World Small Hydropower Development Report (WSHPDR) 2022: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Chapter

The World Small Hydropower Development Report (WSHPDR) 2022 is the result of an enormous collaborative effort between the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the International Center on Small Hydro Power and over 200 local and regional small hydropower (SHP) experts, organizations, engineers, academics and government officials from across the globe. WSHPDR is a comprehensive reference publication for decision-makers, stakeholders and potential investors, which aims to promote small hydropower as a renewable and rural energy source for sustainable development. The report 2022 greatly expands on the first three editions (2013, 2016, 2019) by providing improvements in data accuracy with enhanced analysis and a more comprehensive overview of the sector by country. Despite the appeal and benefits of small hydropower solutions, much of the world’s SHP potential remains untapped (64 per cent). The global installed SHP capacity for plants of up to 10 MW is estimated at 79 GW according to the WSHPDR 2022, an increase of 1 per cent compared to data from the WSHPDR 2019

Behavioral and socio-economic determinants of urban households' investment in energy efficient technologies: Evidence from Ethiopia

Wide uses of energy-efficient technologies have the potential to save a significant amount of electricity, which may allow deferral of construction of new power plants. However, in low-income countries, there is low use of energy-efficient technologies. This paper studies the behavioral and socio-economic determinants of urban households’ investment in energy efficiency improvements in Ethiopia. It considers multiple technologies and uses a multivariate probit model to take into account the sequential or simultaneous adoption of energy-efficient technologies. Using a random sample of 1,400 urban households from nine regions in Ethiopia, the study finds that most households (86%) adopt energy-efficient technologies and other energy conservation activities mainly to reduce energy expenditure. Interestingly, at least 12% of the respondents adopt these activities out of concern for the environment and future generations, which is encouraging. The multivariate probit regression result shows that households’ educational status, income or occupational status, access to credit, and age are significant determinants of households’ investment in energy-efficient technologies. The results illustrate there is a need for policies that incentivize or promote firms to sell energy-efficient products, for example, using installment (credit) and also a policy on the language of product specifications–using local language

Behavioral and socio-economic determinants of urban households’ investment in energy efficient technologies: evidence from Ethiopia

Wide uses of energy-efficient technologies have the potential to save a significant amount of electricity, which may allow deferral of construction of new power plants. However, in low-income countries, there is low use of energy-efficient technologies. This paper studies the behavioral and socio-economic determinants of urban households’ investment in energy efficiency improvements in Ethiopia. It considers multiple technologies and uses a multivariate probit model to take into account the sequential or simultaneous adoption of energy-efficient technologies. Using a random sample of 1,400 urban households from nine regions in Ethiopia, the study finds that most households (86%) adopt energy-efficient technologies and other energy conservation activities mainly to reduce energy expenditure. Interestingly, at least 12% of the respondents adopt these activities out of concern for the environment and future generations, which is encouraging. The multivariate probit regression result shows that households’ educational status, income or occupational status, access to credit, and age are significant determinants of households’ investment in energy-efficient technologies. The results illustrate there is a need for policies that incentivize or promote firms to sell energy-efficient products, for example, using installment (credit) and also a policy on the language of product specifications–using local language

Insights into Scotland's climate and energy policies from energy systems modelling

Energy system models are powerful tools for examining the dynamics of a transition to a sustainable energy system. Here, we report the first application of a two-region version of the UK MARKAL energy system model that explicitly represents Scotland and the rest of the UK as distinct regions. We use this model to examine the implications of Scotland’s carbon and renewable energy targets, in the context of the targets legislated for the UK as a whole

Assessment of Impacts of Climate Change on Hydropower-Dominated Power System—The Case of Ethiopia

The Ethiopia energy mix is dominated by hydro-generation, which is largely reliant on water resources and their availability. This article aims to examine the impacts of severe drought on electric power generation by developing a Drought Scenario. OSeMOSYS (an open source energy modelling tool) was used to perform the analyses. The results were then compared with an existing reference scenario called “New Policy Scenario”. The study looked at how power generation and CO2 emissions would be altered in the future if reservoir capacity was halved due to drought. Taking this into account, the renewable energy share decreased from its 90% in 2050 to 81% in 2065, which had been 98% to 89% in the case of New Policy Scenario. In another case, CO2 emissions also increased from 0.42 Mt CO2 in 2015 to 7.3 Mt CO2 in 2065, a 3.3 Mt CO2 increase as compared to the New Scenario. The results showed how a prolonged period of drought would reduce the river flows and lead to an energy transition that may necessitate the installation of other concurrent alternative power plants. The study suggested ways to approach energy mix, particularly for countries with hydro-dominated power generation and those experiencing drought

Achieving near-zero carbon dioxide emissions from energy use: The case of Sri Lanka

