THE FUTURE ELECTRICITY GRID Key questions and considerations for developing countries BHARATH JAIRAJ, SARAH MARTIN, JOSH RYOR, SHANTANU DIXIT, ASHWIN GAMBHIR, ADITYA CHUNEKAR, RANJIT BHARVIRKAR, GILBERTO JANNUZZI, SAMAT SUKENALIEV, AND TAO WANG WRI.ORG The Future Electricity Grid: Key Questions and Considerations for Developing Countries i AUTHORS: Bharath Jairaj, Sarah Martin, and Josh Ryor World Resources Institute Shantanu Dixit, Ashwin Gambhir, and Aditya Chunekar Prayas, Energy Group (PEG) Ranjit Bharvirkar The Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) Gilberto Jannuzzi International Energy Initiative (IEI) Samat Sukenaliev UNISON Group Tao Wang DESIGN AND LAYOUT BY: Jen Lockard
[email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Foreword 3 Executive Summary 7 Introduction 13 The Traditional Electricity Sector Model 21 The Changing Electricity Sector: Current Trends 35 Implications for the Future Grid 45 Considerations for Developing Country Stakeholders 51 Conclusion 54 Glossary 56 Annex 1 57 Annex 2 58 References 65 Endnotes iv WRI.org FOREWORD Electricity systems around the world are balancing New policies that support these non-utility a diverse set of challenges, ranging from energy ▪ generators and aim to increase clean energy use security and access to environmental and public are expanding. health concerns. At the same time, the energy land- □ Since 2004, the number of countries scape is changing rapidly as a result of three trends putting in place renewable energy targets disrupting the status quo. These include: has tripled from 48 to 164 (REN21 2015). These trends are happening in New, more cost effective technologies, includ- both high income countries and lower ▪ ing variable renewable energy, energy effi- income countries. ciency, small distributed generation and storage that are being deployed at larger scale.