Search NASA⌕ Search
Home/Archive/DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI · 1573207

Faster Than You Think: Renewable Energy and Developing Countries

Arndt, Channing·Arent, Doug J.·Hartley, Faaiqa·Merven, Bruno·Mondal, Alam Hossain
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Since 2007, large and unexpected declines in generation costs for renewable energy systems, particularly solar but also wind, combined with policy measures designed to limit greenhouse gas emissions, have created a paradigm shift in energy systems. Variable renewable energy now dominates total investment in electricity power generation systems. This dominance of variable renewable energy in investment has thrust the systems integration task of matching electricity supply with demand to center stage, presenting new challenges for energy policy and planning as well as for the institutional organization of power systems. Despite these challenges, there is ample reason to believe that variable renewables will attain very high levels of penetration into energy systems, particularly in regions well endowed with solar and wind potential. Similar to their success with mobile phone telephony, many developing countries have a significant opportunity to leapfrog directly to more advanced energy technologies that are low cost, reliable, environmentally more benign, and well suited to serving dispersed rural populations.

Explore related subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMYdevelopmentenergy planningvariable renewable energy

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Arndt, Channing, Arent, Doug J., Hartley, Faaiqa, Merven, Bruno, Mondal, Alam Hossain. 2019-10-05. Faster Than You Think: Renewable Energy and Developing Countries. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-100518-093759

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related reports

DOE OSTI2026

A framework and tool for designing cost-effective, resilient, and circular net-zero supply chains under uncertainty with an application to multilayer plastic films

While 55% of Fortune 500 companies have committed to achieving net-zero emissions and/or zero-waste operations by 2035, only 2% are currently on track, revealing a critical gap between ambition and action. Designing supply chains that reduce both emissions and waste is a complex non-intuitive, multi-objective challenge, compounded by the high costs of new technologies and the need for resilient, profitable solutions. This paper aims to address this challenge by presenting a generic framework and multi-objective optimization formulation for designing cost-effective, circular, and resilient supply chains under uncertainty, implemented through a user-friendly decision-support tool with intuitive data visualization capabilities, enabling communication of results to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. We demonstrate the application of this framework in the context of multilayer plastic films (barrier films), which are widely used in food packaging and composite materials. The model quantifies trade-offs across three objectives: minimizing global warming potential, maximizing circularity, and minimizing cost. A key contribution of this work is the explicit modeling of technological resilience, the ability of supply chains to maintain function under disruption. In the cost-minimization case, the resilience constraint makes the design approximately three times more expensive in the short-term metric, but shifts the system from relying on a single recovery pathway to a portfolio of four recovery pathways, improving the robustness of the optimization solution under uncertainty. Lastly, we introduce TranZero, a decision-support tool that integrates material flow analysis, hotspot identification, and optimization-based scenario planning to support net-zero and circularity decisions.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Local Air Quality Impacts of a Peak-Shaving Diesel Generator Unit in Waynesville, North Carolina

The Waynesville Electric Department in Waynesville, North Carolina, operates a 2,000-kW diesel generator with a 4% capacity factor, emitting less than 1 ton annually of PM2.5, VOCs, carbon monoxide (CO), and sulfur dioxide (SO2), and approximately 1.8 tons of NO. The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) conducted high-resolution, near-source air-quality modeling to evaluate the generator's impacts. Results indicate minimal effects on ambient pollutant concentrations: annual PM2.5 increases are below 0.0004 microgrm/m3 for local census tracts, while CO and SO2 levels increase by less than 0.00004 ppm and 0.0002 ppb, respectively. Estimated annual premature mortality attributable to PM2.5 exposure is less than 0.001 cases across Haywood County, with an associated economic impact of approximately $12,000. This report complements a separate technoeconomic analysis to inform Waynesville's investment strategies for demand reduction.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (Bilingual)

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP) helps coastal, remote, and island communities increase the affordability, reliability, and security of their energy systems through energy planning and deep-dive technical assistance. This is a English and Spanish translation.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