Report Series: Live Wire
This is a Knowledge Note series of the Energy Practice. Those working on the front lines of energy development in emerging economies have a wealth of technical knowledge and case experience to share with their colleagues but seldom have the time to write for publication. Live Wire offers a support system to make sharing knowledge as easy as possible.
Published titles
Search Results
1 - 10 of 116
-
Publication
Transmitting Renewable Energy to the Grid
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-02-24)Many countries are scaling up their investments in renewable energy. In 2010, electricity production from renewable sources - wind, solar, biomass, biofuels, geothermal, hydropower, and ocean energy accounted for 18 percent of global electricity supply. By early 2011, renewables made up a quarter of all installed power capacity. One of the main obstacles to the scale-up of renewable energy is connecting generating sites to the grid in an efficient manner. Renewable energy places greater demands on the transmission network than do conventional energy sources. First, the richest sites for solar and wind energy is often spread across multiple locations far from consumption centers or existing transmission networks. Second, generation is subject to variability in climate conditions (such as wind speed and solar radiation). This note focuses on the transmission implications of the dispersion of renewable energy sources, rather than on the implications of variability. In some sub regions of the United States and countries in Europe that are pursuing renewable energy options, the requirements for investment in transmission already approved by regulators (or forecasted by transmission companies) are double or quadruple recent investment trends. In Brazil the investment needs for renewable energy in some regions surpass the asset value of the distribution utilities closest to the renewable sites. -
Publication
Understanding CO2 Emissions from the Global Energy Sector
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-02-24)The energy sector contributes about 40 percent of global emissions of CO2. Threequarters of those emissions come from six major economies. Although coal-fired plants account for just 40 percent of world energy production, they were responsible for more than 70 percent of energy-sector emissions in 2010. Despite improvements in some countries, the global CO2 emission factor for energy generation has hardly changed over the last 20 years. -
Publication
Transmitting Renewable Energy to the Grid : The Case of Texas
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-02-24)The note is based on original work by Marcelino Madrigal and Steven Stoft, "Transmission Expansion for Renewable Energy Scale-Up: Emerging Lessons and Recommendations". Texas leads the United States with 9,528 MW of installed wind power capacity, a level exceeded by only four countries. The state needed more infrastructure to transmit electricity generated from renewable sources, but the regulator could not approve transmission expansion projects in the absence of financially committed generators. To solve the problem, Texas devised a planning process that quickly connects energy systems to the transmission system. The system is based on the designation of competitive renewable energy zones. -
Publication
Transmitting Renewable Energy to the Grid : The Case of Brazil
(World Bank, 2014-02-24)Brazil has one of the world's cleanest energy portfolios, with 85.3 percent of overall energy production coming from renewable sources (compared with the worldwide average of 16 percent), and with 75 percent of the country's 105,000 megawatt (MW) installed generation capacity coming from hydropower plants alone. The country has improved its procedures for building new energy facilities and connecting them to the grid. The distribution companies in the zone where transmission services were needed lacked the personnel to plan network expansion. In addition, in certain cases, the network needs of the renewable energy providers requesting transmission services dwarfed in size and capital cost the entire existing distribution network in the area. To address the challenges of planning and paying for the transmission infrastructure needed to bring energy from renewable sources to the grid, Brazil devised a competitive process to develop shared transmission networks for renewable energy. The procurement process provides transparency that helps reveal the cost of efficiently delivering infrastructure, supports a realistic and sustainable pricing structure, and creates an environment for both generation and transmission that is attractive to the private sector. -
Publication
Transmitting Renewable Energy to the Grid : The Case of Mexico
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-02-24)Mexico's 2010 national energy strategy aims to promote sustainability and simultaneously increase energy access by increasing the share of renewable resources used to generate energy. The wind farms of La Ventosa, a windy area in the southeastern state of Oaxaca, are a key part of that strategy, which aims to raise the share of renewables in generation to 35 percent by 2024, up from 23.7 percent in 2008. The open season process was a major breakthrough that made possible several agreements to build wind power generation projects in an area that previously had been closed to development because of the lack of transmission infrastructure. The open season process gave developers of renewable energy the certainty and predictability they needed concerning the development of transmission infrastructure, while also reducing the investment costs of that infrastructure by ensuring development of an optimized and shared network. Moreover, the system is transparent for all participants. It highlights the ability of Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) to modernize its role as a facilitator and creative problem solver, and encourages renewable energy developers and energy consumers to collaborate and follow through on their commitments for the benefit of all involved. -
Publication
Measuring the Results of World Bank Lending in the Energy Sector
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-02-27)This note is the first report of energy-sector results indicators reflecting the World Bank's broad lending patterns during FY2000-13. To compile it, energy projects back to FY2000 were manually screened for results data comparable with the standardized indicators now used in the Bank's corporate scorecard. In the future, automation will make it easier to collect, aggregate, and analyze data on project outcomes. -
