Microgrids & District Energy: Pathways To Sustainable Urban Development

A microgrid is an energy system specifically designed to meet some of the energy needs of a group of buildings, a campus, or an entire community. It can include local facilities that generate electricity, heating, and/or cooling; store energy; distribute the energy generated; and manage energy consumption intelligently and in real time. Microgrids enable economies of scale that facilitate local production of energy in ways that can advance cost reduction, sustainability, economic development, and resilience goals. As they often involve multiple stakeholders, and may encompass numerous distinct property boundaries, municipal involvement is often a key factor for successful implementation. This report provides an introduction to microgrid concepts, identifies the benefits and most common road blocks to implementation, and discusses proactive steps municipalities can take to advance economically viable and environmentally superior microgrids. It also offers advocacy suggestions for municipal leaders and officials to pursue at the state and regional level. The contents are targeted to municipal government staff but anyone looking for introductory material on microgrids should find it useful

REDD+ and its actors in Zanzibar: The Potentials for Equitable Benefit Sharing

Climate change and its possible negative effects are increasingly recognized as some of the critical challenges the world is facing today. The debates on how to tackle the problems of climate change have been escalating and still are among the controversial issues continuously discussed in international platforms. It is estimated that deforestation and forest degradation may account for nearly 20% of the global emissions. Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) is one of the mechanisms designed to tackle the hazards from the world`s changing climate. The idea behind REDD+ is to create a financial value for the carbon stored in forests, offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development. Apart from mitigating climate change problems, REDD+ as a mechanism, has pro-poor approaches which attempt to improve the lives of the poor forest dependent communities. Special attention is given to the most vulnerable groups such as the women. Studies on REDD+ projects, both in Africa and elsewhere, suggest the importance of local community participation in the decision making process in order to increase fairness and equity in the benefit sharing process. Developing countries in the south are important actors in the implementation process of the climate change mitigation mechanisms. Tanzania is one of the African states, where REDD+ pilot projects have been implemented. As part of its contribution to the global climate changes mitigation efforts, the government of Norway funded nine REDD+ pilot projects in Tanzania. Eight of these nine pilot projects were implemented in mainland Tanzania while the ninth one was on the Island of Zanzibar. This REDD+ pilot project called HIMA, in Ksiwahili, Hifadhi ya Misitu ya Asiali’, meaning Conservation of Natural Forest lasted for four years. It began in April, 2010 and ended in December, 2014. The project was implemented in both Unguja and Pemba islands This thesis, using the pilot REDD+ HIMA project as a case study, explores the potentials for equitable benefit sharing in future REDD+ and other similar climate change interventions in Zanzibar. In particular, the study investigates the potential roles of JUMIJAZA in ensuring equitable benefit sharing. The findings of this study are based on data collected using qualitative research approaches (semi-structured individual interviews and focus group discussions) and reviewing project related documents. Based on its findings, the study argues that despite being a very young organization with limited capabilities and experiences, JUMIJAZA is a legitimate representative of the various SCCs which has the potentials to serve and defend the interests of the people in the respective Shehias.The findings of the study also show that the organization has a number of potentials including the acceptance from the community and the government; the full awareness of the SCCs about the importance of the forest conservation and the recently finalized validation process, which grants the certificate to sell the carbon. In addition, its legal status and its approved byelaws give JUMIJAZA extra acceptance and acknowledgement from the international community and the donors. Based on this, the study further concludes that JUMIJAZA is an entity that has the potentials to ensure equitable benefit sharing in future REDD+ and other similar interventions in Zanzibar.M-D

Profitability analysis on demand-side flexibility: A review

Flexibility has emerged as an optimal solution to the increasing uncertainty in power systems produced by the continuous development and penetration of distributed generation based on renewable energy. Many studies have shown the benefits for system operators and stakeholders of diverse ancillary services derived from demand-side flexibility. Cost-benefit analysis on these flexibility services should be carried out to determine the profitable applications, as well as the required adjustments on energy market, price schemes and normative framework to maximize the positive impacts of the available flexibility. This paper endeavors to review the main topics, variables and indexes related to the profitability analysis on demand-side flexibility, as well as the influence of energy markets, pricing and standards on revenue maximization. The conclusions drawn from this review demonstrate that the profitability of flexibility services considerably de-pends on energy market structure, involved assets, electricity prices and current ancillary services remuneration.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Energy self-consumption policy, the future of distributed renewable generation?

Tese de mestrado integrado, Engenharia da Energia e do Ambiente, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2016The traditional energy system is undergoing a fundamental change, with demand profile trends created by growth stagnation, energy efficiency and self-consumption challenging conventional utility’s business model. At the same time political and structural transformations, such as the unbundling of the energy system itself, are redesigning stakeholders and how the whole system operates, symbolizing what could be the end of the term utility. This work looks into the growing trend of self-consumption policies for distributed generation of renewable energy systems, motivated by the crossing of socket parity and the phasing out of renewables subsidies. The work is divided into 4 main chapters, dedicated to: - An international assessment and characterization of existing self-consumption regimes,where 39 countries and 63 states were reviewed; - A proposal of operational and extended definitions to elucidate policy labelling, clarifying misconceptions around self-consumption, net-energy metering and net-energy billing terminologies; - A concept analysis to review the role of these policy instruments in the future of the energy system, its impacts and constrains; - And lastly, reflect on the potential of emerging concepts such as shared generation, peer-topeer energy trading, under regulations such as virtual metering, as a regulatory enhancement of existing self-consumption policies. The goal of this work is to provide key policy and regulatory considerations for devising more effective self-consumption policies. The future is still uncertain as policies and frameworks are yet to be consistent or stabilized, and a high degree of policy experimentalism is still present in these new grounds. We hope to portray a meaningful compilation of the main aspects regarding the concept, the typical implications and possible enhancements, to support regulators, the research community and decision makers in designing a path forward, that goes beyond utility scale renewable energy.O modus operandi do sistema energético tradicional está sob uma transformação de paradigma, com as alterações no perfil de consumo potenciadas pela estagnação do consumo, eficiência energética e autoconsumo de energia a desafiar os modelos de negócio dos agentes convencionais. Em paralelo existem transformações politicas e estruturais, como o unbundling do sistema energético, redesenhando os stakeholders e o funcionamento do sistema. Este trabalho investiga politicas de autoconsumo energético para produção de distribuída de energia renovável, uma tendência que ganha relevância com o atravessar da meta da paridade com a rede, e o abandono progressivo de subsídios à produção renovável. O trabalho está dividido em 4 capítulos principais, dedicados a:- Um levantamento internacional dos regimes de autoconsumo existentes, onde 39 países e 63 estados foram identificados;- Uma proposta de definições operacionais e de relações entre tipologias diferentes, para clarificar terminologias e evitar utilizações erróneas de conceitos como autoconsumo, net metering e net billing; - Uma análise de conceito para descrever o papel destes instrumentos políticos no futuro do sistema energético, os seus impactos e limitações.- Por fim, uma reflexão do potencial de conceitos emergentes como virtual metering, e o seu potencial para reforçar as politicas de autoconsumo tradicionais. O objetivo desta pesquisa é desenvolver considerações chave para o desenho de politicas de autoconsumo mais eficientes e adaptadas à realidade. O futuro destas politicas e regulamentações é ainda incerto, e estão longe de estabilizadas apresentando um grau de experimentalismo. Procurouse compilar de forma compreensiva e fundamentada os aspetos principais do conceito, as implicações usuais e possíveis melhoramentos, para apoiar reguladores, a comunidade cientifica e decisores políticos no design e desenvolvimento de caminhos, que vão além da produção centralizada de energias renováveis