IRENA side event at the 36th International Energy Workshop: Planning for the Renewable Future

College Park, USA

During the 36th edition of the International Energy Workshop (IEW) on 12 July 2017 in College Park, Maryland, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) held a side event on best practices to improve the representation of variable renewable energy (VRE) in long-term modelling.

A complete session concept note and agenda of the meeting can be found here.

The event gathered over 70 international energy modelling experts to join a discussion around IRENA’s recent Planning for the Renewable Future report, which reviews methodologies practiced around the world to improve the representation of VRE sources like solar and wind in long-term modelling. Such methodologies, which range from simple to complex, can help countries reflect the real potential of renewables in long-term regional and national energy master plans.

The IRENA side event at IEW was chaired by Professor Brian Ó Gallachóir of University College Cork, and featured five invited interventions from Dr. Asami Miketa (IRENA), Dr. Roberto Schaeffer (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), Dr. Joseph DeCarolis (North Carolina State University), Dr. Todd Levin (Argonne National Laboratory), and Dr. Bethany Frew (National Renewable Energy Laboratory).

Invited interventions were followed by an open discussion with participating experts, during which areas for further research were identified. While the methodological toolbox to represent VRE in long-term energy modelling has undoubtedly become larger and more robust over the past several years, there now exists an open question around the proper application of these new methodologies.- which are appropriate in which context, and to what extent?

IRENA will be taking this conversation forward through future work, and welcomes continued engagement with the academic research community around events such as the IEW.

For further information please contact:

Asami Miketa, Programme Officer – Energy Planning, IRENA (AMiketa@irena.org)

Daniel Russo, Associate Professional – Planning for the Global Energy Transition, IRENA (DRusso@irena.org)