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Jurisdictions around the world are responding the to potential of smart grids in different ways. This paper employs a multi-level perspective approach to socio-technological transitions to examine why the Canadian province of Ontario has seen a relatively smooth transition of smart meter technologies from the niche to regime levels as compared with other Canadian provinces, and other jurisdictions in the United States, European Union, and Australia. The paper also examines the reasons for Ontario's advanced legislative and policy framework around Smart Grid development, relative to those of other provinces. The complex institutional landscape around electricity that has emerged in Ontario since the break-up of the province's monopoly utility Ontario Hydro in the late 1990s emerges as a significant factor in both outcomes. The role of the province's municipally-owned LDCs spell out "local distribution companies (LDCs) as the primary agents for smart meter deployment, as opposed to a dominant vertically integrated utility, appears to have had an important mediating effect on public opposition to smart meters. With respect to Smart Grid policy, the diversity of high capacity institutional actors that now define the province's electricity policy landscape has facilitated the emergence of several interagency policy development niches. In a manner consistent with the concept of technological niches in the socio-technical transitions literature, the interagency status of these policy niches has shielded them from the regime level selective pressures that would likely have existed in a more unified institutional structure, and empowered new policy ideas to move from the niche to regime levels. These outcomes have significant implications for the understanding of socio-technological transitions, particularly around the role of institutional complexity in the emergence of niches for technology and policy development purposes and in niche to regime level transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper analyses the reality of total renewable electricity scenario (TRES) from renewable energy sources (RES) as a totally green strategy of electric energy production. The paper is based on the EREC''s Agency forecast until the year 2040, which foresees the share of 82% of RES, extended to 100% of RES. The key element that creates conditions for achieving this ambitious scenario is an innovative combination of RES and pump storage hydroelectric (PSH) power plants, the so-called Concept-H, which can simultaneously use the energy of local RES (sun and wind) and local precipitation (natural waterflows) and in this way can provide continuous supply of electric power and energy to consumers. The methodology is based on the model of equivalent RES and equivalent reservoir that allows a comprehensive view of available RES and hydro system. The total required land use of RES system would be 29,517km2 of RES (which would amount to about 0.5% of the total technical potential of using RES), total reservoir volumes would be 880km3 (which is only 8% of all artificial reservoirs built in the world to the date) and the orientation estimate of investment in TRES would then be approximately 1% of world GDP in 2009, which clearly shows that the TRES is realistically feasible. It has been shown that implementation of the green strategy of energy balance fulfilling can be realized with present day technology. Precisely this fact shows that further increase of efficiency of RES and their combining into RES–PSH power plants, along with increase in the cost of classic power fuels and the growing needs for environment protection, the proposed solution of TRES realization could be widely important and thus become a serious alternative to the existing energy strategies and a guideline to decision makers throughout the world. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Limited fossil resources, the continuous increment in fuel prices and severe environmental problems require new sustainable electricity generation options, which utilize renewable energies. Solar photovoltaic generation is a proven renewable energy technology and has the potential to become cost-effective in the future, for it produces electricity from the solar radiation. In Ghana, the electricity demand is rapidly increasing at a rate of 10% annually. In the attempt to change the conventional energy intensive economical development and its negative impact on the environment, the government has begun to support the development of the solar photovoltaic technology strongly. In this paper, the state of solar photovoltaic, the challenges facing the industry, the potential of the technology, the policies and strategies to promote development of the technology have been presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper introduces a transparent methodology to assess new suitable locations for mini and small hydro power plants in Europe. The expansion of hydro electricity production is a policy focus not only in Europe, but in the US (Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013) and in the developing world as well. The analysis of the technical potential points out the exact geographical locations and their corresponding capacities instead of only a theoretical potential; therefore it can serve as a reference for the policy debate over the sustainable management of water resources. This debate is reflected already in two major European policies: the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC) and the RES Directive (2009/28/EC) on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. As both policies have major influence on the priorities of water use, it is important to identify water management practices capable of accommodating sustainable energy purposes while maintaining water quality objectives at the same time. As the WFD poses limitation on the further expansion of large scale hydro options in the European water bodies, the present study focuses on local mini and small hydropower options and their suitability mapping. The presented, geographically explicit method is based on geospatial analysis and the results can contribute to the prioritization of potential hydro power sites in order to improve water quality and its use for energy simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of the study was to present the current status of the electrical energy market, energy legislation, green house gas emissions, energy consumption trends and future prospects of sustainable development in Greece. The study described current issues relevant to the renewable energy sources (RES) such as the climatic factors that affect the penetration of RES into the Greek energy mix, the current regulation status, the barriers and evaluation of their contribution in the energy balance. The study also investigated the increasing power demand, emissions and energy trends in the residential sector in Greece. The paper evaluated the current status of the building stock, RES and the future energy related prospects of the Aegean Sea islands. The islands were categorized based on energy production cost, heating degree days, building characteristics and natural resources to identify islands with higher and lower renewable energy potentials. The study revealed that the islands with the higher potential energy savings in the residential sector are Lesbos, Lemnos, Samothrace, Chios, Andros, Patmos, Kea and Kimolos while at the same time, Rhodes, Naxos, Amorgos, Syros, Ios and Kythnos are those islands that present the lower potential. The study will help to propose action plans and implementation strategies in terms of residential renewable energy applications in non-grid interconnected islands in Greece. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]