Event reports
The international workshop "Challenges facing the Energy Transition" in Hong Kong on 21-23 February 2016 gathered participants from different countries including Australia, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Sweden, United States, Hong Kong and Singapore. Experts from academic and industry gave insights into existing electricity systems, rapidly changing economics of energy markets and to-be-reformed public policy frameworks.
In his introduction, Dr. Peter Hefele, Director of RECAP, presented a comparative overview on European and Asian energy and climate change policy. Presentations by the participants covered various aspects including electricity market structures, patterns and impacts of renewable energy growth and policy and regulatory framework in energy power sectors. Much attention was also given on constraints that the current system is facing with a massive increase in renewable energy supply.
A final roundtable discussion addressed several core issues of the transition process such as public policy reframing, new business models and intraregional cooperation. Several participants called for a better and coordinated policy-making mechanism. Despite an volatile business environment and weaknesses in the implementation, the experts agreed in the decisive role governments play in providing stable and predictable legal framework and in setting standards for fair market access.
A brief policy recommendation will be published soon at www.kas.de/recap. Griffith University will prepare a publication with the contributions of the workshop later this year.