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To achieve national energy and climate targets across the world, there is a key focus on solar energy development. It is clear from literature that many countries have enormous, under-utilised potentials for solar energy, which can significantly change their energy mix and contribute to the low-carbon ambitions they signed up to under the 2015 Paris Agreement. Our research highlights that there are benefits to solar energy development from a law and economic perspective that are still underexplored. These benefits centre on justice and on how solar energy increases justice within the energy system. From a legal perspective, we review 72 countries and their introduction of energy law with respect to solar energy development. Our analysis illustrates that in some developing countries (new) legislation was not associated with a significant increase in the share of solar energy in the energy mix. We then highlight how to achieve solar energy development through law that can provide certainty for investment. Furthermore, we stress the importance of flexibility that allows the full potential of solar energy to be realised within the energy system. The corresponding form of flexibility justice, combining law and economics, can contribute to increased economic welfare based on market reforms that centre on new market design and market access, while ensuring that it keeps pace with ongoing developments in technology, cost, and ownership.

Im Zuge des Ausbaus erneuerbarer Energien bedarf es im Stromsystem entsprechender Flexibilitat, um das Gleichgewicht von Stromerzeugung und -verbrauch jederzeit aufrechterhalten zu konnen. Gleichzeitig nimmt der Industriesektor aufgrund der stromintensiven Prozesse und dem daraus resultierenden hohen Strombedarf eine zentrale Rolle fur eine erfolgreiche Energiewende ein. Industrielle Nachfrageflexibilitat kann im Vergleich zu anderen Flexibilitatsoptionen eine kostengunstige Alternative darstellen. Unternehmen konnen wiederum durch die Bereitstellung von Flexibilitat die eigenen Strombeschaffungskosten reduzieren. Aufgrund eines komplexen Entscheidungsumfelds sowie mangelnder Planungssicherheit nutzen aktuell nur wenige Unternehmen das vorhandene Potenzial. Zum Erreichen der Ziele der Energiewende muss das genutzte Potenzial noch deutlich gehoben werden, d. h. die Unternehmen mussen die Stromnachfrage zukunftig starker an das vorhandene Stromangebot anpassen. Der vorliegende Artikel soll Unternehmen bei diesem Transformationsprozess unterstutzen, indem Dimensionen und Auspragungen eines generischen Geschaftsmodells fur Nachfrageflexibilitat aufgezeigt werden. Durch eine Literaturstudie und anschliesende Expertenworkshops wird ein generisches Geschaftsmodell fur Unternehmen abgeleitet, welches Transparenz hinsichtlich der notwendigen Aktivitaten und Ressourcen fur die Befahigung sowie der Umsetzung von Nachfrageflexibilitat schafft. Die Ergebnisse wurden mithilfe des etablierten Business Model Canvas erarbeitet. Dadurch werden Unternehmen, die sich bislang noch nicht mit Nachfrageflexibilitat auseinandersetzen, bei der Einfuhrung unterstutzt, und somit Einstiegsbarrieren reduziert. Die vorgestellten Ergebnisse tragen dadurch zu einer Steigerung des Nachfrageflexibilitatspotenzials der Industrie bei.

In the last decades, several developments have transformed electricity systems in Europe towards liberalized and decentralized systems that are coupled inter-sectorally and inter-regionally. These developments have yielded various significant benefits, such as increased efficiency and robustness. However, we argue that they have also caused new interdependencies and complexity with a corresponding increase in associated systemic risks, e.g., local failures may spread faster and more extensively throughout the system. In this paper, we illustrate how systemic risks may arise in European electricity systems by discussing three exemplary developments. We also discuss the decisive role of the digital transformation that, on the one hand, speeds up the transition of electricity systems and challenges electricity systems’ stability through rapid change, but on the other hand may also provide solutions to tackle systemic risks. We argue that, especially in a strongly interconnected world, policymakers must implement a global perspective on these critical and increasingly complex systems, requiring adequate cooperation with respect to data. Using an exemplary case from Germany, we finally illustrate how an intensified data exchange may help to address systemic risks. In this context, we draw a perspective on the potential of emerging digital technologies, like self-sovereign identities, blockchains, and privacy-enhancing technologies.

