Overcoming poverty, electrifying inaccessible areas, and achieving carbon neutrality: how and where are such technologies implemented? Let’s find the answers, thankfully to Rubryka.
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A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, published in 2018, states that an increase in temperature of even 1.5° C will lead to irreversible environmental changes. According to scientists, to limit global warming below 1.5° C, humanity must reduce CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2010. A zero balance needs to be reached by 2050 when ecosystems will absorb all anthropogenic CO2 emissions. This can be done by changing the approach to energy production and using environmentally friendly renewable energy sources.
This is now the distribution between energy sources in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Most countries are heavily dependent on imports of fossil fuels, like oil and gas. Still, renewable sources also generate a significant share of electricity, and this share is growing every year.
For example, according to UNDP, the most outstanding progress can be seen in Moldova, where in 2012, the share of RES was less than 1%, and in 2017 reached 20%.
Let’s review the most inspiring examples that countries worldwide can focus on when developing their renewable energy sector.
Since 2010, the development of renewable energy sources has accelerated, reaching record levels and outpacing the annual input of traditional capacity in many regions. Among all technologies for the use of renewable energy sources, wind energy has dominated after hydropower for many decades.
IRENA estimates that onshore wind farms will have an average annual growth rate of more than 7% over the next three decades. This means that by 2030, the total installed capacity of onshore wind energy will increase more than three times – to 1,787 GW and almost ten times – by 2050, approaching 5,044 GW.
Denmark is one of the first countries to use wind energy as efficiently as possible. In 1985, the country abandoned nuclear power and began actively building wind farms. As a result, more than half of Denmark’s electricity is generated from sustainable sources, and by 2028 Denmark can be 100% supplied with a zero carbon footprint. In addition, companies involved in wind energy receive a total revenue of 3 billion euros annually, and the industry provides jobs to 20,000 people. At the same time, the number of jobs is growing – since 1996, it has doubled.
Now Moldova has embarked on the path of active development of RES projects. At this stage, the country is supplied with electricity extracted from renewable sources by about 1.15%. But the situation must change by 2022, when the Moldovan government will put into operation a fleet of wind turbines in the south of the country. This will provide another 180 MW of electricity generated by RES, increasing the amount of green energy in the country by more than four times. Energo Continent implements the project at public expense in the villages of Kolibash and Brynza, Cahul district. The wind power plant will provide 70 new jobs to local residents, and annual production can provide about 15% of the yearly electricity consumption of the Republic of Moldova.
Another interesting example is the Zhanatas power plant in Kazakhstan, which was fully launched earlier this year and has already become the largest wind farm in Kazakhstan and all of Central Asia, with a capacity of over 110 MW generated by 40 turbines. The power plant will meet the electricity needs of 30,000 households, which will significantly alleviate the situation with energy shortages in the south of the country.
Solar energy will help overcome poverty
Over the past two decades, photovoltaics has evolved from a niche market product to one of the primary sources of electricity generation. Growth dynamics become less dependent on government incentive programs and are more determined by market investment decisions.
By the end of 2019, the global installed capacity of solar photovoltaic energy has reached 627 GW with a total annual growth rate of almost 43%. Solar energy now remains the second-largest renewable energy sector after wind power – in 2019, solar photovoltaic systems again dominated the total capacity of renewable energy sources with inputs of about 115 GW, which is twice as much as wind and more than all fossil fuels and nuclear fuel combined.
About half of Georgia’s population of four million uses firewood for heating and cooking. Especially in rural areas, people rely on inefficient wood stoves and buy expensive wood. The official volume of firewood provided by the National Forestry Agency of Georgia covers only about 25% of demand, leading to illegal logging and gradual destruction of forests (CENN 2016).
To help address this issue, in 2010 the international non-governmental organization Women of Europe for a Common Future (WECF) launched an EU-funded project to replace wood stoves with solar water heaters. In the past, about 500 solar water heaters have been installed throughout Georgia and taught people the principles of their assembly. In 2016, thanks to the training and support of several NGOs, four cooperatives with a total number of 50 members were established. In recent years, about 900 solar water heaters have been installed in Georgia, each of which saves about three cubic meters of wood per year. They help reduce CO2 emissions by 900 tons per year, which roughly corresponds to emissions from 200 cars. The average payback period of the investment is three to six years, so it is also a significant financial saving for farms and a contribution to solving the problem of energy poverty in Georgia. Most rural farms in Georgia meet the “energy poverty” criterion, as they are forced to spend about 30% of their income on fuel (WECF 2015).
To reduce heating costs, bioenergy plants can be implemented in points
Biomass accounts for the largest share of the world’s energy supply of all renewable energy sources. It provides energy not only for heating and transport, but also for electricity production. Including traditional biomass use, bioenergy is estimated to account for 12%, or 45.2 ecjoules (EJ), of total final energy consumption in 2018.
