Renewable energy resources, policies and gaps in BRICS countries and the global impact

doi:10.1007/s11708-018-0601-z

Front. Energy

2019, Vol. 13

Issue (3) : 506-521 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-018-0601-z

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Renewable energy resources, policies and gaps in BRICS countries and the global impact

Lakshmi PATHAK, Kavita SHAH(

)

Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India

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Abstract

This paper presents comparative yet extensive analysis of existing non-conventional renewable resources, energy policies and gaps in BRICS countries. An intelligent transformation to green economy to maintain natural resources is noted. Brazil has stable energy policies and is the leading producer of biofuels following hydropower until 2014 but supported wind and solar power development by tendering specific tariffs for energy generation from solar and wind. Russia needs improvement in its legal and regulatory framework with more incentives in energy policies. China is improving upon wind and hydropower but it needs strong policy measures to put cap on increased CO₂ emissions. India needs revision in energy policy and requires extra incentives and consumer specific energy policies for research-infrastructure and energy generation technologies. South Africa requires lessons to increase renewable energy and reduce coal mining. Moreover, BRICS countries need to redefine their energy policies based upon their existing geographical, economical, societal and environmental conditions which will help in shaping global energy policies and more financial stability. This paper recognizes the potential of BRICS to reshape the global system paralleled with minimizing CO₂ emissions. The concerted role of BRICS needs to be recognized as the leading contributor of global renewable capacity where the developed world is geared and busy to address the environmental issues.

Keywords BRICS CO₂ emissions energy policies renewable

Corresponding Author(s): Kavita SHAH

Online First Date: 23 January 2019 Issue Date: 04 September 2019

Cite this article:

Lakshmi PATHAK,Kavita SHAH. Renewable energy resources, policies and gaps in BRICS countries and the global impact[J]. Front. Energy, 2019, 13(3): 506-521.

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https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/10.1007/s11708-018-0601-z
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/Y2019/V13/I3/506

Fig.1 Total energy (Mtoe) production and consumption in BRICS countries during 2010–2016

Fig.2 Status of energy generation, CO₂ emissions and energy utilization in BRICS countries

