Water-Energy-Food nexus interactions assessment: Renewable energy sources to support water access and quality in West Africa

The present Technical Report examines the potential synergies between energy, water and agricultural production in Africa. It aims to highlight strategies that address important challenges in an integrated manner. In this regard, the deployment of clean energy sources through the utilization of indigenous African renewable sources aims to provide the required energy to extract, process and convey water resources that will eventually support agricultural activities and food production.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Status Report 2006

The European Union is implementing challenging commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8% in accord with the Kyoto protocol, and has established ambitious targets for renewable energies and energy end-use efficiency in its White Paper: Energy for the Future: Renewable Sources of Energy. In the past decade, renewable energy technologies have made significant progress in terms of performance, cost and reliability, thanks to vigorous research, development, demonstration and market introduction programmes at European, national and also regional level. Developments primarily rooted in environmental concerns are now penetrating all societal decision making and have led to a new, dynamic, and exponentially growing industry. Three major drivers are determining today’s socio-economic framework for the impressive renewables’ industrial and market developments. First, successful application of legally binding feed-in tariffs; secondly, liberalisation of the electricity market, and thus new possibilities for decentralisation of power generation. Third, and in the medium term, there is the undisputed need for massive re-powering the larger part of Europe’s generation capacity. This will incur generally higher electricity costs, which reflect somewhat better the real costs (incl. externalities) of all the different energy technologies. Thus a more favourable market situation for sustainable technology choices will evolve, e.g. for massive renewable power generation. While technology development has been a key driver in the progress of renewables, first examples of significant penetration would have been impossible without appropriate, supporting policies including instruments such as introduction targets, carbon taxes, elimination of non-technical barriers, internalisation of external costs of energy, and harmonisation of market rules. The efficient end-use of energy is a parallel area where modern technology, policies, better public conscience of the issues and market forces, like the utilities’ interest to exploit the potentials for avoidance of new transmission and generation capacity, have combined to achieve significant results. New integrated marketing concepts, like energy service companies, have been very successful lately, and organisationally break ground for the implementation of sharper physical efficiency concepts as well. This is of particular strategic importance for the New Member States of the EU, as the use of energy, including electricity, in these countries is still significantly less efficient than in the old Member States. The aim of this Status Report is to provide relevant, validated and independent information on renewable energy and the efficient end-use of electricity to decision makers and the public.JRC.H.8-Renewable energie

Position Paper on Water, Energy, Food and Ecosystem (WEFE) Nexus and Sustainable development Goals (SDGs)

The EU and the international community is realising that the Water, Energy, Food and Ecosystem components are interlinked and require a joint planning in order to meet the daunting global challenges related to Water, Energy and Food security and maintaining the ecosystem health and in this way, reach the SDGs. If not dealt with, the world will not be able to meet the demand for water, energy and food in a not too far future and, in any case, in a not sustainable way. The strain on the ecosystems resulting from unsustainable single-sector planning will lead to increasing poverty, inequality and instability. The Nexus approach is fully aligned with and supportive of the EU Consensus on Development. Key elements of the Consensus will require collaborative efforts across sectors in ways that can be supported/implemented by a Nexus approach. In this way, transparent and accountable decision-making, involving the civil society is key and common to the European Consensus on Development and the Nexus approach. The Nexus approach will support the implementation of the SDG in particular SDG 2 (Food), SDG 6 (Water) and SDG 7 (Energy), but most SDGs have elements that link to food, water and energy in one or other way, and will benefit from a Nexus approach. The SDGs are designed to be cross-cutting and be implemented together, which is also reflected in a WEFE Nexus approach. A Nexus approach offers a sustainable way of addressing the effects of Climate Change and increase resilience. The WEFE Nexus has in it the main drivers of climate change (water, energy and food security) and the main affected sectors (water and the environment). Decisions around policy, infrastructure, … developed based on the WEFE Nexus assessments will be suitable as elements of climate change mitigation and adaptation. In fact, it is difficult to imagine solutions to the climate change issue that are not built on a form of Nexus approach. The Nexus approach is being implemented around the world, as examples in the literature demonstrate. These examples together with more examples from EU and member state development cooperation will help build experience that can be consolidated and become an important contribution to a Toolkit for WEFE Nexus Implementation. From the expert discussions, it appears that because of the novelty of the approach, a Toolkit will be an important element in getting the Nexus approach widely used. This should build on experiences from practical examples of NEXUS projects or similar inter-sectorial collaboration projects; and, there are already policy, regulation and practical experience to allow institutions and countries to start applying the Nexus concept.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Renewable Energy Regulated Purchase Tariff: a New Financial Scheme for the Promotion of Renewable Energies in Developing Countries