Modern bioenergy, which excludes the traditional use of biomass, provided in 2018 about 19.3 EJ – or 5.1% of total global final energy demand, which is about half of all renewable energy in final energy consumption. Modern bioenergy provides about 8.6% of the world’s energy supply used for heating, 3.1% of energy needs in transport and 2.1% of the world’s total energy supply.
In 2017, biomass and fuel waste covered about 6% of the cement industry’s energy needs, mainly in Europe, where they provided about 25% of the energy used in cement production.
Geothermal energy
Geothermal resources are used for energy production in two main ways: either through the production of electricity, or through various thermal applications “direct use” (without conversion to electricity), such as space heating and industrial heat input. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the installed capacity of all geothermal plants in the world reaches almost 13 GW – this is comparable to the capacity of 13 nuclear reactors.
The economic use of geothermal sources is widespread in New Zealand, Italy and France, Lithuania, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Philippines, Indonesia, China, Japan, Kenya and Tajikistan, but the leader is definitely Iceland, where geothermal energy has been used for over 70 years. There are no large deposits of fossil fuels in this country, and it would be very expensive to import them. That is why Icelanders have focused on geothermal springs, which allows them to heat homes and greenhouses for growing vegetables all year round. 700 geothermal stations provide 60% of all generated thermal energy, which is then heated. It is thanks to this type of renewable energy that Iceland has become an independent country.
As for electricity, 25% of all electricity in the country is generated by district heating geothermal power plants – there are five in the country. One of them – the geothermal region of the Reykjanes Peninsula – was formed due to the movement of lithosphere plates, which form the Mid-Ocean Ridge. The area where “extracts “subsoil heat, small – about 2 square kilometers, but for over 30 years, it has been producing energy without any signs of declining reserves. Another geothermal station – Svartsengi – is located near Keflavik International Airport on the Reykjanes Peninsula. It produces 76.5 MW of energy and about 475 liters of hot water (90° C) per second.
Russia also has a great potential for the use of geothermal energy. So far, it is used only in the Kamchatka Territory, although the potential is much greater. This type of energy in the Kamchatka Territory accounts for about a third of heat and light generation. This is one of the record figures in the country. Kamchatka was the first region to start developing subsoil heat technology during the Soviet era. In 1966, the Pauzhetskaya GeoES with a capacity of 11 MW was built, and its energy sources were the volcanoes Kambalny and Koshelev. In December 1999, the Verkhe-Mutnovsky geoelectric power plant was put into operation. Its installations produced 12 MW. Two years later, the first unit of Russia’s largest Mutnovskaya GeoES at 25 MW was launched. In October 2002, its capacity was increased to 50 MW. In general, the reserves of the Mutnovsky steam-hydrothermal field are sufficient for 300 MW power plants.
Hydropower production worldwide varies from year to year, which is affected not only by changes in installed capacity, but even more by changes in weather and other local operating conditions. It is estimated that in 2019, global electricity generation amounted to 4,306 TW, which is 2.3% more than in 2018, or about 15.9% of total electricity production in the world.
Climate change poses an increased risk to the industry, but recently the industry has increasingly included climate variability and its impact on hydrological conditions in planning, design and operational plans.
Among the countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, Tajikistan has large hydropower resources, but they are still sold only by about 5%. The Republic of Tajikistan ranks 8th in the world in terms of potential for hydropower generation – they are estimated at 527 billion kW. Among the CIS countries, the country is second only to Russia in this respect. Tajikistan has significant energy reserves of RES resources. More than 285 operating small hydropower plants with a capacity of 5 to 4300 kW have been registered in the country. Of this number, 16 small HPPs have been built and are operated by OAO Barki Tochyk and are state-owned. Pamir Energy operates eleven small and mini-hydropower plants with a total installed capacity of 44.16 MW.
In one of the mountainous regions of Tajikistan in the territory of Gorno-Badakhshan, the first private energy project based on the PPP model (Private Public Partnership) was implemented. In 2002, the company OJSC “Pamir Energy” was established. The company was established to restore and rehabilitate the power supply system of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region and built 11 hydroelectric power plants that helped electrify mountain villages and develop the area economically: Khorog residents and most residents of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region In 2008, the company began exporting electricity to neighboring Afghanistan.
The company’s creation results from joint investments of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development SA and the International Finance Corporation. Investments made by FAHER, IFC, the Swiss government, and a World Bank loan to the government of Tajikistan totaled about $ 27 billion.
What awaits us in the future?
According to the forecast of the International Energy Agency WEO-2019 and the Roadmap for Global Energy Transformation, it is expected that by 2050 the share of renewable energy in a generation will be 85%, compared to about 25% in 2017. Solar and wind power will be in the lead, increasing from 800 GW today to 13,000 GW by 2050. In addition, geothermal, bioenergy, and hydropower generation will increase by 800 GW over the period. The annual increase in installed renewable energy capacity will double to about 400 GW per year, 80% of which will be variable generation technologies like solar and wind energy. Decentralized renewable energy production will increase from 2% of the total output today to 21% by 2050, i.e., increase ten times.
