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Abstract African countries are in a unique position to reap the socio-economic and environmental benefits of renewable resources as a means for meeting increasing energy demand in a sustainable way. A critical obstacle for the deployment of renewable energy technologies in Africa is the difficulty of attracting sufficient and affordable finance. This paper compares the impact of financial conditions on the cost of electricity generation across six renewable and three fossil-based technologies in 46 African countries. The results show large cost variations and highlight the extent to which renewables are disadvantaged by current financial practices. The energy-economy-environment model TIAM-ECN is used to show how lowering financing costs results in a much higher deployment of renewables. For example, solar PV could account for 10–15% of total electricity generation by 2050, even without explicit climate policy, thanks to financial de-risking programmes. The results demonstrate that changes in financing schemes could outweigh the impact of technology learning. This paper also demonstrates that, once ambitious climate policies are in place, reducing financing costs for renewables could be an efficient way to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Financial de-risking is thus a key ingredient for unlocking the renewable energy potential in Africa. Highlights • We show how renewables are disadvantaged by today's financial practices in Africa. • We show how lower financing costs result in a higher deployment of renewables. • PV can account for 10–15% of electricity generation by 2050 without climate policy. • Changes in financing schemes could outweigh the impact of technology learning. • Financial de-risking is key for unlocking the renewable energy potential in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy sector is undergoing substantial changes in order to promote better efficiency, increase the use of renewable energy, reduce emissions and effectively deploy technologies to trade off costs and benefits One emerging solution is the application of the Power-to-Gas technology, which can be used for different purposes. In recent years, Power-to-Gas has been studied to understand the role it could play in the electrical system. This paper has the aims of analysing the existing literature about the Power-to-Gas technology in detail, by considering some solutions that have a direct impact on the electrical system (in particular electrolyser and CO 2 production) and applications in the different sectors of the electricity value chain (i.e., generation, transmission, distribution and utilisation). This paper sets out the conceptual aspects that are necessary to include Power-to-Gas facilities in a more comprehensive analysis framework of the operation of the electrical system in various sectors. Some perspectives concerning new Power-to-Gas applications are also presented for each sector, and some promising aspects that are expected to play a relevant role in the future technical and economic evolution of electrical systems are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multi-objective model for expansion with a high share of renewable energy. The model considers three objective functions (minimizing the total cost, maximizing generation at the peak load, and maximizing the contribution of non-hydro renewable sources). The model was then applied to the Brazilian case, using the new government targets for renewable energy. The introduction of the objectives regarding peak load and non-hydro renewable generation lead to an increase of solar power generation. In many studies about Brazil, solar power was not considered, or its participation was negligible, but in this paper the results show solar energy as the main non-hydro renewable source in 2030, due to its capacity to meet the peak demand, since its daily curve coincides with the peak load period. In this study, it was possible to meet 90% of the annual load with renewable sources (with 23% being ensured by non-hydro) and the solar power increased from 21 MW to 40000 MW by 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature focused on the energy/electricity-growth nexus, highlighting how the focus has shifted from aggregated energy/electricity consumption towards specific energy sources. Moreover, it aims to shed light on the relationships between different energy/electricity sources and economic growth. Empirically, the paper focuses on the analysis of interactions between electricity generation in Spain under both the Special Regime ( SR ) and the Ordinary Regime ( OR ), and their relationship with economic activity. Data for Spain is studied for a time span from January 2003 to January 2016. The Toda-Yamamoto causality test is carried out to check for causality relationships. Additionally, both short- and long-run effects are assessed by using the ARDL bounds test approach. Overall, the results reveal high internal consistency when comparing the ARDL results with the causality analysis. The substitution effect was detected between OR and SR. However, the negative effect of the SR on economic activity deserves special attention by energy policymakers. This paper argues that the main challenge of renewable sources for policymakers is their cost-effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India with a fast growing demand for electricity and increasing consideration to emissions reduction is investing strongly in renewable electricity generation. Among renewables, the Central and State Governments have set aspirational targets for on-grid solar electricity and legislated several supporting policies to realise these targets. As a result of the favourable political environment, the development of on-grid solar, in terms of the rate of growth in installed capacity, has been increasing in the recent years, and it is expected to continue in the future. This paper aims to investigate the impact of historical transitions of India's electricity sector on the ongoing development of on-grid solar electricity and to explore the prospect of solar sector development in the future. First of all, we investigate how the historical transformation of governmental intervention's approach intertwined with the gradual shift of the source of generation has paved the way