Gordon A. Mackenzie

Comparable assessment of national GHG abatement costs

This paper discusses the UNEP Greenhouse Gas Abatement Costing Project with particular emphasis on the national assessments of CO2 abatement cost for developing countries. A methodological framework was developed and country studies were conducted for 10 countries. National marginal abatement cost curves for the short-term (25% reduction from baseline by 2005 to 2010) and long-term (50% reduction from baseline by 2020 to 2030) targets are presented and discussed. The cost curves for the selected countries exhibit a number of similarities. The paper examines critically how the main scenario assumptions about energy/GDP intensity and energy-efficiency improvement influence the assessed abatement potential and costs. The treatment of ‘no regrets’ options in the baseline and abatement cases is discussed in relation to a developing country planning context. The issue of comparability between assessments from different countries is addressed. Even with uniform assumptions (discount rates, oil prices etc) for the group of countries as a whole, comparability within the UNEP project is shown to be a complex concept which involves national differences in the projection of economic and energy system development and the use of different modelling approaches.

Measures for diffusion of solar PV in selected African countries

ABSTRACT This paper investigates how African governments are considering supporting and promoting the diffusion of solar PV. This issue is explored by examining so-called ‘technology action plans (TAPs)’, which were main outputs of the Technology Needs Assessment project implemented in 10 African countries from 2010 to 2013. The paper provides a review of three distinct but characteristic trajectories for PV market development in Kenya (private-led market for solar home systems), Morocco (utility-led fee-for service model) and Rwanda (donor-led market for institutional systems). The paper finds that governments’ strategies to promoting solar PV are moving from isolated projects towards frameworks for market development and that there are high expectations to upgrading in the PV value chain through local assembly of panels and local production of other system elements. Commonly identified measures include support to: local production; financing schemes; tax exemptions; establishment and reinforcement of standards; technical training; and research and development.