Publication
Capturing the Multi-Dimensionality of Energy Access
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-06-13)There are two initial challenges in defining and measuring energy access: the absence of a universal definition of energy access and the difficulty of measuring any definition in an accurate manner. The multi-tier approach to measuring energy access proposed in the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Global Tracking Framework of 2013 introduces a five-tier measurement methodology based on various energy attributes, such as quantity, quality, affordability, and duration of supply. The approach makes it possible to compute a weighted index of access to energy for a given geographical area. Separate notes focus on multi-tier measurement of energy access for households, productive enterprises, and community institutions. The type of data required for a multi-tiered assessment of energy access in a given area can be obtained through surveys of actual energy availability and use among a scientific sample of all users in a given category (households, enterprises, community institutions). Survey questionnaires elicit information about each energy attribute, and the results are fed into the multi-tier matrices. Data may also be collected from energy suppliers to indicate the tiers of access that specific projects may deliver to a targeted population. Capturing the multi-dimensionality of energy access is important, because rapid expansion of access to energy requires both accurate assessment and tracking of progress. Under the new multi-tier framework, data from energy surveys are compiled and analyzed to produce an energy access diagnostic for a given area. The diagnostic includes an in-depth disaggregated data analysis and an aggregate analysis comprising a series of indices of energy access. Defining and measuring energy access by considering attributes of energy supply yields a better understanding of how various interventions improve access. -
Publication
Promoting Renewable Energy through Auctions : The Case of India
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-06-13)This knowledge note singles out auctions as an important mechanism that has been implemented in a growing number of countries in recent decades. It features a case study of auctions designed to promote the generation of electricity from renewable sources in India. The country's national- and state-level experience with auctions of solar energy products both large and small attests to the flexibility and adaptability of auction mechanisms. Under the National Solar Mission, auctions have been implemented with good results in a variety of settings. Lessons include the importance of clear ideas about key goals and objectives, and about areas where sacrifices can be made. Experience in several states has also underlined the importance of regulatory stability. This case study is interesting, because India's National Solar Mission led to concurrent implementations of renewable auction schemes. Both national- and state-level auctions have led to successful projects. The Indian central government's experience with auction implementations can be split into three main segments. Phase 1 auctions concern centralized auctions for procuring utility-scale solar plants. Rooftop auctions concern central government conducted auctions for rooftop solar generation in specific cities. No centralized auctions for large-scale solar generation were conducted in 2012 or 2013, so phase 2 auction were created under a new bidding process. Successive delays that were observed in the implementation of phase 2 auctions had negative results. Investors need to feel secure before they will establish a strong manufacturing or developer base. -
Publication
Designing Credit Lines for Energy Efficiency
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-05-21)Many economically attractive opportunities to invest in energy efficiency are forgone because of various market barriers, notably the limited availability of commercial financing for energy efficiency projects. Once a government decides, as a matter of policy, to scale up energy efficiency, it typically must engage commercial banks to provide financing to the private end users who will carry out the energy efficiency projects needed to make the national policy a reality. Credit lines help banks establish an energy efficiency business line by mitigating the perceived high financial risk of energy efficiency projects and of the energy service companies that carry them out, and sometimes by building into the credit line a technical assistance component to improve understanding of the fundamentals of energy efficiency projects. Energy efficiency credit lines make funds available to participating financial institutions (including local banks). The success of a credit line depends to a great extent on the selection of competent and committed financial institutions. A technical assistance component built into the credit line helps lower the technical and financial risk of projects. -
Publication
Exploiting Market-Based Mechanisms to Meet Utilities' Energy Efficiency Obligations
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-06-13)Electric utilities are key actors in the quest to induce large-scale energy savings among end users. But often it is not enough simply to mandate utilities to achieve a specific target. Three new market-based mechanisms are available for utilities to use in promoting energy efficiency. Historically, mechanisms of demand-side management may be classified as regulatory, policy-based, market-based, and load-targeting. This knowledge note is important, because electric utilities are well-positioned to help raise energy efficiency. The three new market-based mechanisms to help achieve this goal include Establish a white certificates scheme establishing a white certificates scheme, establishing energy efficiency auctions, and establishing energy efficiency feed-in tariffs. These new market-based models are available for utilities to use in promoting energy efficiency, in concert with other means of procurement. Whatever the design, program effectiveness will depend on technically competent and trusted verification of energy savings and their costs, long-term commitment to maintaining the efficiency program, and flexibility in adjusting it over time to ensure that programs keep performing.