Climate Change Risk, Uncertainty and Energy Capacity Additions

Dear colleagues,

The growth of renewable energy technologies has in part been sparked by the leaps in technological progress and catalyzed by extant policy prescriptions. However, the ambiguity both in the specific type of policy or mandate and their stringency have produced mixed outcomes on the capacity additions of different types of electricity generation technologies. Much of the fundamental literature on the choice of instruments to combat climate change often pit quantity-based mandates against price or market based policies or hybrid instruments such as cap and trade. Complicating the techno-economic and policy nexus is the dwindling capital available for clean technology investment and the ambiguity in the prioritization of a concerted global response to climate change. In fact, the lopsidedness of the global response underscores the limited absorptive capacity in developing countries towards mitigation efforts that exacerbate the need for adaptation initiatives.  Equally important and far less appreciated is the role of climate change risks and uncertainties in policy responses. 

This Special Issue aims to contribute an outstanding collection of both research and practice oriented papers on the intersection of climate change policy interventions to enhance clean electricity access, sustainable development, emerging business models, and an equitable blend of local actions that may be customized for regional responses across the world. This issue particularly welcomes research efforts that are targeted at energy diversity in developing countries and regions with less defined national environmental and renewable energy policies; as well as the role of climate uncertainties and risk factors in policy formulation and implementation. This Special Issue welcomes papers that address these issues from theoretical, analytical approaches or empirical perspectives.

Dr. Ekundayo Shittu
Dr. Linus Nyiwul
Guest Editors

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• renewable energy 
• climate change risks and sustainable development 
• climate change uncertainties, environmental and energy policies 
• technology management 
• mitigation and adaptation 
• electricity generation 
• evaluation of microgrids 
• technical and economic evaluation of hybrid energy systems 
• absorptive and adaptive capacity 
• energy diversity and equity 
• electricity access 
• community choice aggregation 
• climate change response policies 
• Off-grid electricity subsystems 
• productive use of energy 
• energy economics 
• community solar