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Power systems must be actively managed to maintain a steady balance between supply and demand. This is already a complex task as demand varies continually. But what happens when supply becomes more variable and less certain, as with some renewable sources of electricity like wind and solar PV that fluctuate with the weather? To what extent can the resources that help power systems cope with the challenge of variability in demand also be applied to variability of supply? How large are these resources? And what share of electricity supply from variable renewables can they make possible?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer. The ways electricity is produced, transported and consumed around the world exhibit great diversity. Grids can cross borders, requiring co-ordinated international policy, or can be distinct within a single country or region. And whether found in dispatchable power plants, storage facilities, interconnections for trade or on the demand side, the flexible resource that ensures the provision of reliable power in the face of uncertainty likewise differs enormously.

Written for decision makers, Harnessing Variable Renewables: a Guide to the Balancing Challenge sheds light on managing power systems with large shares of variable renewables. It presents a new, step-by-step approach developed by the IEA to assess the flexibility of power systems, which identifies the already present resources that could help meet the twin challenges of variability and uncertainty.

Household choices – such as what to eat, how to get to work and how to heat our homes – have significant implications for the environment. With the urgency of environmental action and the need to shift to more sustainable consumption patterns, making more sustainable choices holds great potential to reduce environmental impacts. Yet in the context of interlocking crises, governments face challenges in supporting households with policies that realise this potential.

How Green is Household Behaviour? presents an overview of results from the 2022 OECD Survey on Environmental Policies and Individual Behaviour Change. The survey investigates household attitudes and behaviour with respect to energy, transport, waste and food systems. It was carried out across more than 17 000 households in 9 countries, including Belgium, Canada, Israel, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The data collected also include information on self-reported motivations and barriers to change, providing a unique source of empirical evidence to inform policy efforts to shift to more sustainable consumption patterns.

European and global natural gas markets are not yet out of the danger created by Russia’s cuts to pipeline deliveries of gas. If gas exports from Russia drop to zero and China’s LNG imports rebound to 2021 levels, there is a risk of a shortfall gas supplies in 2023. Measures already taken by EU governments on energy efficiency, renewables and heat pumps should help reduce the size of this potential natural gas supply-demand gap in 2023. A recovery in nuclear and hydropower output from their decade-low levels in 2022 should also help narrow the gap. Despite all of this, the EU’s potential gas supply-demand gap could reach 27 billion cubic metres in 2023.

This new report provides the IEA’s latest analysis of the extent of the EU's potential gas supply-demand gap in 2023 and sets out the practical actions that can close that gap while avoiding excessive strains for European consumers and for international markets. The analysis includes real-world examples of measures that could be implemented and quantifies their impacts. The measures offer a pathway to a more secure and balanced EU gas market in 2023 and are consistent with the EU’s climate goals.

The sale of publicly-owned oil, gas and minerals can have a significant impact on the development trajectory of resource-rich developing and emerging economies due to the large volume of commodities sold and the amount of money involved. Therefore, getting the buyer selection process right is a crucial step to prevent potential public revenue losses that can arise through sub-optimal allocation and corruption.

This Guidance is intended to strengthen state-owned enterprises (SOEs)’ capacity to market commodities and optimise the value of resources sold. It explains how SOEs can set up transparent and competitive buyer selection procedures that reduce discretion, close opportunities for favouritism and corruption, ultimately leading to increased revenues for improved development outcomes. Based on the review of existing selection and procurement processes, the Guidance provides recommendations for countering key corruption challenges at each step of the buyer selection process, and identifies examples of best practices. This Guidance complements the work of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) on recommended disclosures of buyer selection procedures by SOEs.

Current trends in energy supply and use are patently unsustainable – economically, environmentally and socially. Without decisive action, energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) will more than double by 2050 and increased fossil energy demand will heighten concerns over the security of supplies. We can and must change our current path. However, this will take an energy revolution and low-carbon energy technologies will have a crucial role to play. Energy efficiency, sources of renewable energy, carbon capture and storage (CCS), nuclear power and new transport technologies will all require widespread deployment if we are to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Every major country and sector of the economy must be involved. The task is urgent if we are to make sure that investment decisions taken now do not saddle us with sub-optimal technologies in the long term.

The momentum for low-carbon hydrogen is growing in Latin America, with many countries currently developing long-term hydrogen strategies and a project pipeline of more than 25 projects, including several gigawatt-scale projects to export it beyond the region. In this report we analyse both the region’s potential to play a major role in the future low-carbon hydrogen landscape, and the role that low-carbon hydrogen could play in Latin America’s own clean energy transitions.

Low-carbon hydrogen deployment depends on many technologies that are still under development, and considerable cost reductions will be needed to enable it to reduce global emissions in applications that may not be suitable for director electrification. The next decade will be crucial for the long-term promise of lowcarbon hydrogen in Latin America, and much can be done today to develop and demonstrate emerging technologies and prepare the ground for their future scaling up. We conclude the report with a series of six recommendations for policy makers in Latin America to harness the potential of low-carbon hydrogen in the region.

Hydropower could double its contribution by 2050, reaching 2 000 GW of global capacity and over 7 000 TWh. This achievement, driven primarily by the quest of clean electricity, could prevent annual emissions of up to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 from fossil-fuel plants. The bulk of this growth would come from large plants in emerging economies and developing countries.

Hydroelectricity’s many advantages include reliability, proven technology, large storage capacity, and very low operating and maintenance costs. Hydropower is highly flexible, a precious asset for electricity network operators, especially given rapid expansion of variable generation from other renewable energy technologies such as wind power and photovoltaics. Many hydropower plants also provide flood control, irrigation, navigation and freshwater supply.

The technology roadmap for Hydropower details action needed from policy makers to allow hydroelectric production to double, and addresses necessary conditions, including resolving environmental issues and gaining public acceptance.