226 J. OBEID
Lack of Strategy and Long-Term Planning
The most common impediment seems to be depicted in the general lack
of strategy and long-term planning. The lack of consistency and security of tenure among government officials and institutions in Jordan, the
sectarian and political clashes inside the one cabinet in Lebanon, and the
conflicts in Palestine, have driven these economies to trade long-term
sustainable planning for short-term—political—gains. Whereas politicians
typically favor short-term results over long-term impact, countries that
have strong institutions have the advantage of developing and executing
long-term plans, despite the changing of leaders or agendas. The three
countries mostly lack institutional strength to enable that.
The overall energy modeling and planning to develop different
scenarios that permit the assessment of the least cost investments in
order to reach the optimal cost-effective, reliable energy mix, seem to
have been compromised or dismissed. The pillars dictating renewable
energy deployment have become the introduction of targets, then simulating different renewable energy technologies and capacities to reach
those targets. Energy policies and strategies are noting the renewable
energy share, but they are not integrated within a comprehensive planning
approach for the whole power sector.
The biggest consequence is the lack of strategy and clarity on the
expected energy mix, the long-term generation capacity expansion, and
the necessary infrastructure upgrades in the transmission and distribution networks. The thermal generation expansion is disassociated from the
renewable energy plans. The grid network, energy storage, ensuring reliability, flexibility and system balancing, major components of the renewable
energy deployment, get the lowest attention.
The lack of long-term planning also demeans the ability to adequately
forecast and optimize the cost of energy diversification, especially that
the build-own-operate, and build-own-transfer models governing the IPP
model incur additional costs to the capital expenditures, in terms of
equity, interest and debt servicing, that should be accounted for.
Coordination is also hindered. Fossil fuels, nuclear, electricity, and
renewable energy portfolios are treated in a decoupled manner, handled
by different departments or committees with separate action plans, and
weak coordination.
This problem becomes more obvious as the share of renewable energy
increases, illustrated best in the case of Jordan.
Lack of Strategy and Long-Term Planning
The most common impediment seems to be depicted in the general lack
of strategy and long-term planning. The lack of consistency and security of tenure among government officials and institutions in Jordan, the
sectarian and political clashes inside the one cabinet in Lebanon, and the
conflicts in Palestine, have driven these economies to trade long-term
sustainable planning for short-term—political—gains. Whereas politicians
typically favor short-term results over long-term impact, countries that
have strong institutions have the advantage of developing and executing
long-term plans, despite the changing of leaders or agendas. The three
countries mostly lack institutional strength to enable that.
The overall energy modeling and planning to develop different
scenarios that permit the assessment of the least cost investments in
order to reach the optimal cost-effective, reliable energy mix, seem to
have been compromised or dismissed. The pillars dictating renewable
energy deployment have become the introduction of targets, then simulating different renewable energy technologies and capacities to reach
those targets. Energy policies and strategies are noting the renewable
energy share, but they are not integrated within a comprehensive planning
approach for the whole power sector.
The biggest consequence is the lack of strategy and clarity on the
expected energy mix, the long-term generation capacity expansion, and
the necessary infrastructure upgrades in the transmission and distribution networks. The thermal generation expansion is disassociated from the
renewable energy plans. The grid network, energy storage, ensuring reliability, flexibility and system balancing, major components of the renewable
energy deployment, get the lowest attention.
The lack of long-term planning also demeans the ability to adequately
forecast and optimize the cost of energy diversification, especially that
the build-own-operate, and build-own-transfer models governing the IPP
model incur additional costs to the capital expenditures, in terms of
equity, interest and debt servicing, that should be accounted for.
Coordination is also hindered. Fossil fuels, nuclear, electricity, and
renewable energy portfolios are treated in a decoupled manner, handled
by different departments or committees with separate action plans, and
weak coordination.
This problem becomes more obvious as the share of renewable energy
increases, illustrated best in the case of Jordan.