Factors			Brazil	Russia	India	China	South Africa
Population			201(million persons)	144 (million persons)	1211(million persons)	1357 (million persons)	52 (million persons)
Total area			8514877 km²	17.1 million km²	3287263 km²	9600000 km²	2500 km²
Geographical location			5°16′20′′ N, 33°44′32′′ S; 34°47′30′′ E, 73°59′32′′ W	60°N	8°4′ N 37°6′ S; 68°7′ and 97°25′ E	35°0′ N; 105°0′ E	29°00' S; 24°00′ E
Resource available			Water dams, rivers for hydropower; oil	Natural gas reserves	Coal & oil reserves	Coal & oil reserves	Coal reserves
Resources exploited			Hydropower, biofuels	Natural gas, oil, nuclear energy	Coal, oil and renewable resources	Coal, nuclear energy, oil and renewable resources	Coal & oil
Energy consumption per capita (2014–2015)			2529 kWh	6539 kWh	765 kWh	3762 kWh	4328 kWh
CO₂ emissions			582 Mt (increase)	1657 Mt (decline–4.2%)	2088 Mt (increase+ 5.3%)	5761 Mt slight decrease	Slight increase 452 Mt
Legal actions and governance			Strong	Weak	Strong	Very strong	Weak
Tax exemptions			Import tax exemptions for wind power equipment’s and solar PV equipment in the 2% to 10% range; industrial products tax reduction (IPI) for flex-fuel vehicles	No specific data found	Income tax holiday, accelerated depreciation, duty free import, electricity tax exemption, capital subsidy for wind and biomass	Tax exemption in the first 3 years and a 50% reduction of the income tax from the 4th to the 6th year for all projects. The VAT rate for methane biomass, small hydro and wind power projects is 13%, 6% and 8.5%, respectively	Tax exemptions to stimulate clean development mechanism (CDM) in respect of disposal of certified emissions reduction (CER) on or after 11th, Feb, 2009
Subsidies & incentives on			USD 9.7 million funding for various types of subsidies	Compensation for the connection costs of renewable energy installations with a capacity not exceeding 25 MW	State governments have provided the incentives in the form of a VAT at a reduced rate 5% compared to other states levy 15%		50% allowance on cost & construction of assets used for wind, solar & gravitational water forces of not more than 30 MW & biomass
		Wind power	No subsidy	No specific subsidy found	Fiscal and financial incentives available, 80% accelerated depreciation, exemption of excise duty, sales tax for 10 years	wind power related infrastructure subsidy is provided	No specific subsidy found
		Grid-connected solar PV power projects	Up to 90% of project costs for R&D projects related to smart grids, renewable energy, hybrid vehicles and energy efficiency in transport	No specific subsidy found	No specific subsidy found	50% of the total investment & transmission distribution systems. 70% for remote regions with no power supply	No specific subsidy found
		Solar PV power equipment’s	40% of waterheating needs be provided by solar heating in new construction	No specific subsidy found	No specific subsidy found	PV panels are encapsulated into building materials, the 2013 subsidy standard is 7.25 CNY/kWh	No specific subsidy found
		Biomass power and co-generation projects	6.15% PIS rate and 28.32% COFINS rate levied on gross revenues from biodiesel rates. Discount on tax for vehicles running exclusively on bioethanol	No specific subsidy found	16% excise duty on Bio-ethanol& biodiesel is exempted from excise duty;subsidy @ Rs. 30–50 lakh/MW for cooperative sector sugar mills; subsidy @~ Rs. 8–10 lakh/ MW depending on capacity of the project	Subsidy of 0.25 CNY/kWh for15 years after commercial operation. 2% subsidy to new projects uptill 2010	No specific subsidy found
		R&D incentives	Incentive for infrastructure development, known as REIDI. Only electricity and cogeneration renewable energy projects are eligible. REIDI requires a project-by-project approval	No specific subsidy found	R&D funds mainly for solar, wind and hydro power development. Not much funds for biomass, nuclear and geothermal power generation. R&D funds for solar PV power under JNNSM	R&D funds for solar, wind & biomass power projects. Not much emphasis on funds for hydro & geothermal power. R&D funds on wind power and solar PV power; resource-rich geothermal and biomass power generation received negligible R&D funds	50% deduction for all expenditures incurred to eligible R&D activities
Feed-in-tariffs			Currently no feed in tariff policy for wind power, hydro and biomass	Tariffs schemes for the electricity generated from renewable or high-efficiency co-generation installations to pay a fixed minimum price	Generation based incentives (GBI): 0.50 per unit for 10 years to eligible project of 5 MW capacity grid project	For solar, wind and biomass power projects	Does not include off grid power generation
	Wind power		No tariff	No specific tariff found	15% depreciation to windmills installed after 2012	4 types of wind resource regions where different feed-in tariffs are defined 0.49, 0.52, 0.56 and 0.61 till 2016	ZAR 1.25/kWh for wind
	Biomass Power		No tariff	No specific tariff found	Biomass power cogeneration tariff vary for different states 3.2–5.1/unit in the range	After July 2010 tariff 0.75 CNY/kWh for biomass power projects & for waste incineration power projects is 0.65 CNY/kWh	ZAR 1.18/kWh for solid biomass & ZAR 0.96/kWh
	Small hydro Power		No tariff	No specific tariff found	No tariff	Tariff for hydropower exploitation cost, the provincial average electricity purchase price, and for demand-supply of the market	ZAR 0.96/kWh for less than 10 MW
	Solar PV, CSP		No tariff	No specific tariff found	Tendering tariff for solar PV projects, solar thermal projects fixed at Rs 17.90/kWh,Rs 15.40/kWh under JNNSM. No tariff for rooftop solar projects	Tariffs for PV are 0.9, 0.95 and 1 CNY/kWh for 3 territorial regions before 2016. FiT development in four ways for CSP projects	Tendering tariff for PV &CSP fixed at ZAR 2.31/kWh for CSP with storage of 6 h per day and for 1 MW PV ZAR 2.10/kWh
	Geothermal power		No tariff	No specific tariff found	No tariff	Based on construction and operation costs as well as reasonable profits	No specific tariff found

Tab.1 Parameters of BRICS countries for NCRES development and governance as per policies available in literature from 2015 to 2016

