Next Generation Wind and Solar Power (Full Report)

Renewable power has seen a dramatic expansion in recent years owing to sharply falling costs. But this growth has raised a new challenge for power system operators and regulators. Integrating the first few percentage points of variable renewables into generation poses few problems for most power systems. Beyond these levels however, power systems must be adapted and upgraded to take variable renewables into account. Systematic measures for integrating variable renewables will be a priority for countries such as Brazil, the People’s Republic of China, Mexico and South Africa, where the share of renewable power is growing rapidly. In countries such as Denmark, where variable renewables have become the main source of power, a full transformation of the power system is necessary, including infrastructure, policies and markets. The new report includes a series of country-specific case studies that show how emerging countries can achieve integration. These possible solutions include long-term strategic planning, upgrades to power systems, more advanced variable renewable technology, additional distributed resources and policies that encourage projects with greater system value.