In developing countries, battery storage is becoming a viable way to increase system flexibility and enable more integration of variable renewable energy. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) respond rapidly to control signals, are easy to deploy, and are benefiting from cost reduction trends. New battery technologies have valuable attributes that are well suited to the needs of developing countries. However, they have a rather short track record in terms of deployment and operation, and this can hamper efforts to reassure buyers and investors that these new technologies will perform reliably over their project life. Conditions found in some developing countries...
The Hydropower Sustainability Tools (HSTs) are a suite of assessment tools and guidance documents developed by a multi-stakeholder forum, aimed at driving continuous improvement in hydropower development and operations. They are useful beyond their original purpose as audit tools and can be used in World Bank Group (WBG) client countries to build capacity for sustainable hydropower. The environmental, social, and governance topics addressed by the HSTs are deliberately aligned with WBG frameworks, which provides opportunities for the tools to be used as complements to World Bank Group standards, including to help clients meet WBG requirements and support WBG staff in...
This technical guide is the fourth in a series of four technical guides on variable renewable energy (VRE) grid integration produced by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) of the World Bank and the Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership (GSEP). It provides guidance on the role and benefits of forecasting as a cost-effective operational solution to manage the uncertainty of VRE generation and facilitate the integration of larger shares of these resources in the energy mix. The guide focuses primarily on the types of forecasting methods and how physical and statistical models are used for developing short- to long-term forecasts....
This journal article explores the potential for increasing the share of renewables in Suriname’s electricity mix, with a special focus on the complementary role of existing hydropower and future wind power infrastructure. The article demonstrates that wind and hydro resources have great synergetic potential for displacing fossil fuel-based power generation.. The results presented in the article have relevance for climate policy in various Caribbean countries and other island states with existing hydropower infrastructure and substantial wind/solar power potential, for which this study fills an important literature gap.
Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report provides the international community with a global dashboard to register progress on the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7): ensuring universal energy access, doubling progress on energy efficiency, substantially increasing the share of renewable energy, and enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean and renewable energy by 2030. It assesses the progress made by each country on these targets and provides a snapshot of how far we are from achieving SDG7. The report is a joint effort of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), United Nations Statistics...
The Global Energy Progress Report 2019 provides a global dashboard on progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), which sets 2030 targets for reaching universal access to electricity and clean fuels and technologies for cooking, substantially increasing the share of renewable energy in the global mix, and doubling the rate of improvement of energy efficiency. All the data used in this pamphlet comes from the respective official source: for electrification, the World Bank; for clean fuels and technologies for cooking, the World Health Organization (WHO); for renewable energy, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) and...
Emissions from the power sector (from both electricity and heat production) declined almost 3% in 2020, or 0.4 Gt CO2, the largest-ever decline, while emissions intensity decreased 2.8%. These trends result from reduced electricity demand during the Covid-19 pandemic and a record share of renewables in total generation (29%) in 2020. Electricity demand is expected to increase in 2021 as economic activity rebounds and major emerging economies expand rapidly. This sector’s transformation is critical to clean energy transitions, as power generation accounts for 40% of energy-related CO2 emissions and electricity is increasingly being used to meet end-use energy demand. Current...