Electricity has become a vital source of energy for social and economic development in modern era. Likewise, the issues of its planning and management have grown complex. To address complexity in decision making, researchers have chosen system dynamics (SD) modelling and simulation technique. A state-of-art of such studies published during the period 2000–2013 is presented in this paper. The contribution of this review lies in categorizing the literature based on the important and contemporary researched areas. These research areas include models developed for policy assessment, generation capacity expansion, financial instruments, demand side management, mixing methods, and finally micro-worlds. Review shows that policy assessment and generation capacity expansion are the two most modelled topics. Financial instruments models evaluate different mechanism to support renewable technologies whereas mixing-methods channelize descriptive approach of SD into evaluating a single objective. Demand side management and micro-worlds are the least focused categories in SD. This paper also discusses the individual models in each category highlighting their construct, outcomes and any deficiencies

Japan started implementing a national Feed-In Tariff (FiT) mechanism on the 1st July 2012, which included specific payment tariffs for solar photovoltaic (PV) installations. This marks a new era in the renewable energy landscape in Japan. This paper aims at analysing the solar PV prospect in Japan, particularly in both residential and non-residential sectors. The paper presents, first, an overview of energy trends in Japan prior to the Fukushima event. This is followed by a short review of solar PV progress in the country, highlighting the major policies and programmes that have been implemented as well as the installations that have been carried out over the past two decades. Next, the financial impact of the new FiT scheme on consumers is evaluated. The financial analysis investigates the total profit, the average annual return on investment and the payback period. For a comparison purposes, a similar financial analysis is also conducted with selected countries around the world – namely Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. The results from this analysis indicate that the new Japanese FiT rate generates a good profit, a moderate annual return on investment and an acceptable payback period, suggesting an increasing trend of solar PV uptake over the next years

Kazakhstan’s electricity generation depends heavily on fossil fuels. Renewables and other non-fossil resources provide potential alternatives to diversify the electricity generation system. In this paper, various potential local non-fossil fuel resources, hydro, solar, wind, biomass and uranium are reviewed and an assessment framework for prioritizing these resources is established. A multi-criteria decision making approach, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based on expert opinion, is utilized for developing the assessment model, using four main criteria of technical, economic, social and environmental aspects and thirteen sub-criteria. The review reveal that Kazakhstan has ample potential to develop a non-fossil fuel based electricity system. Furthermore, the model shows hydro to be the most favorable resource followed by solar; wind and nuclear are ranked third and fourth, respectively while biomass is found to be the least attractive option. It is also found that each resource is inclined towards a particular criterion; hydro towards social, solar towards economic, nuclear towards technical, with biomass and wind directed towards environmental. Besides reporting the use of the AHP model for the first time in the Kazakhstan context, the assessment carried out in this paper can assist decision-makers to articulate long-term energy policy for any country

Solar photovoltaic has shown a significant rise in terms of worldwide installation. One of the main reason is due to the introduction of the FiT (feed-in tariff) policy by the governments. This paper aims to evaluate FiT policy in promoting solar PV (photovoltaic) investments in Malaysia by using a dynamic systems approach. The assessment model captures the complexities arising from the interaction of FiT rate dynamics, construction delays, and investors’ and technology learning dynamics in an integrated framework. The model provides total operational PV capacity, amount of finances needed to support the policy, and the cost of environmental savings, as output. Computer simulations, based on twelve scenarios, were used as a means to study the model behaviour. For the most favourable scenario, a total capacity of about 16 GW PV by 2050 can be expected, while for the least favourable scenario, expectations would be only about 10 GW. On the expenditure side, the most favourable scenario can cost up to MYR (Malaysia Ringgit) 15 billion, whereas, for the least favourable ones, the cost can be as low as MYR2 billion. The maximum cost of CO2 abatement can vary from MYR 0.05 per kg-CO2 to the lowest value of MYR 0.02 per kg-CO2

Purpose: Gaining independence from fossil fuels and combating climate change are the main factors to increase the generation of electricity from renewable fuels. Amongst the renewable technologies, solar photovoltaic (PV) is believed to have the largest potential. However, the number of people adopting solar PV technologies is still relatively low. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the household consumers’ acceptance of solar PV technology being installed on their premises. Design/methodology/approach: To examine the solar PV technology acceptance, this study uses technology acceptance model (TAM) as a reference framework. A survey was conducted to gather data and to validate the research model. Out of 780 questionnaires distributed across Malaysia, 663 were returned and validated. Findings: The analysis revealed that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and attitude to use significantly influenced behavioural intention to use solar PV technology. Research limitations/implications: This study contributes by extending the understanding of public inclination towards the adoption of solar PV technology. Also, this study contributes in identifying the areas which need to be examined further. However, collecting data from urban peninsular Malaysian respondents only limits the generalization of the results. Practical implications: On the policy front, this study reveals that governmental support is needed to trigger PV acceptance. Originality/value: This paper uses TAM to analyse the uptake of solar PV technology in Malaysian context.