for the current achievements in on-grid solar electricity. Second, we envision the future challenges and opportunities for the development of solar sector by looking ahead and discussing the continuity of government's support and the prospective competitions between different sources. We conclude the paper with some required steps to be taken in order to secure the achievement of the targets in solar electricity in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia's framework for energy development was established in the early 1970s. Henceforth, many successive policies were introduced as potential resources for electricity generation and utilization. Currently, as a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Malaysia is sparing a number of effort to comply with the policy to meet the challenges of mitigating over-dependence on fossil fuels, reducing carbon levels, and achieving sustainable national development. This paper reviews the baseline studies on electrical energy policies and the measurement indicators used in Malaysia's electric power system. This research involves a comprehensive survey of electrical energy policies in Malaysia that focus on issues pertaining to energy supply, utilization, its environmental impact and considerations, renewable energy (RE) policies, production and consumption, energy efficiency, and feed-in tariffs. Fourteen energy indicators for sustainable development in Malaysia were investigated through the identification of energy policies in significant areas, such as reliability, safety, adequacy and cost-effectiveness of energy supply; increasing energy efficiency; minimizing environmental impact; and enhancing quality of life in terms of social well-being. The policies and the indicators are classified into different sustainable dimensions and summarized in tables along with the corresponding key references. In this study, future energy planning and options, especially in nuclear and RE programs, as well as the conflict between them, are illustrated through the overall performance relative to targets and benchmarks for past and future projections up to the year 2030. This review seeks to examine the past, present, and future policies and indicators to provide a sufficient overview of Malaysian energy policies for optimizing sustainable development. The goal is for this review to lead to increased efforts to accommodate the increasing demand for the management and utilization of RE, promote energy efficiency, and improve performance in achieving sustainable national development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent climate change agreement in Paris highlights the imperative to aggressively decarbonize the energy economy and develop new technologies, especially for the generation of electrical energy that are environmentally clean. This challenge can only be addressed by a multi-pronged approach to research and education of the next generation of scientists and engineers as well as informed public discourse. Consequently this requires the introduction of new and comprehensive education programs on sustainable energy technologies for universities and, possibly, high schools. Among others, the new programs should provide in-depth knowledge in the development of new materials for more efficient energy conversion systems and devices. The enhanced level of education is also needed for properly assessing the competing technologies in terms of their economic and social benefits. The increasing recognition of the significance of clean and efficient energy conversion indicates the need for a comprehensive education program to be developed. The purpose of the present work is to consider the structure of both an education program and the related textbook where the energy-related fundamental and applied subjects are presented in a concentrated and uniform manner. Such a textbook could be an education aid for students of energy-related courses as well as the teachers involved in the formulation of the education programs. The textbook, which should be dedicated mainly for students at the undergraduate levels at universities, and possibly high schools, should include in-depth interdisciplinary sections dedicated to energy experts and graduate students. This paper considers the present international efforts in reducing the impact of climate change and the need to develop new technologies for clean energy generation. It is argued that progress in this area requires recognition of hydrogen as the main energy carrier of the future. This work also delineates the goals of the Sustainable Energy Network, SEN, involved in the UN program of Future Earth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing trend in the consumption of various materials has also led to a huge increase in the final waste streams especially in the form of municipal solid waste (MSW) and the consequent environmental pollutions in particular greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These have made MSW management a significant environmental issue for governments and policy-makers. To address these challenges, developed countries have implemented sustainable material management (SMM) strategies which have been comprehensively reviewed herein. Moreover, waste generation statistics reported for most of the developed and developing countries as well as the existing gaps in MSW management among these countries have been fully discussed. The present paper was also aimed at comprehensively assessing electricity generation potentials from MSW using an integrated solid waste management system (including three different technologies of anaerobic digestion (AD), incineration, and pyrolysis-gasification) while the consequent GHG emission reduction potentials as a result of their implementation were also explored. To facilitate the understanding of the potential impacts of these treatment strategies, Iran's data were used as a case study. More specifically, the theoretical and technical potentials of electricity generation were calculated and the GHG emission reduction potentials were estimated using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. Overall, it was found that 5005.4–5545.8 GW h of electricity could be generated from MSW in Iran annually which could lead to approximately 3561–4844 thousand tons of avoided CO 2 eq. Such GHG reductions would be