SUMMARY This is the Climate Change Authority's second review of the Renewable Energy Target (RET). The RET targets reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector and thereby contributes significantly to reducing Australia's overall emissions. In its 2012 review of the RET, the Authority found that the RET was stimulating considerable investment in renewable energy and argued that a stable and predictable policy was essential to sustain this investment. It concluded that no major changes were warranted to the overall RET design, but suggested some minor operational changes. The uncertain future of the Authority until recently has limited the time available to conduct this review. Largely for that reason, the Authority has focused on what, it its view, are the most important issues. The Authority has also drawn on both its 2012 Authority review, and on the review conducted this year by a panel headed by Mr Dick Warburton AO LVO. The RET and Australia's emissions reduction goals In 2010, when the Large-scale Renewable Energy Target (LRET) was set at 41,000 GWh, it was estimated that this contribution, with contributions from the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) and other pre-existing renewables (notably hydro), would together represent at least 20 per cent of Australia's (then) projected total electricity demand in 2020. Given that electricity accounts for approximately one-third of Australia's emissions of greenhouse gases, renewable sources were seen as making a significant contribution to Australia's broader emissions reduction goals. Reducing emissions in the electricity sector plays a pivotal role in climate change policies around the world. Unchecked climate change is widely seen as posing serious risks for the Australian community and its economy. Together with the broader international community, Australia has agreed to a goal of limiting global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. This requires ...
The Renewable Energy Sector of India is considered to be the world's second most attractive Renewable Energy market. In terms of the total, installed wind power capacity, India ranks fourth worldwide. In the previous year itself, (i.e. January-November 2017) India added 11.788 GW of the total power generation capacity from renewable sources. With the Government's increased support, along with enhanced, developed and improved economics, the Renewable Energy Sector is becoming more and more attractive to investors. The energy demand of India is expected to reach 15,820 TWh by 2040 and as India is gearing up to become self-sufficient and meet this requirement on its own, Renewable and Clean energy is expected to take on an important role. It is expected that by 2040, 49% of the total electricity obtained is to be generated through renewable energy. With the commitment of the Government of India to increase the use of clean energy sources, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has set a target to set up renewable energy capacities to the extent of 175 GW by 2022 (which includes 100 GW from Solar, 60 GW from Wind, 10 GW from Biopower and 5 GW from Small Hydropower units), as was announced in 2015. To fund this ambitious plan, India would need at least US$ 125 billion.7 The 'renewable energy industry' financing is considered difficult due to its characteristics of high initial investment, investment risk, and dicey long-term investment returns. Keeping this as a backdrop, this article aims at discussing the various Financing modes currently in use and the various financing challenges to be faced in meeting India's Renewable Energy Targets in the coming years.
Denne afhandling fokuserer på de forskellige måder, hvorpå vi kan vurdere den sociale accept af vedvarende energiteknologier (RE) og søger at fastslå, hvordan en sådan vurdering kan bruges til at understøtte energiomlægningen. Vores nuværende energilandskab er præget af et stigende antal spredte vedvarende kraftproducerende anlæg, hvis art og tal varierer på tværs af lande og regioner. Energi fra især vindmøller på land er steget kraftigt i de forskellige europæiske lande takket være en pris, der er en af de laveste blandt vedvarende teknologier. Selvom denne udvikling er i overensstemmelse med EU's og FN's strategiplaner for vedvarende energi, er vindmøllerne og de ændringer, de har fremkaldt i landskaber, på nogle steder blevet mødt af skepsis og modstand. Med manglende accept i samfundet som hovedargument har regeringerne i Danmark og Storbritannien som følge heraf for nylig besluttet, at der er behov for en begrænsning af antallet af vindmøller. Forskningsområdet, social accept af teknologier, beskriver accept ud fra tre hovedområder: samfundsmæssig, markedsbaseret og socialpolitisk med det formål at fremhæve, hvordan accept