Search Climate Insights Directory
403 results
Turning on Batteries for Resilient Homes and a Cleaner Grid
Holy Cross Energy's Power+ program provides residential customers in Colorado with distributed battery storage through a tariff-based on-bill financing model. By leveraging USDA loan capital, the program eliminates upfront costs for participants and allows the utility to manage peak demand and integrate more renewable energy. The program aims to support the utility's goals of 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2035, while providing homeowners with backup power during climate-driven outages.
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Document type: Case study
On the Road to 100 Percent Renewables for Michigan
The document argues that Michigan can meet all electricity needs with wind, solar, and batteries by 2035, leading to significant public health savings, job growth, and emissions reductions, provided the transition is managed equitably.
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Document type: Fact sheet
On the Road to 100 Percent Renewables
The report finds that USCA states can meet 100% of their electricity consumption with renewables by 2035, even with increased demand from electrification. This transition would significantly reduce air pollution, prevent 6,000 to 13,000 premature deaths, and lower average household energy burdens from 3.7% to 3.0% by 2040. While the transition creates substantial net jobs in renewable installation, the authors argue that proactive equity policies are necessary to ensure benefits reach marginalized communities and fossil fuel workers.
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Document type: Report
CASE STUDY Designing a Neighborhood Microgrid
The Union of Concerned Scientists used the HOMER Grid model to analyze microgrid configurations for Parker Village, a planned eight-acre development in Highland Park, Michigan. The analysis focused on a grid-separated (islanded) system powered by solar photovoltaic panels and battery storage to maximize community independence. Findings indicate that while a grid-separated microgrid is feasible, it requires significant solar and battery capacity and necessitates fossil fuel backup (natural gas or diesel) to meet winter peak demand. Alternatively, a grid-connected backup option reduces initial investment costs and battery requirements but maintains a dependency on the utility for approximately 2% of annual power demand. The study emphasizes that increasing building energy efficiency could reduce the necessary scale of energy resources and minimize reliance on fossil fuel backups.
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Document type: Case study
Designing a Neighborhood Microgrid
The document describes the use of HOMER Grid software to analyze solar and battery storage configurations for the Parker Village neighborhood in Highland Park, Michigan. It outlines financial assumptions, building stock electricity demand based on full electrification and heat pump use, and technology costs for solar PV, Tesla Powerpack storage, and backup generators. The analysis results in several recommended system configurations combining 1.1 MW of solar PV with varying levels of storage and backup options (diesel, natural gas, or grid connection) to ensure resilience and reliability.
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Document type: Report
Nigeria’s First Commercial Undergrid Minigrid
The Mokoloki undergrid minigrid project in Ogun State, Nigeria, has demonstrated the feasibility of providing reliable solar power to communities that are connected to the national grid but suffer from unreliable supply. Through a tripartite partnership between the Mokoloki community, Nayo Tropical Technology, and the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), the project has achieved 100% collection rates and doubled its revenue within 18 months. The system, comprising 100 kWp solar PV and battery storage, has significantly improved energy reliability compared to the previous utility service and is driving local economic growth by supporting productive uses of electricity for commercial customers.
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Document type: Report
SADC Industrialisation Futures: Towards Economic Wellbeing
The paper assesses how the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and the sustainability movement shape the industrialisation trajectory of the SADC region. It argues that while 4IR technologies offer opportunities for leapfrogging legacy industries and formalising the informal sector, they also risk creating high-tech enclaves, global monopolies, and 'gig-economy sweatshops'. The authors propose a reimagined strategy that integrates 4IR and green economy goals to achieve broad economic wellbeing rather than focusing solely on job creation.
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Document type: Research paper
ENERGY SERVICES MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORT
The South African energy services market is expanding due to rising electricity costs, energy insecurity, and falling technology prices. The market is segmented into small-scale embedded generation (SSEG), energy storage, and energy efficiency, with a total available market estimated at R131 billion by 2035. Key opportunities include rooftop solar PV for commercial and industrial (C&I) and agricultural sectors, behind-the-meter battery storage, and innovative energy efficiency models like Cooling-as-a-Service (CaaS). The Western Cape is highlighted as a leading regional hub due to its supportive municipal policies and high uptake of SSEG.
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Document type: Report
LARGE-SCALE RENEWABLE ENERGY MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORT
The report assesses the South African large-scale renewable energy market, focusing on the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) and the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2019. It identifies significant growth potential in solar PV, onshore wind, and battery storage, while highlighting critical barriers such as grid saturation in the Northern and Western Cape and the financial instability of the state utility, Eskom. The document also explores emerging opportunities in green hydrogen production and local manufacturing of components, supported by the Atlantis Special Economic Zone in the Western Cape.
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Document type: Report
ESCENARIO RUTA A CERO NETO 2050
The document is a glossary accompanying a technical report by Transforma and WWF. It defines key energy and climate terms relevant to Colombia's path to net-zero emissions by 2050, covering categories such as bioenergy, hydrogen types, renewable energy sources, and carbon capture technologies.
