Full Title: The Future of Electricity: Attracting Investment to Build Tomorrow’s Electricity Sector
Author(s): Jim Hagemann Snabe and Roberto Bocca
Publisher(s): World Economic Forum (WEF)
Publication Date: January 1, 2015
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
The electricity sector is undergoing an unprecedented transition. In the past, the sector provided affordable, secure and reliable electricity by attracting investors with low risk, stable returns. In the last decade, significant declines in the cost of renewable technologies, combined with new sources of natural gas, have offered the opportunity to simultaneously decarbonize the sector while also increasing energy security and reducing dependence on imported fuels.
OECD countries have invested heavily to achieve this, spending $3 trillion on new renewable and conventional power plants, transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure, and energy efficiency measures. This investment has helped reduce carbon intensity per unit generated by about 1% per annum and increase energy security by reducing imports of fuels by about 4%.