Powering Up the Global South: The Cleantech Path to Growth

This report provides new analysis that shows the Global South is in fact adopting cleantech faster than the Global North. In Powering Up the Global South, RMI illustrates that Global South countries are deploying cleantech rapidly and will continue to do so as their path to growth.

The research shows that three-quarters of the Global South’s energy demand is in the “sweet spot” of change based on their level of fossil fuel imports, income, energy demand, and available renewable resources.

While there are grounds for optimism, more action is needed to speed up change. Solutions include domestic policy, reform of …

Next-Generation Geothermal: Considerations and Opportunities for Responsible Development

This paper provides an overview of next-generation geothermal systems, including enhanced geothermal systems, closed-loop and superhot systems. It covers current developments within the industry, environmental impacts and policy options. While geothermal energy can be used as a source of both heat and electricity, this paper focuses only on uses in the electricity sector.…

Application of the International Structure for Decommissioning Costing (ISDC) 2012 to Complex and Legacy Sites

The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Expert Group on Costing for Decommissioning of Nuclear Installations and Legacy Management (EGCDL) addresses costing issues as an expert group of the NEA Working Party on Management and Organisational Aspects (WPMO) of the NEA Committee on Decommissioning of Nuclear Installations and Legacy Management (CDLM). In response to the increased focus being placed on decommissioning situations that are more complex than those addressed in the ISDC 2012, the EGCDL established a task group to evaluate the application of the ISDC to complex and legacy sites. The report captures the outcome of this analysis and sets out …

Energizing Finance Report 2024

This sixth edition of the report tracks finance for electricity and clean cooking committed from 2014 to 2022. This report is a special edition that focuses on selected Sub-Saharan African and Asian countries – 20 tracked countries based on the 2021 Energizing Finance report – to see the trends in recent years, including those countries that are no longer High-Impact Countries (HICs) as defined by the Tracking SDG7 report series.

The objectives of this report are to understand the international public finance flows and identify the gaps that need to be filled to achieve the two energy access goals. The …

The Strategic Value of Community Benefits in Offshore Wind Development

The Strategic Value of Community Benefits in Offshore Wind Development report highlights the growing importance for offshore wind proponents to build strong relationships with host communities and secure a social license to operate. This social license, although intangible, is an important asset, rooted in community trust and acceptance of a company and its activities.

Launched at the Asia Pacific Wind Energy Summit hosted by the Global Wind Energy Council in Incheon, Republic of Korea, this paper is intended to facilitate discussion between developers, communities, public sector decision-makers, regulators, and businesses throughout all phases of offshore wind projects.

The paper provides …

Climate Change and Its Influence on Water Systems Increases the Cost of Electricity System Decarbonization

The electric sector simultaneously faces two challenges: decarbonization to mitigate, and adaptation to manage, the impacts of climate change. In many regions, these challenges are compounded by an interdependence of electricity and water systems, with water needed for hydropower generation and electricity for water provision. Here, we couple detailed water and electricity system models to evaluate how the Western Interconnection grid can both adapt to climate change and develop carbon-free generation by 2050, while accounting for interactions and climate vulnerabilities of the water sector. We find that by 2050, due to climate change, annual regional electricity use could grow by …

DERiving Community Economic Development through Distributed Solar

Across the U.S., distributed solar offers substantial opportunity for community and community-led economic development. While utility-scale solar is booming, stakeholders are also eager to identify new mechanisms to support and scale smaller community-led projects and the accompanying community-led economic opportunities they can offer. However, support is needed for community-based solar developers (e.g., small developers who have fewer than 20 staff, are based in the same community where a project will be developed and have multiple mechanisms in place to enable the
community to inform, shape, and/or own the project) to best support their communities.

This report explores how distributed solar …

With or Without Tax Credits, a US-Indonesia Critical Minerals Agreement Could Raise Environmental Standards and Diversify Supply

Automakers must source critical minerals from the United States or free trade agreement (FTA) countries to qualify for the Inflation Reduction Act’s $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles. While the tax credit is likely to be significantly altered, or eliminated altogether, under the Trump administration, the history of the tax credit sheds light on potential supply chain vulnerabilities for the US and ways to address them through critical minerals agreements. And ultimately, it would not be in the interest of US automakers, aside from Tesla, to abolish the 30D tax credit, since abolishment would make it more dicult for automakers …

Assessing Demographic Vulnerability and Weather Impacts on Utility Disconnections in California

When a household is disconnected from their electric utility service the consequences can be severe, including accumulation of debt, the inability to maintain comfortable temperatures, and in the most extreme cases, homelessness or mortality. While the survey-based literature on utility disconnections has yielded important findings about which households are most likely to experience a utility shutoff, only a few existing studies have used data from utility companies themselves. In this analysis, the authors utilize zip-code level data from four of California’s largest utility providers to measure sociodemographic disparities in disconnections, in addition to the impact of adverse weather.

The authors …

Powering Through Uncertainty: A Resource Adequacy Toolkit for Western Regulators

Resource adequacy is the ability of the electric grid to supply enough electricity to meet demand under a range of future conditions. It has come under increased scrutiny from regulators as traditional fossil fuel power plants approach retirement at the same time as electricity demand is forecasted to grow. This report aims to support regulators in the Western United States in understanding both the key drivers of resource adequacy risk and the specific options available to navigate and mitigate this uncertainty as the grid evolves.

The first part of this report identifies and contextualizes four primary drivers of resource adequacy …