Re-Transition: Transitioning to Policy Frameworks for Cost-Competitive Renewables

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Source:
IEA-RETD (Renewable Energy Technology Deployment)
Authors:
Jaquelin Cochran
Owen Zinaman
Toby D. Couture
David Jacobs
Date:
1 March 2016

This report presents a novel overarching framework to help policymakers understand the evolution of renewable energy policy. The authors attempt to outline potential pathways to adapt to the rise of rapidly scalable and increasingly cost-competitive renewable energy technologies like solar photovoltaics (PV) and onshore wind power. The report identifies three pillars that are critical to ensuring the continued scale-up of renewable energy projects: projects will need to remain bankable; the power system as a whole will need to become more flexible; and policymakers will need to provide long-term signals to investors and other stakeholders by establishing a clear long-term vision for the development of the power system. A stable long-term policy framework is needed to ensure a continued scale-up in investments and project deployment especially for increasingly cost-competitive renewable energy technologies.