translated into approximately 0.5% of Iran's annual GHG emissions and would be considered a promising achievement given Iran's international GHGs reduction commitment, i.e., 4% reduction of anthropogenic GHGs emissions by 2030 below the business as usual scenario. Such findings could also be modeled for the other developing countries around the world where efficient MSW management is yet to be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper discusses the need of renewable energy sources. A case study has been carried out to study the technical state of art, reasons for the plant becoming non-operative, revival opportunities with justification and finally comes out with recommendations to revive on the basis of comprehensive survey conducted in the village. The case study is carried out at Nayakana Hulikatti village in Dharwad district that was developed by IEI (International Energy Initiative) in 1995–96 in co-ordination with rotary club and the plant was functional for few years. The paper also highlights the need of educating consumers to involve in power generation using locally available renewable resources for their power requirement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Since the global warming and climate change are recognized as real concerns, attention of power system planners and operators, energy policy makers and regulators as well as developers around the world including Australia is focused on using alternative and low emission energy technologies for electric power production. Renewable energy and energy efficient technologies have many advantages including reducing climate change, increasing sustainability in power sector, and increasing security of power supply. This paper presents an overview on both current electricity grid and future grid. Experts believe that in future more distributed generation (DG) will be integrated into the low to medium electricity grid. This paper will also review the key drivers in relation to integration of increased DG technologies in general and the renewable energy-distributed generation (RE-DG) technologies in particular, into the electric power system and the opportunities and challenges linked to these technologies. This paper also reviews possible connection location of RE-DG into the grid and its impact on system voltage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Producing energy from renewable sources in Serbia is in its initial phase, and therefore this paper points towards the basic assumptions, potentials and institutional framework for the development of this activity in Serbia. Until recently, production and consumption of energy in Serbia was a social category, but the shift towards market economy together with the fact that Serbia has adopted Kyoto protocol, production of energy from renewable sources became a competitive and obligatory activity. Research shows that the current potentials for producing energy from renewable sources in Serbia are favorable. Besides this, the paper provides an overview of the existing institutional structure in the energy sector in Serbia, but also the short overview of the adequate legal acts. Researches that were done so far have proven that energy potentials of Serbia are insufficiently known and therefore authors will give an overview of the foreign investments in this sector and reveal the possibilities for further investing. Considering the existing know-how base and potentials for the production of equipment, geothermal energy and energy coming from biomass have been identified as priority renewable sources of energy. Producing energy from other renewable sources is also possible, but would require substantial foreign investments. As a final conclusion, the paper states that completely unused potentials for production of energy from renewable sources, together with adequately set institutional framework, would create great possibilities for foreign investments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Croatia has enormous renewable energy potential, particularly solar, but it is underperforming with regard to its use both for electricity production and heating. Paper focuses on the reasons therefor by analyzing the policy with regard to environment, subsidies, the role of international financial institutions, monopoly dimension of power utility companies, as well as social dimension. The author presents proposals for changing the status quo in order for Croatia to catch up with regard to securing reasonable solar and other renewable energy share in its energy supply. Apart from the state as regulator which has various instruments at its disposal to implement thoroughly the renewable energy use, local authorities should assume central role and responsibility for solarizing their territories and generating the energy locally from other renewable energy sources available on their territory. Municipal utility companies would thus add electricity production to their regular activities and could provide installation and maintenance services for individual energy generating systems within the territory of their competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy can play a strategic role in India in meeting the country’s growing energy demands, as well as combating climate change. Policymakers have recognized this potential and over the last decade have intensified their efforts towards creating a conducive regulatory and policy framework. Policy instruments such as renewable obligations, feed-in-tariffs and generation based incentives have specially aided the transformation towards large scale generation, enabling higher efficiency and lower costs of generation. However, financing has emerged as a significant barrier for sustaining the momentum gained in recent years. Given this background this paper provides an overview on the evolution of large scale generation and the consequent changes in financing requirements. It further reviews the emerging trends and barriers in the financing landscape and analyses the impact of policy performance in this context. Finally, it considers the design of a national renewable finance framework complete with targeted finance push instruments that can complement existing demand pull policies in facilitating investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the level of awareness and prevailing attitudes of