Signatories to the Paris Agreement are to achieve net zero Green House Gas (GHG) emissions during the half-century to pursue the efforts limiting global average temperature increase by 2 °C compared to pre-industrial levels. This study models ambitious to challenging scenarios involving energy demand and supply side actions for energy system transition toward net-zero for Sri Lanka. To analyze these scenarios a least cost optimization-based bottom-up type energy system model was developed from 2015 to 2050. A Business-as-usual (BAU) scenario and four countermeasure (CM) scenarios termed Plausible, Ambitious, Challenging, and Stringent were developed. Four different carbon tax rates were used to fathom the level of carbon tax needed to achieve net-zero emissions. The CM scenarios were formulated considering different technology options and policy measures such as the diffusion of efficient technologies, availability of renewable energy sources, use of cleaner fuels, the introduction of nuclear and carbon capture and storage technologies, and green hydrogen for power generation. The result of this study reveals that the stringent scenario which includes aggressive policy measures in both the energy supply and demand sectors, such as nuclear, and renewable energy for power generation, diffusion of efficient Enduse devices, fuel switching, including the introduction of electric cars, and increased share for public transport achieves the near carbon-neutral scenario at a carbon tax trajectory of 32 US$/tCO2 in 2020 and 562US$/tCO2 in 2050. The Net Energy Import Dependency (NEID) of the country decreases to 13 % in 2050 compared to that of the BAU scenario (65 %) under the near carbon neutral scenario, which is a positive sign from the energy security perspective

How can accelerated development of bioenergy contribute to the future UK energy mix? Insights from a MARKAL modelling exercise

Background: this work explores the potential contribution of bioenergy technologies to 60% and 80% carbon reductions in the UK energy system by 2050, by outlining the potential for accelerated technological development of bioenergy chains. The investigation was based on insights from MARKAL modelling, detailed literature reviews and expert consultations. Due to the number and complexity of bioenergy pathways and technologies in the model, three chains and two underpinning technologies were selected for detailed investigation: (1) lignocellulosic hydrolysis for the production of bioethanol, (2) gasification technologies for heat and power, (3) fast pyrolysis of biomass for bio-oil production, (4) biotechnological advances for second generation bioenergy crops, and (5) the development of agro-machinery for growing and harvesting bioenergy crops. Detailed literature searches and expert consultations (looking inter alia at research and development needs and economic projections) led to the development of an 'accelerated' dataset of modelling parameters for each of the selected bioenergy pathways, which were included in five different scenario runs with UK-MARKAL (MED). The results of the 'accelerated runs' were compared with a low-carbon (LC-Core) scenario, which assesses the cheapest way to decarbonise the energy sector.Results: bioenergy was deployed in larger quantities in the bioenergy accelerated technological development scenario compared with the LC-Core scenario. In the electricity sector, solid biomass was highly utilised for energy crop gasification, displacing some deployment of wind power, and nuclear and marine to a lesser extent. Solid biomass was also deployed for heat in the residential sector from 2040 in much higher quantities in the bioenergy accelerated technological development scenario compared with LC-Core. Although lignocellulosic ethanol increased, overall ethanol decreased in the transport sector in the bioenergy accelerated technological development scenario due to a reduction in ethanol produced from wheat.Conclusion: there is much potential for future deployment of bioenergy technologies to decarbonise the energy sector. However, future deployment is dependent on many different factors including investment and efforts towards research and development needs, carbon reduction targets and the ability to compete with other low carbon technologies as they become deployed. All bioenergy technologies should become increasingly more economically competitive with fossil-based technologies as feedstock costs and flexibility are reduced in line with technological advance

Railway projects prioritisation for investment : application of goal programming

This research develops a weighted integer goal-programming model for prioritising railway projects for investment. The goal of the model is to prioritise the identified projects for investment while maximising the objectives and meeting the budget limit for capital investment. The model minimises the goal deviations of the objectives. The objectives of the model include quantitative and qualitative attributes. The model is applied to prioritise the new railway projects, which have a total cost of Euro 2 billion for capital investment, identified and analysed by Department of Transport, Ireland. Even though the objective is maximising all the attributes, the investment decision is subject to financial availability. The study recommends investment options at different capital investment levels when the decision is made on the basis of economic benefits, revenue or qualitative goal scores.Not applicabl

Railway projects prioritisation for investment: Application of goal programming

This research develops a weighted integer goal-programming model for prioritising railway projects for investment. The goal of the model is to prioritise the identified projects for investment while maximising the objectives and meeting the budget limit for capital investment. The model minimises the goal deviations of the objectives. The objectives of the model include quantitative and qualitative attributes. The model is applied to prioritise the new railway projects, which have a total cost of Euro 2 billion for capital investment, identified and analysed by Department of Transport, Ireland. Even though the objective is maximising all the attributes, the investment decision is subject to financial availability. The study recommends investment options at different capital investment levels when the decision is made on the basis of economic benefits, revenue or qualitative goal scores.