formes af mange faktorer og aktører. I sidste ende bør denne viden hjælpe politikere til at være mere proaktive i vurderingen af omlægningens potentielle showstoppere. Denne afhandling identificerer tre spørgsmål i forbindelse med relevansen af top-down energiplanlægningstrukturer og –politikker, når det gælder håndtering af samfundets accept. Den første publikation omhandler energiplanlægningsstrukturer og er en systematisk gennemgang af peer-reviewed energimodelleringsartikler. Den undersøger forholdet mellem energimodeller, hvor og hvor meget disse værktøjer anvendes og sociale aspekter. Politiske virkemidler undersøges i anden og tredje publikation. Den anden publikation bygger på forskningen inden for social accept og adresserer formålet med afhandlingen, nemlig at foreslå en innovativ måde at formulere og forholde sig til social og samfundsmæssig accept på. Publikationen anvender en analytisk metode på de nationale handlingsplaner for vedvarende energi (NREAP), der gælder for de tre vindrige lande, Danmark, Storbritannien og Irland med det formål at undersøge, hvordan de adresserer social accept. Metoden blev også udviklet for at fremhæve tværgående samarbejde, som ikke blev tilstrækkeligt udforsket ved tidligere metoder (Devine-Wright et al., 2017a). Denne analyse påpeger at der i de tre tilfælde (DK, UK and IRL) mangler politisk fokus på lokalsamfundets accept af vindmøller Denne opfattelse styrkes i den tredje publikation, der præsenterer en statistisk analyse af energikooperative tendenser i fem europæiske lande, og fremhæver, hvordan manglende politisk støtte betyder et fald i antallet af vindmøllelaug, især i Danmark. Disse resultater stiller spørgsmålstegn ved den metode, der rent faktisk er benyttet til at adressere den manglende samfundsaccept, som beklages af Danmarks og Storbritanniens regeringer, der i mellemtiden har besluttet at prioritere deres offshore-vindressourcer. Den danske sag er særligt interessant for landets internationale image som pioner takket være den græsrodsbaserede fælles vindsektor og innovative politikker. Danmark er emnet i den fjerde publikation, som præsenterer en analyse af interviews med aktører fra den danske energiplan-lægningssektor. Denne publikation falder også sammen med meddelelsen om koalitionens nye energiplan i juni 2018. Publikationerne omhandler især de vanskeligheder, der begrænser udviklingen af energimodellering inden for sociale aspekter, nemlig spørgsmålet om samarbejde mellem forskere fra forskellige fagområder, der stadig er vanskeliggjort af problemer som "sprogbarrierer". Således blev denne afhandling udarbejdet med henblik på at se på samfundets accept i forbindelse med de store tiltag, hvor nationale energimål omsættes til lokal udvikling af vedvarende energi. Inden for denne brede formulering påpeger afhandlingen, at det europæiske energiplanlægningssystem for nærværende ikke synes at være tilstrækkeligt rustet til forebygge mulige problemstillinger i forbindelse med samfundets accept af yderligere spredte vedvarende energianlæg, der stadig kræves for at nå de fastsatte EU- og nationale mål. Afhandlingen bidrager til disse brede problemstillinger på to måder: ved at foreslå en tværgående analytisk metode med det formål at vurdere de politiske regulativer med hensyn til at inkludere de mange faktorer af social accept og ved at forholde sig til vedvarende samarbejdsvanskeligheder mellem udøvere og forskere. ; This thesis focuses on the means of assessing the social acceptance of renewable energy (RE) technologies and seeks to establish how such assessment can be used to support the energy transition. Our current energy landscape is marked by a growing amount of distributed renewable power-producing sites, whose nature and numbers vary across countries and regions. Onshore wind energy in particular has seen a fast development in different European countries, thanks to a levelised-cost that is one of the lowest among renewable technologies. Yet, while this development is in line with EU and UN renewable energy-based strategy plans, the physicality of the turbines and the changes they have induced in landscapes have in some places been met with reactions of wariness and opposition. As a consequence, naming a lack of community acceptance as their main motive, the governments of Denmark and the UK have recently decided that a curb in the number of turbines is required. In this over-arching context, the research field on social acceptance of technologies has mapped acceptance under three main dimensions: community, market and socio-political, with the intention to highlight how acceptance is shaped from numerous factors and actors. Ultimately, this knowledge should assist policy-makers in being more proactive in assessing potential showstoppers for the transition. From the context