the Oman government’s electrical sectors towards renewable energy. The geographical landscape of the Sultanate of Oman lends itself to energy generation from solar radiation, yet no decisive steps have been taken to initiate relevant projects that will reduce the country’s reliance on oil and gas in electricity production. This study is motivated by the need to better understand the obstacles that impede the implementation of renewable energy projects in Oman and the factors that cause delays in project initiation. To this end, we developed a questionnaire with sections intended for three government sectors: research groups, electrical companies and ministries, and regulatory bodies. Results indicate that ministries and regulatory bodies primarily support the increased exploitation of fossil fuels—a core reason for the slow adoption of renewable energy sources. Moreover, 82% of the respondents place priority on natural gas for use in power plants and more than 19% encourage the implementation of energy efficiency standards. All respondents consider renewable energy a viable future energy option and generally agree that the government should promote renewable energy and support relevant pilot projects. This study highlights the importance of immediately shifting to renewable energy and encouraging its development; a move necessary to alleviate the environmental risk posed by the use of fossil fuel-based energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents two different scenarios for the energy system of the Netherlands that achieve the Dutch government's national target of near net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in 2050. Using the system optimisation model OPERA, the authors have analysed the technology, sector and cost implications of the assumptions underlying these scenarios. While the roles of a number of key energy technology and emission mitigation options are strongly dependent on the scenario and cost assumptions, the analysis yields several common elements that appear in both scenarios and that consistently appear under differing cost assumptions. For example, one of the main options for the decarbonisation of the Dutch energy system is electrification of energy use in end-use sectors and for the production of renewable hydrogen with electrolysers. As a result the level of electricity generation in 2050 will be three to four times higher than present generation levels. Ultimately, renewable energy – particularly from wind turbines and solar panels – is projected to account for the vast majority of electricity generation, around 99% in 2050. Imbalances between supply and demand resulting from this variable renewable electricity production can be managed via flexibility options, including demand response and energy storage. Hydrogen also becomes an important energy carrier, notably for transportation and in industry. If import prices are lower than costs of domestic production from natural gas with CCS or through electrolysis from renewable electricity (2.4–2.7 €/kgH 2), the use of hydrogen increases, especially in the built environment. • We explore two scenarios for a near climate-neutral energy system in the Netherlands. • With the OPERA model we determine their technology, sector and cost implications. • The electricity share in primary energy increases from 19% today to 41–71% in 2050. • Hydrogen becomes another important energy carrier, notably in transport and industry. • Biomass use increases, mostly as fuel in transport and industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents two different scenarios for the energy system of the Netherlands that achieve the Dutch government's national target of near net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in 2050. Using the system optimisation model OPERA, the authors have analysed the technology, sector and cost implications of the assumptions underlying these scenarios. While the roles of a number of key energy technology and emission mitigation options are strongly dependent on the scenario and cost assumptions, the analysis yields several common elements that appear in both scenarios and that consistently appear under differing cost assumptions. For example, one of the main options for the decarbonisation of the Dutch energy system is electrification of energy use in end-use sectors and for the production of renewable hydrogen with electrolysers. As a result the level of electricity generation in 2050 will be three to four times higher than present generation levels. Ultimately, renewable energy – particularly from wind turbines and solar panels – is projected to account for the vast majority of electricity generation, around 99% in 2050. Imbalances between supply and demand resulting from this variable renewable electricity production can be managed via flexibility options, including demand response and energy storage. Hydrogen also becomes an important energy carrier, notably for transportation and in industry. If import prices are lower than costs of domestic production from natural gas with CCS or through electrolysis from renewable electricity (2.4–2.7 €/kgH 2), the use of hydrogen increases, especially in the built environment. • We explore two scenarios for a near climate-neutral energy system in the Netherlands. • With the OPERA model we determine their technology, sector and cost implications. • The electricity share in primary energy increases from 19% today to 41–71% in 2050. • Hydrogen becomes another important energy carrier, notably in transport and industry. • Biomass use increases, mostly as fuel in transport and industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper reviews the production and consumption of traditional and renewable energy in Spain over the past two decades. It also presents an overview on the development of renewable energy, such as solar (photovoltaic and photothermal), wind, biomass, hydropower, marine and geothermal energies in Spain. A brief overview of the legislation regulating renewable energy in Spain is offered. It was shown that the installed renewable energy of 32,472MW represented 11.6% of the country׳s primary energy consumption. Furthermore, the installed renewable energy average of electric power in Spain was 0.7kW per capita and 59kW/km2. Wind energy continues to experience a good growth rate, and does not seem to be affected by regulations, which has made it the most sustainable renewable energy in Spain. Finally, an analysis of energy production and consumption, renewable and non-renewable energy by province is made. The data indicates that highly populated and industrialised provinces made more efficient use of their energy from an electrical consumption viewpoint. This uneven growth was not motivated solely by the existence or lack of renewable energy resources but by the autonomous community or province in their socio-economic context. