Energy issues have always been important in international relations, but in recent years may have become even more important than in the past due to the widespread awareness of existing limits to energy sources and negative climate impacts. The course discusses global trends in energy consumption and production, various available scenarios for potential developments in the coming decades, the availability of oil reserves and the evolution of the oil industry. It then discusses natural gas and highlights the differences between oil and gas. It will also discuss renewable energy sources, nuclear energy and EU energy policy. The course aims at providing students whose main interest is in international relations a background on energy resources, technology and economic realities to allow them to correctly interpret the political impact of current developments. It also aims at providing students, who already have a technical background in energy science or engineering, with the broad global view of energy issues that will allow them to better understand the social, economic and political impact of their technical knowledge. ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR : Giacomo Luciani Scientific Advisor for the Master in International Energy at the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) Sciences Po, Giacomo Luciani is also Adjunct Professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva and Director of the Executive Master in International Oil and Gas Leadership. For the period 2010-13 he was appointed Princeton University Global Scholar, attached to the Woodrow Wilson School and the Department of Near Eastern Studies. His research focuses on the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa and on global energy issues. RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND : The course requires no special scientific, mathematical or economic background; all key concepts are clearly and elementarily explained. It is expected that it will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students in schools where an equivalent course is not offered (this being the case for the vast majority of schools). USPC Sorbonne Paris Cité Supported by Université Sorbonne Paris Cité IDEX Investissements d'Avenir Funded by Investissements d'Avenir - 'ANR. Info : Course content : Licence Creative Commons BY NC SA
Renewable sources for power generation: Hydro
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Del curso dictado por Sciences Po
Politics and Economics of International Energy
749 calificaciones
De la lección
Week#6 : Renewable energy sources
This module presents the Introduction to renewable energy, Types of renewable energy, Renewable energy integration, Energy efficiency
Conoce a los instructores
Giacomo LucianiProfessor and Scientific Advisor for the Master in International Energy
Paris School of International Affairs
-Today, hydroelectricity is the most important
source of electricity from renewables.
It is likely to remain as such although its role will likely
progressively be reduced simply because we have already developed
a lot of the favorable sites for hydroelectricity.
So the potential for further expansion is limited.
It has several advantages.
Hydroelectricity is very flexible
because essentially it is always available.
If you wish to suddenly increase the production of electricity
you just simply open the tap and let more water flow
through the turbine and that increases the flow of electricity.
So it is very convenient in many ways as we shall explain
when we speak about the problems of the integration
of other renewables into the grid.
There are social and environmental concerns
because of the visual impact of hydro
and the fact that the creation of reservoirs displaces many people.
There are many large scale internationally significant
hydroelectric projects at the moment.
When I say internationally significant,
it means that they generate some degree of controversy internationally
because they affect many countries simultaneously.
One example is the GAP project in Turkey.
This project is to create a series of dams
to produce a large amount of electricity in the south of Turkey
but this affects the flow of 2 rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates,
affecting also Syria.
There is already a large dam in Syria and that has been controversial
because it has limited the run of water towards Iraq
and of course the water that is available in this country.
Another case in point is a large dam being built in Ethiopia these days
on the Blue Nile which will affect the flow of the Nile.
So of course Egypt and Sudan that lay downstream
are concerned that there might be a reduction in the amount of water
that will be available through the Nile.
So whenever you have rivers passing through many countries,
this creates a controversy
and the utilization of the energy contained in the river so to speak
may become controversial and needs to be subjected
to some kind of international agreement and understanding.
Another important project that is discussed from time to time
is in Zaire or Democratic Republic of Congo.
It is the Grand Inga Dam on the Zaire River.
It is a project that has been around and discussed for a long time
but has not yet come to fruition
and will probably not come to fruition any time soon
simply because it would produce so much electricity
that there is no market for it.
There are many important hydro projects being built in the world.
Many of those are in China.
China has a huge appetite for increased electricity production
and they are producing or installing new power plants of all sorts,
whether nuclear, hydro or traditional coal fuel.
So China is always number one for all of this.
The next chart is taken from the International Energy Agency
and it shows that today some countries are already highly dependent
on hydroelectricity and will presumably be more dependent
in the future.
In some cases, hydroelectricity will account for the bulk of renewables use
in that country.
For example, in the case of Brazil, 80% of renewable use
will consist in hydroelectricity.
But more important in this slide, you see how much of renewable sources
are used in power generation already today.
Again you look at Brazil and you realize that this country
already produces 80% of its electricity out of hydro today.
Brazil is a country that produces 90% of its electricity
out of renewable sources.
It really is a country that has no problem
in terms of substituting non renewable sources since it has done so.
All of its electricity comes from renewable sources.
It is not the only country of course.
Brazil is a very large country
but we can mention other cases.
Norway for example which is a major oil and gas producer
but it does not use any of that gas for power generation.
Mostly its power is supplied for by hydroelectricity.
If you talk about Alpine countries, Austria or Switzerland,
they have the opportunity of satisfying 40-50% of their electricity
with hydroelectricity, 55% in the case of Austria.
So these are countries that are blessed
with sources of renewable electricity
and therefore do not have much of a problem
in terms of making an effort to increase the role of renewables.
Elsewhere in the world this is not the case.
Because if you are in flat a country, that does not have mountains,
or if it is a dry or desert land,
you do not have a chance to implement hydro.
The incidence of renewables today and also in the future
will remain very much conditioned and linked to specific characteristics
of each country.
There are countries that are well positioned
to have more renewables and specifically hydro,
and others that are not.
This is something that will not easily change.
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