Assessing the Water-Land-Energy-Food Nexus in trans-boundary river basins
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Status: ongoing
Partner: UNECE |
Typically water management schemes and ecosystem preservation plans differ from one riparian country to another as well as between scales. Bilateral or multilateral agreements on water management are becoming urgent as pressure on natural resources increases. Often a lack of integration between sectors and country policies causes significant efficiency losses. Considering the water, energy, land-use and ecosystems nexus in trans-boundary basins aims at identifying these linkages and understanding how best to integrate them in future planning, to improve the efficiency of resources use while preserving the ecosystems and their services... more
image source: unece.org |
Country level CLEWs
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Status: ongoing
Partner: UNDESA |
Energy, land and water are some of the most important resources of any nation. As countries tap into these resources to meet their development aspirations, policy makers need to take into account the various trade-offs and synergies that emerge from their management. Recent developments indicate that the interconnections among the use of natural resources and the economy are so important that policy decision making can significantly benefit from considering the full range of policy impacts in an integrated way; that is considering simultaneously how land, energy and water interplay in particular policy scenarios, as well as considering the impact of natural shocks on resource availability for economic growth and social development. The project will use the Climate, Land-, Energy- and Water-use Strategies (CLEWs) methodology to implement the integrated assessment and will draw to the extent possible from national and regional data, studies and models in the relevant area. The CLEWs framework is currently being implemented for Uganda and Nicaragua.
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Development of the Model Management Infrastructure (MoManI) interface.
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Status: ongoing
Partner: UNDESA |
To facilitate the use of OSEMOSYS for capacity building and model-based planning, UNDESA and KTH-dESA (with support from IAEA and Tartu University) are developing the web based interface Model Management Infrastructure (MoManI). MoManI, is a browser-based open source interface for energy systems modelling. Available to all manner of users, from policy makers and energy planners through to academics, its novel structure allows different teams to collaborate simultaneously from around the globe. Each user can easily edit and update any part of the modelling process: from the underlying mathematical equations of OSeMOSYS through to the visualization of results. Although energy system modelling is a complex process, MoManI’s straightforward structure helps simplify it thereby supporting effective capacity building activities. The easy and fast results visualization feature in MoManI also allows energy planners to get immediate feedback on their work to ensure a quick turnaround time.
Link to the project: https://unite.un.org/sites/unite.un.org/files/app-desa-atlantis/index.html Link to MoManI: osemosys.momaniweb.com |
Energy systems-CGE modelling Link up for pilot countries
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Status: ongoing
Partner: UNDESA |
The project aims to support the development of government capacities to formulate consistent policies and strategies aimed at promoting sustainable development. Sustainable development requires the alignment of a wide range of policies in a coherent framework, to ensure that decisions aimed at achieving human development and poverty reduction in a context of intensive use of renewable energy sources and protecting natural heritage, are made so that macroeconomic balances are preserved and to ensure the sustainability of public finances. Therefore, the project will train and will provide the government with a suite of tools that includes a comprehensive model of the economy, a dynamic model of power systems, a routine microsimulation and a methodology link between models of economy and energy . The comprehensive model of the economy (a CGE model with focus on energy) is being developed by UNDESA and the energy systems model is developed in OSeMOSYS by KTH. The project includes several training activities which aim to deepen the participants' ability to build energy system and CGE models from scratch and also develope capacities for interpretation and communication of results. The pilot countries were Uganda, Nicaragua and Bolivia.
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SweGRIDS
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Status: ongoing
Partner: SweGRIDS consortium |
SweGRIDS is the Swedish Centre for Smart Grids and Energy Storage. Hosted by KTH Royal Institute of Technology itself, it is a partnership between academia, industry and public utilities, with the purpose of developing new and improved devices and methods to help achieve the European Union’s ambitious targets for greater use of renewable energy sources and improved energy efficiency. Under this project, the division of Energy Systems Analysis (dESA) and ABB are collaborating with the aim to a) develop and improve the OpeN Source Spatial Electrification Tool (ONSSET), b) address the question of how best to model Transmission and Distribution and International Trade in the medium to long term energy systems optimisation tool OSeMOSYS and c) Using lessons learnt and technical developments from points a) and b) to assess potential EU Market Designs for the future.
