Renewable energy policy trends and recommendations for GCC countries

Abstract

Policies to support the deployment of renewable energy technologies have been widely established for power generation, heating, cooling, and transportation. However, as renewable energy technologies have become increasingly cost-competitive and more widely deployed, policymakers have begun to focus their attention on the adaption of existing policies to reflect the rapidly changing economics of these technologies and the impacts they have may have on the energy systems in which they are deployed. Optimal renewable energy policies moving forward must, therefore, be context specific and tailored to the unique political, economic and social circumstances of the regional, national or sub-national energy systems in which they are to be applied. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a region where each member country has stated ambitions and targets for renewable energy but deployment to date has been minimal. Therefore, GCC ambitions must be translated into actions via defined policies and regulations that reflect regional context, and thus have the highest likelihood of achieving success. This paper investigates current trends in renewable energy policy with the aim of identifying those that will be the most effective and feasible to catalyze renewable energy in GCC countries. The findings show that utility-scale renewable energy auctions are a primary mode of stimulating renewable energy deployment internationally and this mechanism is optimally aligned with catalyzing renewable energy deployment in the GCC countries. However, further evolution of regionally tailored renewable energy policy will be required as auction mechanisms gain traction and renewable energy becomes increasingly prominent.

Qatar’s Wind Energy Potential with Associated Financial and Environmental Benefits for the Natural Gas Industry

“…Using a different approach, a renewable energy policy trend analysis was made for the GCC countries [7]. The study indicated that Qatar uses natural gas to cover over 60% of their primary energy needs and nearly 100% of their power demand.…”

“…As a conclusion, the paper indicated that the tendency in renewable energy policy design is the support the integration of cost-effective renewables into energy systems with a low impact on government finances. This trend is significant in the power sector where environmentally friendly energy technologies are becoming economically viable across the world at an accelerated pace [7]. An analysis of the policy variation in the GCC counties focusing on the adaption of renewable energy technologies was also performed [8].…”

Role of Solar energy and issues in its implementation in the Indian context

“…(1) r is the rating on a Likert scale (1-5) as for the impact on construction efficiency for a specific element influencing construction profitability, nr is the number of respondents providing a specific Likert scale rating r, N is the aggregate number of respondents to a specific question [6][4], [16], [17]. The value given to the Likert scale rating is as follows:…”

Spatial targeting, synergies and scale: Exploring the criteria of smart practices for siting renewable energy projects

“…The criterial of smart practice and negative side-effects of projects in bioenergy, biomass and biogas production have been recently explored by Ciervo andSchmitz (2017 or Martinát et al (2017). Abdmouleh et al (2015), Kitzing et al (2012) and Griffiths (2017) studied best practices concerning national renewable energy policies in general. Thapar et al (2016), on the other hand, focused more on the perspective of developing countries, identifying innovative practices followed in India which have enabled accelerated renewable energy capacity with minimal financial obligations.…”