Distributed Generation in strategic regions
The goal of this campaign is to accelerate the adoption of clean distributed generation (DG) technologies among CEM members and targeted regions.
The campaign, launched at the Ninth Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM9) in Copenhagen, is expected to last for 12 months and focuses on fostering peer-to-peer exchange and sharing best practices on how to accelerate DG deployment with special emphasis on renewable energy technologies by utilizing the latest technical, policy and regulatory solutions.
Goal
This campaign was bundled into the 21st Century Power Partnership initiative in September 2020.
In some regions, as is the case of Latin America, Africa and Asia, Distributed Generation has become a new opportunity to deploy renewable energy and increase access to modern electricity among isolated and vulnerable social groups. As costs for DG continue to decline, more and more countries are seeking policies, regulations, and market designs to deploy the technology efficiently. For some countries, it is crucial to act now on DG deployment so that lasting change can be achieved while political support is strong.
Opportunity
Even though there are many advantages to the adoption of DG, countries are currently facing technical issues, objections from system operators, and policy and regulatory challenges to finance and promote the rapid uptake of DG technologies. Various countries are looking to implement innovative strategies and adapt their legal and regulatory frameworks, while working with technical experts to create a suitable environment for comprehensive implementation. Increasing awareness of and knowledge sharing on the matter should encourage stakeholders to take further steps in appropriate DG adoption.
Additionally, most CEM efforts for power system transformation have been devoted so far to large scale projects. Nevertheless, power systems of the future will take advantage of both utility scale and distributed energy resources. Specific workstreams on DG are still required as part of CEM activities to increase awareness on the importance of this matter for achieving power system transformation.
Campaign actions
Peer-to-peer exchange through regional workshops, webinars, thought leadership publications, study tours, best-practice sharing, policy support for DG deployment via the Clean Energy Solutions Center’s “Ask an Expert” service, among others.
