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CenSES annual report 2014
37
Education
Patrick André Narbel defended his PhD thesis in June 2014
for his PhD degree at NHH. His thesis “Essays in Renewable
Energy Economics” deals with several key issues related
to the spread of new renewable energy technologies (e.g.
wind and solar) globally.
Energy is a key component of our lives. All goods and ser-
vices surrounding us require energy, either to be useful or
during its production.
In our early history, humans learned to use wood and solar
energy (heating) as well as wind (transport) to cover their
energy needs. The invention of the steam engine changed
the way we lived, progressively reducing our use of
renewable energy as we shifted to and expanded our use
of fossil energies. These energy sources have contributed
to making the society what it is today. However, concerns
about resource scarcity and climate change have fostered a
renewed interest for non-hydro based forms of renewable
energy, especially wind and solar energy. This is because it
is these sources of energy which can contribute to solving
both of these grand challenges.
The scarcity issue leaves little room for doubt that renewable
energy represents the future of energy. The threat of cli-
mate change is likely to increase the speed of a transition
towards a sustainable energy supply. However, shifting to
cleaner energy is no easy feat and it requires addressing
many concerns relating to the economics and engineering
of renewable energy.
Identifying where we stand today in our understanding
of renewable energy and of the barriers lying ahead is the
major quest pursued in this thesis. More speci cally, the
emphasis is put on the economic apprehensions surrounding
the transition to a more sustainable energy mix.
In that domain one nds many questions of interest that
to a large extent have gone unanswered. For example,
where do we stand with our ability to economically harness
renewable energy sources? Why would countries invest in
these comparatively expensive sources of energy?
Which countries are doing this and how can the deployment
of intermittent sources of energy be facilitated in an e -
cient manner? These questions cover some of the concerns
I have attempted to address during my PhD studies.
The thesis explore these issues and Patrick nd that rich
countries dependent on coal imports are those with the
highest share of intermittent power. This relates to the
double target of reducing dependency on foreign countries
and abate greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite their economics rapidly improving, wind and solar
power largely remain dependent on subsidies for their
deployment. However, the biggest barrier remains their
intermittency. This intermittency creates a cost for the
system (need for back-up) which is not integrated in current
policy instruments. Alternative policy instruments could be
better design to force investors to integrate market needs
in the investment decision, such that the most valuable
projects for the power system would be built rst.
“Energy is a key component of
our lives. All goods and services
surrounding us require energy,
either to be useful or during its
production”.
Patrick Narbel, PhD Thesis
2014 Dissertation: Patrick Narbel, NHH