The main aim of this policy-support document is to attract policy-makers attention in renewable energies deployment, offering to energy and development stakeholders an alternative subsidy-scheme to support electrification in a village-scale mini-grid based on the good performance of the renewable electricity generation. Market support mechanisms are required to stimulate the deployment of most renewable energy technologies becoming already competitive with existing energy technology options for off-grid areas. Historically the promotion of renewable energy technologies (RET) in isolated areas has involved international donors or government subsidising the initial capacity investment. Instead, in Europe the renewable electricity generation support scheme, the Feed-in Tariff (FiT), has been a successful financial mechanism to increase the deployment of renewables in the country's electricity grid. The basis of the FiT mechanism involve the obligation on the part of an electricity utility to purchase electricity generated by renewable energy producers at a tariff determined by public authorities and guaranteed for a specific period. This study provides the first comprehensive evaluation of a locally-adapted variation of the FiT scheme, the Renewable Energy Regulated Purchase Tariff (RPT) that pays for renewable electricity generated, to encourage the production of renewable electricity in mini-grids in Developing Countries. The proposed financing scheme is a cost-effective mechanism designed and evaluated to achieve different purposes such as to provide sustainable and affordable electricity to local users from remote areas in developing countries, to make renewable energy projects attractive to policy-makers. Although capital costs of renewable energy projects are much higher than a conventional genset, the fact to have low operation and maintenance costs together with the support of the RPT financial scheme, helps to offset the large capital costs associated with RET. The determination of an optimal set-up of the business model among various conditions plays an important role in the implementation of the RPT financial mechanism. In order to identify under which renewable electricity purchase values make the renewable energy mini-grid most financially viable, a cost¿benefit analysis is carried out calculating the net present value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for each of the renewable electricity purchase values (¿RPT from 0.1 ¿/kWh to 0.6¿/kWh), using the cost and revenue streams over a 20-year period. The cost¿benefit analysis determines the minimum renewable electricity purchase values that make the project financially viable (an NPV above zero). However, higher renewable electricity purchase values are generally more viable, delivering the best value for money over the period.JRC.F.8-Renewable energies (Ispra

A New Tailored Scheme for the Support of Renewable Energies in Developing Countries

Historically the promotion of renewable energy technologies in isolated areas has involved international donors or governments subsidising the initial capital investment. This paper proposes an alternative support mechanism for remote villages based on the generation of renewable electricity. This communication presents an evaluation of the Renewable Energy Premium Tariff (RPT) scheme, a locally-adapted variation of the Feed-in tariff tailored for decentralized grids of developing countries. The scheme stimulates the deployment of renewable energy technologies by paying for renewable electricity generated. A good-quality performance is secured since the support is given based on the electricity produced by renewables not for the initial capital investment. The mechanism has been designed to provide a cost-effective scheme for the introduction of renewable energy technologies to remote villages, to provide sustainable and affordable electricity to local users, to make renewable energy projects attractive to policy-makers, and concurrently decrease financial risk to attract private sector investment.JRC.F.8-Renewable Energy (Ispra

Off-Grid Photovoltaic Technologies in the Solar Belt: Finance Mechanisms and Incentives

Access to modern energy is a social and economic priority to rural population and policy-makers because of its direct socio economic and environmental benefits, as well as the indirect benefits of energy as an important input factor to growth and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this sense, renewable technologies offer the option to provide access to sustainable energy services and foster economic development. However, there are many barriers to the widespread diffusion of renewable energy technologies in the rural environment. One of the main barriers is financial, as many rural families have little expendable capital and lack access to credit on one hand and entrepreneurs face challenges due to the small size and risky nature of the projects arising from their remoteness, limited demand and poor consumer base on the other. Therefore, schemes for financing off-grid electrification are just as important as technological innovations. This chapter reviews existing support mechanisms and incentives for off-grid photovoltaic (PV) deployment in developing countries, particularly combining market, energy use, and socio-economic elements. Additionally, it analyses the progress and adaptation of the support mechanisms depending on the degree of failure in the past, and suggest new solutions for promoting sustainable energy options for remote rural areas in developing countries. We must note that the schemes reviewed can be used to finance also other forms of renewable energy, as all renewable energy suffer from similar barriers – high initial cost and low operational cost in an environment where long term credit is difficult to acquire. PV projects are the focus of this chapter because there is more data about off-grid PV projects in developing countries than any other type of renewable energy technology. To this end, we acknowledge the extensive work of the wider energy research community represented in this chapter; in particular the Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE), the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN 21), Grameen Shakti, International Solar Energy Society (ISES), Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) of the World Bank, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), United Nations-General’s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change (UN-AGEC), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Energy for Sustainable Development (ESD), International Energy Agency (IEA), ENERGIA, Fundacion Bariloche, Climate Action, TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi) and DB Climate Change advisors.JRC.F.7-Renewables and Energy Efficienc

