. This chapter assesses what we really know about community energy and its suitability to deliver an equitable energy transition. It scrutinizes evidence from selected EU Member States that have pioneered the mainstreaming of community energy through the lens of justice theories, with the objective to gauge whether and how these policies address core justice questions associated with the energy transition, and the role of law in providing an answer to these. This chapter aims to probe the sometimes uncritical assumptions about community energy, highlighting the complex, layered, conflicting justice claims that underlie its mainstreaming. In order to do this, the chapter distils a set of distributive, procedural, and restorative justice questions associated with community energy, and considers the way in which they have been addressed, drawing on examples from Denmark, Germany, and the UK.

Download Full-text

Regulation of Electricity Storage, Intelligent Grids, and Clean Energies in an Open Market in Mexico

10.1093/oso/9780198822080.003.0010 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

José Juan González Márquez ◽

Margarita González Brambila

Keyword(s):

Energy Storage ◽

Energy Supply ◽

Carbon Dioxide Emission ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Legal Framework ◽

Open Market ◽

Innovative Strategy ◽

Electricity Storage ◽

Storage Technologies

This chapter analyses the role of electricity storage as an innovative strategy to attain the Mexican Government’s goals regarding carbon dioxide emission reduction and energy transition. The survey includes the analysis of the different electricity storage technologies as well as the legal framework governing electricity storage as the fifth link of the energy supply chain from a comparative perspective. The authors discuss whether energy storage is a generation or a distribution/transmission asset. The chapter also analyses Mexico’s experiences in energy storage and briefly describes the way it is regulated in other jurisdictions. Finally, the authors propose the regulation of energy storage as a separate licensed activity.

Download Full-text

The role of biomaterials for the energy transition from the lens of a national integrated assessment model

Climatic Change ◽

10.1007/s10584-021-03201-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 167 (3-4) ◽

Author(s):

Camilla C. N. de Oliveira ◽

Gerd Angelkorte ◽

Pedro R. R. Rochedo ◽

Alexandre Szklo

Keyword(s):

Integrated Assessment ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Integrated Assessment Model ◽

Assessment Model

Download Full-text

Regional Electricity Models for Community Energy in Germany: The Role of Governance Structures

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13042241 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 2241

Author(s):

Moritz Ehrtmann ◽

Lars Holstenkamp ◽

Timon Becker

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Business Models ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Governance Structures ◽

Business Networks ◽

Sustainable Innovation ◽

Value Propositions ◽

Energy Companies ◽

Desk Research

Community energy actors play an important role in the energy transition, fostering the diffusion of sustainable innovation in the renewable energy market. Because market conditions for business models in the renewable energy sector are changing and feed-in-tariff (FiT) schemes expiring, community energy companies are in the process of innovating their business models. In recent years, several community energy companies in Germany have entered the electricity retail market selling locally generated electricity from their renewable energy installations to customers in their region. We explore the evolving regional electricity business models for community energy companies in Germany, related governance structures, and the role they play for a sustainable energy transition. In order to implement these complex business models, community energy companies cooperate with professional marketing partners (intermediaries), which are capable of taking over the tasks and obligations of electricity suppliers. Through a series of expert interviews and desk research, we identify three distinctive regional electricity business models and examine opportunities and challenges to their implementation. Results show that there are different forms of cooperation, leading to specific governance structures and creating a set of new value propositions. Through these forms of cooperation, business networks emerge, which can function as incubators for sustainable innovation and learning for the post-FiT era.

Download Full-text

Reinvigorating the role of clean energy transition for achieving a low-carbon economy: evidence from Bangladesh

Environmental Science and Pollution Research ◽

10.1007/s11356-021-15352-w ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Muntasir Murshed ◽

Zahoor Ahmed ◽

Md Shabbir Alam ◽

Haider Mahmood ◽

Abdul Rehman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Energy Transition ◽

Clean Energy ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Low Carbon Economy ◽

Carbon Economy

Download Full-text

Changing Technology or Behavior? The Impacts of a Behavioral Disruption

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13115861 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 5861

Author(s):

Marianne Pedinotti-Castelle ◽

Pierre-Olivier Pineau ◽

Kathleen Vaillancourt ◽

Ben Amor

Keyword(s):

Energy Transition ◽

Energy System ◽

Behavior Changes ◽

Ghg Emission ◽

The North ◽

Behavioral Disruption ◽

Transportation Sector ◽

Key Factor ◽

Additional Costs

Transportation is a key factor in the fight against climate change. Consumer behavior changes in transportation are underrepresented in energy policies, even if they could be essential to achieve the fixed GHG emission reduction targets. To help quantify the role of behaviors in energy transition and their implications on the dynamics of an energy system, this study is conducted using the North American TIMES Energy Model, adapted to Quebec (Canada). A behavioral disruption scenario (an increase in carpooling) is introduced in the model’s transportation sector and is compared to a massive electrification scenario. Our results highlight the fact that a behavioral disruption can lead to the same GHG emission reductions (65%) by 2050 as an electrification policy, while alleviating different efforts (such as additional electrical capacity and additional costs) associated with massive electrification. Moreover, the results are sensitive to behavior-related parameters, such as social discount rates and car lifetimes.

Download Full-text

An inter-disciplinary approach to the energy transition in South Africa

Discover Sustainability ◽

10.1007/s43621-021-00043-w ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Iain Todd ◽

Darren McCauley

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Transition Process ◽

Social Scientists ◽

Key Issues ◽

Static Approach ◽

Tackle Climate Change ◽

Fossil Fuel Industry ◽

Energy Justice

AbstractThe compelling need to tackle climate change is well-established. It is a challenge which is being faced by all nations. This requires an approach which is truly inter-disciplinary in nature, drawing on the expertise of politicians, social scientists, and technologists. We report how the pace of the energy transition can be influenced significantly by both the operation of societal barriers, and by policy actions aimed at reducing these effects. Using the case study of South Africa, a suite of interviews has been conducted with diverse energy interests, to develop and analyse four key issues pertinent to the energy transition there. We do so primarily through the lens of delivering energy justice to that society. In doing so, we emphasise the need to monitor, model, and modify the dynamic characteristic of the energy transition process and the delivery of energy justice; a static approach which ignores the fluid nature of transition will be insufficient. We conclude that the South African fossil fuel industry is still impeding the development of the country’s renewable resources, and the price of doing so is being met by those living in townships and in rural areas.

Download Full-text