A growing number of countries are announcing increasingly ambitious renewable energy targets. But how do you deliver the results? IRENA’s Elena Ocenic explains that they have developed a toolset for countries to plot their unique pathway to success. Those tools range widely across technology, market design and regulation, system operation practices, and business models. The article lists the tools, and runs through some notable successes. Ocenic emphasises that, today, there is enough evidence to show that 80-100% renewables within decades is a realistic goal for many countries. She looks at the tailored solution they have created for Sweden, in collaboration with the Swedish Energy Agency, to achieve 100% renewable power by 2040. An important observation is that technology alone is never enough: the right policy frameworks must be put in place too. And one of the biggest challenges is how to maximise renewables beyond the power sector and in to the industrial, transport and buildings sectors while making use of all the new innovations now coming to the fore.

IRENA recently published a detailed case study “Innovative solutions for 100% renewable power in Sweden” which provides 4 tailor-made solutions to help integrate high shares of wind into Sweden’s power system by 2040. Recommendations build on experience from pilot projects and best practice from around the world documented in IRENA’s “Innovation landscape for a renewable-powered future” report and call for a revamp of technology, market design and regulation, system operation practices, as well as business models.

This article explains why pursuing highly ambitious policy targets for renewable power (as opposed to energy) are timely, which innovations are ready to be scaled up, and which countries have already experience operating a renewable-based power system. (...) Read more

Article written by by Elena Ocenic, EnergyPost

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