Country	Policy/Act/Programme	Key feature	Reference
Brazil	PROINFA (Brazilian Program of Incentives for Alternative Electricity Sources) (2002)	Creates a program of incentives (feed in-tariff) for some types of NCRES-wind power, small scale hydropower and biomass fuelled plants	[30,31]
	Act No. 10, 848-Auctions (2004)	Defines their operating rules and sets several types of auctions for the regulated market including those involving NCRES
	Act No.11,448-Auctions (2007)	Provide tax exemptions for companies investing in infrastructure projects
	ANEEL’s normative resolution No. 482 (2012)	Defines the conditions for the access to distribution by distributed small scale power generators and net metering system that can be used to value surplus power injected by them into the grids
	Executive Decree 656 (2014)	Wind turbine component tax exemption
	Ministerial Decree 538 ProGD program (2015)	Tax incentives and lines of credit to distributed generation
Russia	The electricity premium scheme 2008	Price of electricity produced by certified renewable energy installations determined by adding equilibrium price of wholesale electricity market	[10,15,39]
	Decree N^o1715-r (2009)	Energy strategy of Russia for the period up to 2030
	New capacity based scheme 2010	Electricity production from renewable energy promoted on the basis of capacity market
India	Electricity Act (2003)	Laws relating to generation, transmission, distribution, promotion of efficient and environmentally benign policies	[17,32,35,37]
	The National Tariff Policy (2006)	Ensure availability of electricity to consumers at reasonable and competitive rates
	National Rural Electrification Policy (2006)	Provision of electricity to all households by 2009; power supply in remote areas at reasonable rates
	Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar mission (JNNSM) (2008)	To deploy 20000 MW of solar capacity by 2022
	New Hydropower Policy (2008)	Exemptions to developer for merchant sale of 40% sellable energy from hydro power generations
	National Policy on Biofuels	Proposed target of 20% blending of biofuels, both for biodiesel and bio-ethanol by 2017
	MNRE Strategic Plan (2011–2017)	Increase the contribution of Renewable Energy in the total energy mix of the country to 6% by 2022, with about 10% contribution to total electricity mix, in line with IEPR projections
China	China’s 12th Five Year Plan (2010–2015)	First time in 2012 China proposed plan to encourage use of grid based small hydro and wind projects based renewable power generation	[33,34,38,40–42]
	China’s 13th Five Year Plan (2016–2020)	China proided feed in tariffs to concentrated solar power (CSP-FiTs) and wind power through public tender, case by case, based on regional basis
	Transport sector related policies	To reduce energy demand and increase the share of renewable energy use for automobiles; vehicle and fuel taxation; subsidies for energy-efficient and electric vehicles incentives for biodiesel use
	Solar water heating policy for buildings (2000–2012)	Solar water heater installation increased almost 10-fold from 26 million m² to more than 250 million m² with allowance equivalent to 13% of the product price, with a ceiling of CNY 5000 per unit for solar water heaters
	Industrial policies for renewable energy (2013)	R& D innovations and strategies for infrastructure development especially for wind turbine; 2–3 MW wind turbine providing substantial direct funding
	Carbon policy (2011)	Emission Reduction scheme to control carbon emissions for launch of trading scheme & GHG’s control
South Africa	White Paper on Energy Policy (1998)	Increasing access to affordable energy services; improving energy governance; stimulating economic development; managing energy-related environmental impacts; and securing energy supply through diversity	[20,28,36]
	Renewable Energy White Paper (2003)	The Renewable Energy White Paper outlined a long-term vision of a sustainable, completely nonsubsidised alternative to fossil fuels
	National Climate Change Response Policy White Paper (2011)	A process adopted as the Long-Term Mitigation Scenario (LTMS) formulation in Rio de jenerio convention for switching to renewables to overcome climate change along with overcoming their poverty and inequality
	An Integrated Resource Plan 2010–2030	Encouraging use of renewable sources but simultaneously reliance on coal too. It is estimated that electricity demand by 2030 would require an increase in additional generation capacity of 52 GW, 17.8 GW which will be from renewable sources—wind, solar, biomass, small-scale hydro and biogas, and 2.6 GW from large-scale hydro

Tab.2 Overview of major renewable energy policies for BRICS countries

Fig.3 BRICS, European Union and top 5 renewable power capacity countries (2015)

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