Mit digitalen CO2-Herkunfts- und Verwendungsnachweisen auf Basis dezentraler und souveräner Identitäten können Primär- und Emissionsdaten in Echtzeit direkt beim Unternehmen verifizierbar erfasst werden. Dieser technische Ansatz ermöglicht die exakte Zuordnung von CO2-Emissionen zu CO2-Budgets und verhindert Doppelzählungen von CO2-Emissionen. Zudem ermöglichen diese eine differenzierte Kennzeichnung von Produkten.

Industrial demand response uses a multitude of energy flexibility measures. Their planning and control requires various production IT systems. A widely accepted approach to classify these inhouse IT systems are the levels of the automation pyramid in companies. This paper broadens the scope of this concept to overcome the limitation to companies’ (virtual) borders by including required IT systems that refine and monetarize a company’s energy flexibility, e.g. energy markets, aggregators, etc. Therefore, a holistic approach for the classification of functionalities for industrial demand response across companies and energy markets is developed and applied exemplarily.

To achieve a sustainable energy system, a further increase in electricity generation from renewable energy sources (RES) is imperative. However, the development and implementation of RES entail various challenges, e.g., dealing with grid stability issues due to RES’ intermittency. Correspondingly, increasingly volatile and even negative electricity prices question the economic viability of RES-plants. To address these challenges, this paper analyzes how the integration of an RES-plant and a computationally intensive, energy-consuming data center (DC) can promote investments in RES-plants. An optimization model is developed that calculates the net present value (NPV) of an integrated energy system (IES) comprising an RES-plant and a DC, where the DC may directly consume electricity from the RES-plant. To gain applicable knowledge, this paper evaluates the developed model by means of two use-cases with real-world data, namely AWS computing instances for training Machine Learning algorithms and Bitcoin mining as relevant DC applications. The results illustrate that for both cases the NPV of the IES compared to a stand-alone RES-plant increases, which may lead to a promotion of RES-plants. The evaluation also finds that the IES may be able to provide significant energy flexibility that can be used to stabilize the electricity grid. Finally, the IES may also help to reduce the carbon-footprint of new energy-intensive DC applications by directly consuming electricity from RES-plants.

In the course of the energy transition, flexibility on the demand side is crucial to balance intermittent supply from renewable energy sources. In Germany, however, a large part of the demand side flexibility potential remains unused, especially due to an outdated and inappropriate grid charges regulation. In this respect, policymakers have failed to align their regulatory instruments, e.g., grid charges, to the flexibility requirements of the energy transition. Moreover, regulatory and planning uncertainties regarding the long-term vision for future electricity systems inhibit flexibility investments – marking another policy failure. Although the above issues are known to policymakers for quite some time, too little has been done to further develop corresponding regulation. This policy inaction results from a decision-making dilemma, in which policymakers did not reach a solution that benefits all stakeholders involved in the grid charges debate (e.g., energy-intensive and less energy-intensive electricity consumers). Solving the policy failure in the form of a revised and future-proof grid charges regulation will, however, increase the prospect of a just outcome for society and, more specifically, recognition and cosmopolitan justice. In this paper, we outline how grid charges inhibit demand side flexibility in Germany and which policy failures have ultimately contributed to stuck political decision-making. We further provide concrete suggestions of how existing policy failures may be corrected in order to ensure a successful energy transition as a policy guide for Germany and other countries all around the world.

