Germany's economy is aiming for renewables to provide 65% of its power mix by 2030.

“It really is a great irony that at a time when the United States became the world’s biggest producer and has become a great exporter, that investors have become skeptical and have adopted a position of ‘show me the money,’”

Here are five priorities countries should embed in their climate plans to promote fair transitions. These recommendations will be further developed in an upcoming WRI paper that highlights building blocks and untapped opportunities for social equity in climate action.

If your business case depends on the cost of energy or the cost of storage remaining where they are, ask yourself, what if the cost goes down 50%? That’s only 3 years of decline at 20%/year.

The decentralization of our electricity grid is inevitable. Distributed energy resources (DERs) are becoming increasingly attractive for consumers as prices continue to drop and political and environmental pressures continue to mount.

Electricity generation from coal will rise only marginally over that period, at less than 1% per year – and its share will decline from 38% in 2018 to 35% in 2024. This means coal remains by far the single largest source of power supply worldwide.

Dr. Nawal Al Hosany, Permanent Representative of the UAE to the International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA, has said that the UAE’s contributions to the renewable energy sector have made it a model to follow, with investments worth US$12 billion covering 49 renewable energy projects across 25 countries, producing some 4GW of energy supplies to communities.

Technology continues to grow in its importance in all industries, including the utility sector. Utilities face special challenges as they try to meet increasing demands from customers, regulators, and a market that’s becoming increasingly diverse.

As with many industries, the expectations for distribution power companies are that they either hold their operating costs flat year over year, or that they reduce their O&M expenditures each year.

While toilets and indoor plumbing are taken for granted in developed countries, in the developing world — India, parts of Africa or Southeast Asia — it’s not a given.