Outputs from the project include energy system models, reports written for stakeholders, , reports enumerating the connections between the energy system and SDGs and the Just Transition, presentations of results to stakeholders and government ministries, peer-reviewed publications and presentations at professional conferences. Prior to specific country engagement, a journal article was published on minimum per capita energy consumption needs as a prerequisite for achieving other SDGs. A conference presentation arose from this work, and a book for a Springer Publishing series on the SDGs will be started immediately after the conclusion of this grant project.
Working with colleagues at Climate Analytics and within the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia and Grenada, energy system models were developed using the Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP) framework. Reports based on these modeling results, together with other inputs formed the basis for working with the governments as they developed their revised NDCs. A peer-reviewed paper on Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) arose from work in the Caribbean. OTEC can serve as a multi-faceted complement to solar and wind power in a 100% renewable energy system. In the paper, the researcher and colleagues showed how OTEC, as mapped for all countries in the region, can for some countries be part of a system with high renewable percentage and decreased costs compared to currently existing systems.
In West Africa, the researcher worked with colleagues at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and participated in workshops in Ghana and Burkina Faso with stakeholders to develop alternative scenarios for transforming their respective energy systems. The complementarity of hydropower, wind and solar in West Africa was the topic of another peer-reviewed paper; another paper is in preparation based specifically on the LEAP scenarios and, connections to meeting the SDGs. Finally, the researcher worked on a project to model NDC energy system scenarios for the Ivory Coast, with (remotely-held)workshops held to build capacity in using LEAP. The researcher worked with a colleague in Bolivia on modeling scenarios for energy system pathways using the Open Source Energy Modeling System (OSeMOSYS). A manuscript on this work has been submitted for publication. Finally, the researcher worked on several energy system modeling projects for industrialized countries. In each case these were related to universal challenges of energy system transformation. Rapid decarbonization of the Australian energy system was modeled using OSeMOSYS (developed with Climate Analytics colleagues and renamed to AUSeMOSYS) with results published in a peer-reviewed paper. In related work, the researcher collaborated with colleagues from a different research group at PIK to examine the potential for net-zero emissions by mid-century in four industrialized countries or regions, Australia, the United States, the European Union and Japan; this work was also published in a peer-reviewed journal.