In many countries, industry is one of the largest consumers of electricity. Given the special importance of electricity for industry, a reliable electricity supply is a basic prerequisite for further industrial development and associated economic growth. As countries worldwide transition to a low-carbon economy (in particular, by the development of renewable energy sources), the increasing fluctuation in renewable energy production requires new flexibility options within the electricity system in order to guarantee security of supply. It is advanced in this paper that such a flexibility transition with an active participation of industry in general has unique potential: It will not only promote green industrial development, but also become an engine for inclusive industrial development and growth as well as delivering a just transition to a low-carbon economy. Given the high potential of industrial demand-side flexibility, a first monitoring approach for such a flexibility transition is illustrated, which bases on a flexibility index. Our flexibility index allows for an indication of mis-developments and supports an appropriate implementation of countermeasures together with relevant stakeholders. Hence, it holds various insights for both policy-makers and practice with respect to how industrial demand-side flexibility can ensure advances towards an inclusive, just, and sustainable industrial development.

Sector coupling (SC) describes the concept of a purposeful connection and interaction of energy sectors to increase the flexibility of supply, demand, and storing. While SC is linked to research on smart energy system and locates itself in the research stream of 100% renewable energy systems, it currently focusses on counteracting challenges of temporal energy balancing induced by the intermittent feed-in of renewable energy sources. As regarding the coupling of grids, SC currently remains within classical energy grids. It does not exploit the coupled sectors’ potential to its full extent and, hence, lacks a holistic view. To include this view, we call on the use of all grids from coupled sectors for spatial energy transportation, resulting in an infrastructural system. By using the different loss structures of coupled grids, we illustrate how a holistic view on SC minimizes transportation losses. We argue that SC should include all grids that transport whichever type of energy (e.g., even transportation or communication grids). Ultimately, we derive and discuss implications relevant for policy makers and research: We illustrate why regulation and market design should be aligned in a way that the resulting incentives within and across the different sectors support climate change goals.

Many countries have a clear policy objective of increasing their share of renewable energy sources (RESs). However, a major impediment to higher RES penetration often lies in the historically grown structures of a country’s electricity sector. In Indonesia, policy makers have relied on cheap fossil fuels and state control to provide the population with access to both reliable and affordable electricity. However, this focus on only two of the three horns of the energy trilemma, namely energy security and energy equity (and not sustainability), may put Indonesia at risk of missing its ambitious RES targets. In this context, a number of small-scale reform attempts to promote RES integration in recent years have proved to be relatively unsuccessful. Like many other countries, Indonesia needs clear policy directions to avoid an unsustainable lock-in into a fossil fuel future. In the last decades, several other countries have successfully restructured their electricity sectors, for example by introducing a wholesale market for electricity under different electricity pricing systems, including nodal, zonal, or uniform pricing. These countries may hold valuable experiences of overcoming the historically grown barriers to successful RES integration through a greater role for market mechanisms. We develop three generic models that allow policy makers to analyze the impact of introducing either a nodal, a zonal, or a uniform pricing system on the three horns of the energy trilemma in their country. We evaluate our model using a simplified network representation of the Indonesian electricity sector. Our results indicate that each of the pricing systems is able to foster specific horns of the energy trilemma. Considering that any major reform intended to improve energy sustainability in Indonesia will only be a success if it also addresses energy security and energy equity, we also discuss our results from the perspective of energy justice and the need to balance the country’s energy trilemma. Ultimately, we illustrate a transformation pathway for a more sustainable and just transition to a low-carbon economy in Indonesia.

The energy sector provides fuel for much of everyday life, particularly economically and socially. Fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, a well-functioning and resilient energy sector is vital for maintaining the operation of critical infrastructures, including, most importantly, the health sector, and timely economic recovery. Notwithstanding its importance in everyday life and crises, the energy sector itself is currently in a complex and far-reaching transformation to combat climate change whilst supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy and society, mainly through the development of variable renewable energy sources (RES) such as wind and solar photovoltaics. This paper highlights the need for energy resilience as countries face the triple challenge of the COVID-19 health crisis, the consequent economic crisis, and the climate crisis. Focusing on Europe, it is advanced here that with the ability to balance fluctuating electricity generation and demand, flexibility allows the energy sector to utilise low-carbon RES reliably, ensuring a more resilient and sustainable energy future. This paper derives five urgent policy recommendations for Europe that address possible impacts of COVID-19 on the economic and societal prerequisites for flexibility in energy systems.