Energy markets, data and general research

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership (196 Parties). The ultimate objective is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is an intergovernmental organisation that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future, and serves as the principal platform for international cooperation and a repository of policy, technology, resource and financial knowledge on renewable energy. One of the key products is the IRENA REsource, a data base on energy and renewable energy data including country profiles, regional and global data.

REN21 is a global renewable energy policy multi-stakeholder network. Their flagship products offered on their website are e.g.

• Renewables Global Status Report
• Renewables Interactive Maps
• Renewables Global Futures Report
• Regional Status Reports

The International Energy Agency (IEA) publishes on an annual basis the World Energy Outlook (WEO), which provides an outlook for fossil fuel energy markets, power markets, renewable energy and energy efficiency. Regional reports and factsheets are also available.

The oil and petrol company British Petroleum (BP) provides a comprehensive data collection on fossil, nuclear and renewable energy sources in their energy economics section of their website.

Agora Energiewende is a German think-tank and policy laboratory, developing scientifically based and politically feasible approaches for ensuring the success of the energy transition ("Energiewende").

The Federal German Network Agency ("Bundesnetzagentur" or BNetzA) is the public authority to supervise the power system, telecommunication among others. The implemented a website to provide insights to the current situation of the power system and the electricity market. For example, market data on the German power system is available including generation of different types of power plants, consumption, market prices, balancing power, export/import data etc. All data is licensed under CC-BY 4.0.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is the leading research institution in the field of renewable energy for the USA. They provide interesting reports and studies which are also valuable from a global perspective.

The Fraunhofer Institut für Solare Energiesysteme (Fraunhofer ISE) is the leading research institution in the field of renewable energy for Europe. They provide interesting reports and studies which are also valuable from a global perspective.

ESMAP, the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program, is a global, multidonor technical assistance trust fund. It is administered by the World Bank and cosponsored by 13 official bilateral donors. It is active in the areas of energy access, energy efficiency and renewable energy. ESMAP has published various studies (political, financial etc.) and has developed a range of tools (assessment, financial analsys, mapping etc.).