of partial reversals on onshore wind power, this thesis identifies three issues linked to the relevance of top-down energy planning structures and policies in addressing community acceptance. The first paper addresses energy planning structures through a systematic review of peer-review energy modelling articles. It explores the relationship between energy models, the scales at which these tools are operated, and social aspects. Policy tools are investigated in the second and third papers. The second paper builds on the research on social acceptance and addresses the objective of the thesis to propose an innovative way to frame and address social and community acceptance. The paper applies an analytical framework to the National Renewable Energy Actions Plans (NREAP) of three wind-rich countries, Denmark, UK and Ireland, to explore the ways they articulate social acceptance. The framework was also designed to highlight cross-scalar dynamics that were not sufficiently explored by previous frameworks (Devine-Wright et al., 2017). This analysis highlights a dearth of policy focus on community acceptance in the three cases. This finding is reinforced by the third paper which presents a statistical analysis of energy cooperative trends in five European countries, and highlights how lack of policy supports is seeing cooperatives' numbers decline, in particular in Denmark. These findings prompt further interrogations on the means actually deployed to address the lacking community acceptance deplored by Denmark's and UK's governments, who have meanwhile decided to prioritise their offshore wind resources. The Danish case is particularly interesting for the country's international image as a pioneer thanks to its grassroots-based shared wind sector and advanced policies. Denmark is the topic of the fourth paper, which presents an analysis of interviews conducted with actors of the Danish energy planning sector. This paper also coincides with the announcement of the coalition's new energy plan in June 2018. This final paper addresses in particular the human difficulties limiting progress for energy modelling to consider social aspects. This discussion leads towards the issue of collaborative work among researchers from different fields, still hindered by reported issues of "language barriers". Thus, this thesis was designed to address community acceptance through the major steps that see national energy targets translated into local renewable energy developments. Within this broad framing, the thesis points to the current limitation of the European energy planning system, which in conclusion does not appear sufficiently equipped to preventively address possible issues linked to the community acceptance of additional distributed RE sites, still required to reach the set EU and national targets. The thesis contributes to these broad problematics in two ways, by proposing a cross-scalar analytical framework destined to assess the comprehensiveness of policy sets with regards to the several components of social acceptance, and by addressing persistent collaboration difficulties among practitioners and researchers.
A Review of Australia's Renewable Energy Target is used to contribute to the concept of negative externalities in consultation processes, including wasted investment by stakeholders and reduced investor confidence. The findings indicate that there is a need to establish clear consultation objectives. The paper concludes with a model for consultation agents to consider when initiating a consultation process. The model stresses the need to make objectives of the consultation process transparent to stakeholders, including the extent to which the outcomes of consultation are likely to result in changes to policy. Consultation agents and policy developers should seek to identify potential negative externalities at the outset of any consultation process, and address these within the consultation framework where possible.
Since the election of the Rudd Government in 2007 intergovernmental relations have been a major feature of the political agenda. A 'new federalism' approach introduced a re‐invigorated Council of Australian Governments (COAG) focused on developing national policies that reflect coordinated and cooperative policy‐making processes. The establishment of COAG working groups provided the means for developing policies that reflect new levels of agreement between jurisdictions and a common approach to reform. The development of the 20% Renewable Energy Target has been one of the first initiatives of this new approach to policy‐making. This research analyses the process behind the development of the target and places it within the context of the post‐Machiavellian approach, and looks at the implications for future intergovernmental relations.