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Document type: Guide
Scaling up the deployment of Integrated Utility Services (IUS) to support energy sector transformation in the Caribbean (Phase I)
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is seeking project preparation funding to design a programme that transforms electric utilities in Barbados, Belize, Guyana, and Jamaica into 'utility-based ESCOs'. By implementing the Integrated Utility Services (IUS) model, utilities will provide on-bill financing for customers to install distributed renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) measures, reducing the financial risk for end-users and decreasing dependence on imported fossil fuels. The programme aims to reduce at least 400,000 tCO2eq and provide adaptation benefits to at least 80,000 direct beneficiaries.
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Document type: Report
Perceived unknowns about gridless water, sanitation and energy services
The report outlines systemic barriers to gridless services, emphasizing that failures often stem from a lack of understanding of user needs, regulatory gaps, and financial instability rather than technical performance.
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Document type: Report
How consumers can help to decarbonise the electricity system
The document argues that demand-side flexibility (DSF) is essential for integrating intermittent renewables and managing the electrification of transport and buildings. It identifies barriers such as inadequate economic signals and consumer passivity, while highlighting enablers like smart metering, digital aggregation platforms, and the need to align services with consumer preferences. For China, the brief suggests a transition from coal-based flexibility to decarbonised sources, proposing a hybrid approach combining market prices with administrative merit orders to manage distributed energy resources.
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Document type: Policy brief
Cooling as a Service (CaaS) LAB INSTRUMENT ANALYSIS—INDIA REPLICATION
The report proposes a 'Cooling as a Service' (CaaS) model to increase smallholder farmer incomes in India by providing pay-as-you-go access to decentralized, clean-energy cold storage. This model, supported by the 'Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant' (VCCA) mobile app, aims to reduce food waste and allow farmers to sell produce during high-price windows. Financial modeling for apple farmers in Himachal Pradesh suggests that CaaS can increase farmer incomes by 36% and provide project internal rates of return (IRR) exceeding 22.5%. The initiative targets the mobilization of USD 200 million and the benefit of 1.5 million farmers by the replication phase.
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Document type: Report
Let Communities Choose
The report analyzes how Highland Park, Michigan, can transition to 100 percent locally generated clean energy to achieve energy sovereignty. It identifies a total average annual electricity demand of approximately 86,200 MWh and proposes a mix of rooftop solar, community solar, energy efficiency, distributed solar, and a community water and energy resource center (CWERC) to meet this need. The analysis highlights that current utility restrictions and state policies create long payback periods for solar investments, but a proposed policy scenario—including full retail-rate net metering and state tax credits—could increase rooftop solar's contribution from 13 percent to nearly 30 percent of the city's energy needs. The document concludes with recommendations for Michigan policymakers to eliminate distributed generation caps and for Highland Park leaders to enact solar ordinances and establish local financing mechanisms.
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Document type: Report
Let Communities Choose: Clean Energy Sovereignty in Highland Park, Michigan
The document outlines the use of HOMER Grid software to optimize energy systems in Highland Park, MI, assuming investments made in 2023. It details building stock estimates, electricity rate tariffs from DTE Energy, and the impact of policy incentives like net metering and SRECs on payback periods for residential and commercial solar installations.
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Document type: Report
Kenya Power’s Decarbonising the Energy Mix Initiative
The document assesses the decarbonisation of Kenya's power sector, highlighting the role of geothermal, hydro, wind, and solar energy. It warns that the Lamu coal power plant could cause oversupply and reduce system flexibility, while noting that further integration of variable renewable energy (VRE) and distributed energy resources (DER) will require increased flexibility and continuous investment in clean capacity.
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Document type: Report
Climate Resilience and Adaptation Finance Technology Transfer Facility (CRAFT)
CRAFT is a commercial investment vehicle targeting SMEs with proven climate resilience technologies in both developed and developing countries. It identifies market segments totaling over USD 130 billion in spending and targets investors ranging from development finance institutions to institutional investors. The fund focuses on countries with high climate vulnerability and low investment risk.
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Document type: Case study
HOW-TO GUIDE Legislative Language for Equitable Energy Storage
The Union of Concerned Scientists outlines how state legislation can leverage energy storage to advance equity, focusing on replacing fossil fuel peaker plants, increasing community resiliency, and expanding access to distributed energy resources for low-income and overburdened communities.
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Document type: Guide
Okra Solar: Start rapidly, start small and grow over time
Okra Solar provides modular, plug-and-play mesh-grid hardware and software that allows energy developers to deploy power rapidly and scale as demand grows. By utilizing rooftop installations and interlinked systems, the company aims to bypass land permit barriers and reduce distribution costs. A pilot project in Cambodia demonstrated the model's efficacy, energizing 140 households within two months of contract award using a 48.8kWp PV system. The company currently operates in Cambodia, The Philippines, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Haiti, with a target of reaching 10,000 connections within 12 months.
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Document type: Case study