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The present study is an archival-statistical overview of the possibility of renewable energy production in five South East Asian countries and their economic capacity. The five South East Asian countries under review are the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, all of which have a combined population of 420 million. This number is a little less than the population of 25 European countries. These five countries have created a large market in the world and have enjoyed significant economic growth in recent years. Tropical climate in the region facilitates the potential for using clean and green energies. This article clarifies the effective relation between energy capacities and economic indices in these countries and analyzes the results. Using a survey, the paper shows that despite the shortage of energy in these countries brought by their fast economic growth, the share of renewable energy in energy production is constantly declining and more reliance is still placed on fossil fuels for energy production. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This review paper presents an appraisal of renewable energy RE options in Egypt. An appraisal review of different REs is presented. The study shows that electric energy produced from REs in Egypt are very poor compared with other energy sources. The utilization of the renewable energies can also be a good opportunity to fight the desertification and dryness in Egypt which is about 60% of Egypt territory. The rapid growth of energy production and consumption is strongly affecting and being affected by the Egyptian economy in many aspects. It is evident that energy will continue to play an important role in the development of Egypt''s economy in coming years. The total installed electricity generating capacity had reached around 22025MW with a generating capacity reached 22605MW at the end of 2007. Hydropower and coal has no significant potential increase. During the period 1981/82–2004/05 electricity generation has increased by 500% from nearly 22TWh for the year 1981/1982 to 108.4TWh in the year 2004/2005 at an average annual growth rate of 6.9%. Consequently, oil and gas consumed by the electricity sector has jumped during the same period from around 3.7 MTOE to nearly 21 MTOE. The planned installed capacity for the year 2011/2012 is 28813MW and the required fuel (oil and gas) for the electricity sector is estimated to reach about 29 MTOE by the same year. The renewable energy strategy targets to supply 3% of the electricity production from renewable resources by the year 2010. Electrical Coverage Electrical energy has been provided for around 99.3% of Egypt''s population, representing a positive sign for the welfare of the Egyptian citizen due to electricity relation to all development components in all walks of life. The article discusses perspectives of wind energy in Egypt with projections to generate ∼ 3.5GWe by 2022, representing ∼9% of the total installed power at that time (40.2GW). Total renewables (hydro+wind+solar) are expected to provide ∼7.4GWe by 2022 representing ∼ 19% of the total installed power. Such a share would reduce dependence on depleting oil and gas resources, and hence improve country''s sustainable development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Over the last years renewable energy sources have increased their share on electricity generation of China due to environmental and security of supply concerns. In this work author assesses the role of both the amount and share of renewable energy consumption in economic welfare using Cobb–Douglas type production functions. This assessment is carried out by multivariate OLS and SPSS software for China from 1978 to 2008. Results indicate that a 1% increase in renewable energy consumption (REC) increases real GDP by 0.120%, GDP per capita by 0.162%, per capita annual income of rural households by 0.444%, and per capita annual income of urban households by 0.368% respectively; the impact of renewable energy consumption share (SREC) on economic welfare is insignificant, and an increasing share of REC negatively affects economic welfare growth to a certain extent. In this paper, the cost, structural demand, accounting mechanism and policy reasons of renewable energy development are interpreted. Marginal effects analysis show that the shape of sound and robust renewable energy institutions and policies would matter for increasing the standards of economic welfare in the context of speeding up renewable energy development and increasing share of renewable energy consumption, especially the goal-oriented policy refinement should be addressed efficiently in improvement households income while increasing share of renewable energy consumption. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to give insight into the goals, instruments and planned measures of the Serbian Government in the field of renewable energy sources (RES). The method is based on an overview and analysis of adopted laws and regulations and other official documents. The results have revealed that progress has been made in this field in recent years. Midterm targets for the proportion of energy from RES in overall energy consumption have been defined; feed-in-tariffs have been adopted; legislative and socio-economic barriers of increased exploitation of RES have been analyzed and measures and activities were suggested for their resolution. The existing RES-related legislation, however, is imprecise and incomplete. Numerous bylaws, technical standards and guidelines are still outstanding. The key RES-related documents are inconsistent, lack clarity and are insufficiently decisive when implementing specific measures of incentives for production of RES-based energy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents an assessment for the potential of renewable energy sources: solar, wind, ocean, biomass and hydroelectric for Brunei Darussalam. Long-term measured data of solar radiation, wind energy, ocean waves and rainfall have been used for this project. The assessment criteria for this project were to estimate the availability of renewables that could be harnessed. Despite the large potential for the development of renewables in Brunei Darussalam their exploitation remains insignificant. This study utilized renewable energy supply (RES) assessment software, HOMER (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, US) to compute the utilization of solar thermal energy for domestic and industrial water heating. The modelling results demonstrated that solar thermal energy can adequately and reliably meet the power demand for water heating in domestic as well as industrial applications and it can reduce by substantial amount of the non-renewable of energy consumption used for such applications. Monthly-mean-yearly-averaged amount of global, diffused and direct solar radiation are 18.90, 9.20 and 9.69MJm−2, respectively. The theoretical possible annual potential of wave, tidal and offshore wind power is 0.66GW, 335kW and 372MW, respectively. Our preliminary estimates on biomass demonstrate that Brunei Darussalam has a potential to generate 13×105 kWh/year. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper aims to present a review on Malaysia''s national energy developments by looking at various angles in terms of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Energy demand and consumption by sectors are presented as well as the fuel mix in electricity generation. Key energy policies implemented from the incorporation of Malaysia''s national oil company, Petronas in 1974 until the National Green Technology Policy 2009 and a future policy will be addressed. The roles of key players as well as important agencies in energy development are briefly presented. Key programmes in energy development such as Malaysian Industrial Energy Efficiency Improvement Project, Small Renewable Energy Power Programme and Building Energy Efficiency Programme are discussed as well as successful initiatives from the programmes. Malaysia''s international involvements towards reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon emissions especially Montreal Protocol and Kyoto Protocol are highlighted. As a conclusion, Malaysia is aware of its role in formulating its national energy development policies, sensitive towards the country''s development towards the environment and utilization of energy resources as well as conscientious and responsive towards the call for sustainable development in promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Global warming, increased energy demand, and tremendous air pollution are forcing China to revise its energy structure of electricity generation dominated by coal (80% of total electricity) towards low-carbon electricity. Vigorous development of carbon-free energy resources of electricity is a practical way towards low-carbon electricity in China. In this paper, we shall outline renewable power generation (hydropower, wind power, solar energy, biomass energy, nuclear power, ocean energy and geothermal) together with nuclear power for China, present a reserves assessment, the current status, and barriers for further development, and finish with an outlook towards the future. In our view, China has plenty of free-carbon energy resources to revolutionize its electricity structure and redirect it towards low-carbon electricity systems. Needed are the effective energy policies to get to the way. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The energy consumed in Ireland is primarily achieved by the combustion of fossil fuels. Ireland''s only indigenous fossil fuel is peat; all other fossil fuels are imported. As fossil fuels continually become more expensive, their use as an energy source also has a negative impact on the environment. Ireland''s energy consumption can be separated into three divisions: transportation, electricity generation and heat energy. Ireland however has a vast range of high quality renewable energy resources. Ireland has set a target that 33% of its electricity will be generated from renewable sources by 2020 [I. Government. Delivering a Sustainable Energy Future for Ireland; 2007.]. The use of biomass, wind and ocean energy technologies is expected to play a major part in meeting this target. The use of renewable energy technologies will assist sustainable development as well as being a solution to several energy related environmental problems. This paper presents the current state of renewable energy technologies and potential resources available in Ireland. Considering Ireland''s present energy state, a future energy mix is proposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Electricity generated from renewable sources, which has shown remarkable growth worldwide, can rarely provide immediate response to demand as these sources do not deliver a regular supply easily adjustable to consumption needs. Thus, the growth of this decentralized production means greater network load stability problems and requires energy storage, generally using lead batteries, as a potential solution. However, lead batteries cannot withstand high cycling rates, nor can they store large amounts of energy in a small volume. That is why other types of storage technologies are being developed and implemented. This has led to the emergence of storage as a crucial element in the management of energy from renewable sources, allowing energy to be released into the grid during peak hours when it is more valuable. The work described in this paper highlights the need to store energy in order to strengthen power networks and maintain load levels. There are various types of storage methods, some of which are already in use, while others are still in development. We have taken a look at the main characteristics of the different electricity storage techniques and their field of application (permanent or portable, long- or short-term storage, maximum power required, etc.). These characteristics will serve to make comparisons in order to determine the most appropriate technique for each type of application. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]