Technology transitions, typically complex on their own, have been colliding with several external shocks over the last decade, impacting how technologies are adopted. From global health scares to supply chain bottlenecks, trade disputes, rising inflation in developed markets, falling inflation in emerging markets, interest rate shocks, and increasing geopolitical conflicts, new technology adoption is being distorted and, in turn, is distorting the entire global economy at a speed unlike any other period in history.
Clean energy technologies not only offer lower production costs than legacy energy generation methods but are also more easily deployable by a wider range of energy generators and consumers. They harness renewable resources that may not be near existing production sites, necessitating costly connections to infrastructure and new funding approaches. The clean energy transition significantly impacts local societies, global relations, the environment, and various enabling value chains, including capital intermediation, deployment, and raw materials.
This book offers insights into key pain points experienced during this transition, beginning with the implications of data center energy demands on the fragile local energy markets that existed before the surge in this new source of demand and concluding with the implications for global development finance and collaboration.
Readers and policymakers are likely to approach the clean energy transition for the global economy with a sense of foreboding due to its size and complexity. This book aims to help understand the trade-offs across key elements of the clean energy transition. The authors hope that this empowers readers to engage in a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reconfigure social contracts, developmental constraints, and global relations.
