Climate Change and the Vulnerability of Germany's Power Sector to Heat and Drought

Given its total contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, the global electric power sector will be required to undergo a fundamental transformation over the next decades to limit anthropogenic climate change to below 2 °C. Implications for biodiversity of projected structural changes in the global electric power sector are rarely considered beyond those explicitly linked to climate change. This study uses a spatially explicit consumption-based accounting framework to examine the impact of demand for electric power on terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity globally. We demonstrate that the biodiversity footprint of the electric power sector is primarily within the territory where final demand for electric power resides, although there are substantial regional differences, with Europe displacing its biodiversity threat along international supply chains. The relationship between size of individual components of the electric power sector and threat to biodiversity indicates that a shift to nonfossil sources, such as solar and wind, could reduce pressures on biodiversity both within the territory where demand for power resides and along international supply chains. However, given the current levels of deployment of nonfossil sources of power, there is considerable uncertainty as to how the impacts of structural changes in the global electric power system will scale. Given the strong territorial link between demand and associated biodiversity impacts, development of strong national governance around the electric power sector represents a clear route to mitigate threats to biodiversity associated with efforts to decarbonize society over the coming century.

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Solar energy policy to boost Brazilian power sector

International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management ◽

10.1108/ijccsm-07-2019-0039 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 349-367

Author(s):

Juliana Pacheco Barbosa ◽

Joisa Dutra Saraiva ◽

Julia Seixas

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Solar Energy ◽

Power System ◽

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Energy Policy ◽

Power Sector ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Incentive Mechanisms ◽

Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the opportunity for the energy policy in Brazil to tackle the very high cost-effectiveness potencial of solar energy to the power system. Three mechanisms to achieve ambitious reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector by 2030 and 2040 are assessed wherein treated as solar targets under ambitious reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector. Then, three mechanisms to achieve these selected solar targets are suggested. Design/methodology/approach This paper reviews current and future incentive mechanisms to promote solar energy. An integrated energy system optimization model shows the most cost-efficient deployment level. Incentive mechanisms can promote renewable sources, aiming to tackle climate change and ensuring energy security, while taking advantage of endogenous energy resources potential. Based on a literature review, as well as on the specific characteristics of the Brazilian power system, under restrictions for the expansion of hydroelectricity and ambitious limitation in the emissions of greenhouse gases from the power sector. Findings The potential unexploited of solar energy is huge but it needs the appropriate incentive mechanism to be deployed. These mechanisms would be more effective if they have a specific technological and temporal focus. The solar energy deployment in large scale is important to the mitigation of climate change. Originality/value The value of the research is twofold: estimations of the cost-effective potential of solar technologies, generated from an integrated optimization energy model, fully calibrated for the Brazilian power system, while tacking the increasing electricity demand, the expected reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the need to increase the access to clean and affordable energy, up to 2040; proposals of three mechanisms to deploy centralized PV, distributed PV and solar thermal power, taking the best experiences in several countries and the recent Brazilian cases.

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Using power sector reform as an opportunity to increase the uptake of renewable energy in the power sector: Responding to peak oil and climate change in Caribbean and Pacific small island developing States, between 1970-2010

Natural Resources Forum ◽

10.1111/1477-8947.12031 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 38 (1) ◽

pp. 14-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Keron Niles ◽

Bob Lloyd

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Small Island ◽

Peak Oil ◽

Small Island Developing States ◽

Power Sector ◽

Sector Reform

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Assessment of projected temperature impacts from climate change on the U.S. electric power sector using the Integrated Planning Model®

Energy Policy ◽

10.1016/j.enpol.2014.04.032 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 73 ◽

pp. 524-539 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Wendy S. Jaglom ◽

James R. McFarland ◽

Michelle F. Colley ◽

Charlotte B. Mack ◽

Boddu Venkatesh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Electric Power ◽

Planning Model ◽

Integrated Planning ◽

Power Sector ◽

Electric Power Sector ◽

Temperature Impacts ◽

The U.S

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The effectiveness of climate change policy as an investment driver in the power sector

Corporate Responses to Climate Change: Achieving Emissions Reductions through R ◽

10.9774/gleaf.978-1-909493-80-3_4 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 27-42

Author(s):

William Blyth ◽

Rory Sullivan

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Policy ◽

Power Sector ◽

Change Policy

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Co-operatives and the Transformation of the German Energy Sector

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199684977.013.22 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Markus Hanisch

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Large Scale ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Energy Sources ◽

Policy Changes ◽

Power Sector ◽

Social Consensus ◽

Year 2000

Over the last decades, the discussion on climate change, together with catastrophic events in the power sector, has raised global interest for radical policy changes. Since the year 2000, Germany´s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) has been a forerunner in triggering large-scale decentralized deployment of renewable energy. Although built on a relatively large social consensus, the consequences of the German ‘Energiewende’ have also raised conflicts between communities and investor-oriented project developers. This chapter reviews the increasing role of energy co-operatives as means to involve civil society, mitigate conflicts in planning, and distribute subsidies more evenly among a variety of often rural stakeholders.

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