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Climate Vulnarability of the African Infrastructure
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Status: completed
Partners: World Bank |
In a recent call for proposals relative to the vulnerability of African Infrastructure, the World Bank expressed their interest in funding an in depth analysis including Roads, Water and Power sectors. In general terms, the objective is to detect and assess robust trans-sectoral adaptation strategies for planning, evaluating and designing specific infrastructure investments in the face of climate uncertainty.
In detail, this project focuses on the study of seven river basins in relation to four power pools applying the RAND Corporation's methods of decision under great uncertainty while using inter-related water and energy models generated by the modelling teams at SEI-US and KTH-dESA respectively, among which OSeMOSYS. The final output formulates actionable recommendations for policy makers at multiple levels on how to increase the system's resilience on the whole by enacting short term policy measures that fit into a long term vision for a robust system into the future. |
Estimating Investment Needs for the Power Sector in the Africa Region
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Status: completed
Partner: AfDB |
Since the end of 2010, the AfDB has taken over the leadership in this area from the World Bank and has developed the Africa Infrastructure Knowledge Program (AIKP), based on the AICD methodology, as a framework for maintaining a database of infrastructure indicators. These indicators include power, water, ICT, road transport, rail transport, sea transport and air transport and are assessed for the African continent. Their responsibility also extends to generating knowledge on infrastructure on a long-term and sustainable basis.
With a focus on these responsibilities for the energy sector in particular, the approach undertaken in this project aims at updating previous assessments for selected countries while supporting the AICD view of providing a more inclusive energy dialogue. Instead of presenting one or several static sets of results, the approach invites an audience unfamiliar with modelling tools to engage in a simple form of scenario analysis. The results from numerous individual runs will subsequently be aggregated by the AfDB and made accessible through an interactive online tool for scenario description and assessment. It is expected that this will promote the understanding of basic energy system dynamics by helping the audience to perceive the influence of key parameters on energy access and hence on the evolution of energy demand and investment requirements. |
Global CLEWs model
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Status: comopleted
Partner: UNDESA |
KTH dESA has developed a global CLEWs model that includes the most relevant materials. The model allows for the visualisation of the effects of policy decisions not only on one sector but on the CLEWs nexus as a whole. The results provide information to modellers and policy makers, allowing them to consider trade-offs and synergies for targeting sustainable development. This could mark a first step towards global sustainable development goals, taking into account “food, water and energy security, maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem services, sustainable urbanisation, social inclusion and livelihoods, protection of seas and oceans, and sustainable consumption and production”, as deemed urgently necessary in the State of the Planet Declaration in 2012 (Brito & Stafford Smith).
The OSeMOSYS tool was chosen as the development tool for its advantages in simplicity, accessibility, affordability and flexibility, making the model and its results transparent and repeatable. Such properties are key to the usefulness of the model be that within the scientific community or for application in policy making. |
Uganda 100% Renewable by 2050
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Status: completed
Partner: WWF |
As part of a collaboration with the Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL) and WWF Uganda, KTH dESA developed descriptive pathways towards a sustainable energy future in Uganda. Using the LEAP energy system simulation software, and in collaboration with local experts in Renewable Energy systems, this work included ambitious and aggressive targets for reducing fossil fuel use and deforestation practices across major sectors of the economy - including urban and rural households, indutry, agriculture and transportation. Based on applying a variation of the World Bank Tiers of Electrification framework to help push local population up the energy ladder, these scenarios also focus on sectorial emission reduction and strategic technology shifts that will enable their reduction. An initial validation workshop in April 2015, where local stakeholders provided feedback on both assumptions and initial results, was followed by a final delivery in June 2015.
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