Africa Energy Snapshot in the foresight of the 5th EU-Africa Summit

In the vast continent with abundant indigenous energy sources and rapidly growing population, access to sustainable and affordable energy remains a challenge in Africa. Nearly 70% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) does not have access to electricity – approximately 621 million people. As far as clean technologies for cooking are concerned, the World Bank data show only a modest increase from 12.9% in 2000 to just 14.6% in 2014. Access rates vary geographically: While almost 100% of the citizens in North African countries enjoy access to electricity, the rate is only 23% in East Africa and 25% in Central Africa. Even where access to electrical grid is available, the service is often poor and unreliable. In the rural-urban division the figures are even more striking: 71% of the urban population have access compared to 28% of the rural population in SSA.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Barriers to large-scale solar power in Tanzania

The Tanzanian official power system expansion plan shows a dominant dependence on fossil fuel-fired power plants till 2040. Hence identifying and analysing the underlying barriers for the deployment of large-scale renewables are essential. This study investigates the barriers to large-scale solar power in Tanzania. Key institutional, financial, and technological barriers are identified at different levels. The study uses a qualitative methodology where primary data is collected through 30 semi-structured interviews with experts representing the main electricity sector's stakeholders from public institutions, research institutions, private investors, civil society organizations, development partners, and financial institutions. A stakeholder-based approach which emphasizes the different perceptions of the stakeholder's groups is used to identify the barriers. Institutional barriers for the diffusion of large-scale solar power technologies are found to be predominant, and they often trigger financial and technological barriers. The study consolidates the view that foreign investment and aid directed to expand electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa need to be reshaped in order to be a driving force towards sustainable energy transition in the region. The study argues for the possibility to work on the compatible interests between the pro-renewables development partners and the Tanzanian government (which considers expanding electrification as a political priority) through introducing large-scale solar power projects that help in expanding electrification while being technically and financially supported by the development partners.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Cover: Next generation interactive tool as a backbone for universal access to electricity

Energy planning in rural areas and in developing countries most often relies on the outputs of specialized analytical tools, of which only a handful have been developed. Over the years these tools have been upgraded, and the newest among them take into consideration, to a greater or lesser extent, all key determinants of energy generation and distribution. This article focuses on a “pool” of web-based geo-referencing open-source tools and highlights the extent to which each analytical tool reflects the particularities of the various determinants of energy generation and distribution. In doing so, the present work identifies aspects of the tools that need to be strengthened. Building on this information, the article further maps the suitability of each tool with regard to calculating (at a local level) the six Sustainable Development Goal indicators that are closely related to energy. This makes it possible to draw conclusions about monitoring needs in study-areas. Bringing together these two sets of findings, the article concludes with a research agenda for analytical tool development in the area of energy planning, which spills over developmental agendas.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Decentralized rural electrification in Kenya: Speeding up universal energy access

This paper undertakes a comprehensive spatial mapping of the existing energy infrastructure in Kenya. With the perspective of the current energy status and local resources, the study develops a rural electrification spatial model for Kenya (RE_RU_KE tool) to identify optimal strategies for the different locations. The model considers the potential of conventional approaches (diesel gensets), clean technologies (solar, wind, hydro mini-grids), hybrid systems and the option of central grid extension to electrify remote areas in Kenya at the lowest possible cost. The model output is contrasted to the national Rural Electrification Master Plan (REM) of Kenya. While both the REM and RE_RU_KE tool target the off-grid rural electrification options, their methodological approaches are intrinsically different. The comparison between both results aims to enable valuable synergies and highlight the potential complementarities that can create added value for stakeholders involved in rural electrification planning. In particular, RE_RU_KE model output highlights the substantial role that renewable energy systems can play in decentralized generation providing universal energy access to rural households at a competitive cost.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable