Expertise

IET – International Energy Transition GmbH has conducted trainings and capacity building in all parts of the world, including more than 25 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. Dr. Jacobs has also been a university lecturer on energy and climate related topics at the Freie Universität Berlin and at the University of Applied Sciences HTW (Berlin). The training courses that we offer cover a broad range of subjects, including electricity market design, system integration of wind and PV, renewable energy finance, energy access and climate finance.

The transition towards increasing shares of renewable energy sources is no longer limited to a few frontrunner countries, but is now a global phenomenon acknowledged throughout the developing world. It is therefore increasingly important to share lessons learned globally. IET – International Energy Transition GmbH strives to accelerate global knowledge transfer via reports, capacity building and online training.

The German energy transition (Energiewende) is often considered an international role model for increasing the share of renewable energy sources. With only 3% of renewables in its electricity generation mix in 1990, Germany has since then increased its share to 36% in 2017 and is targeting at least 80% in 2050. Policymakers can draw important lessons from the German experience over the past decade, while at the same time understanding what avoidable mistakes have been made in the German context and the challenges that still lie ahead.

Electricity markets design has changed rapidly in the past years in order to optimally integrate increasing shares of (variable) renewable energy sources, namely wind energy and solar PV. Challenges are different for fully liberalised markets, single buyer markets and monopolistic markets. IET – International Energy Transition GmbH assists policymakers in adjusting the market design – in line with international best practise and national circumstances.

Many jurisdictions worldwide are using competitive auctions as a procurement mechanism for new renewable energy capacity. Especially for large scale projects, auctions have become the preferred choice of many policymakers. IET – International Energy Transition GmbH assists policymakers in calibrating auction design while taking into account unique policy objectives.

More than 90 jurisdictions around the world use feed-in tariffs to support renewable energy projects. In addition, most developing countries are still procuring electricity via (fixed price) power purchase agreements. IET – International Energy Transition GmbH assists policymakers with FIT and PPA design and rate setting. 

With increasing shares of distributed generation units, self-consumption policies are becoming a crucial part of any electricity market. IET – International Energy Transition GmbH helps policymakers adjust to these new challenges. On the one hand, policymakers are trying to incentivise distributed solutions in order to benefit from reduced transmission losses, a minimised need for grid expansion, increased energy security, stable electricity prices, etc. On the other hand, changes to the regulatory framework might be necessary, especially in terms of regulations for excess electricity (e.g. net metering), regulation for storage units, changes to the rate design, etc.  

More than 1 billion people around the world lack access to modern energy services, namely electricity and sustainable cooking options. This primarily concerns rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America. IET- International Energy Transition GmbH consults on energy access solutions, including off-grid strategies (Solar-Home-Systems; Pay-as-Use Solutions), mini-grid roll-out and clean cooking solutions.

In the past, renewable energy deployment was primarily discussed in the light of carbon mitigation. However, the deployment of renewable energy sources can lead to important additional advantages, the so-called Co-Benefits. Amongst others, this includes job creation, improved trade balances, lower water consumption, cleaner air, rural development, etc. IET – International Energy Transition GmbH assists decision makers in analysing and quantifying these co-benefits.