February 2014: The World Bank has launched “Live Wire,” a series of briefs offering technical knowledge, case studies presenting implementation lessons, analysis of global trends in energy data and presentation of Bank energy activities.

Live Wire aims to focus on issues relevant to development practitioners. The first issue of Live Wire contains papers on grid integration of renewables and the energy sector’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

For example, one paper looks at obstacles to grid integration of decentralized renewable electricity, with a focus on transmission implications of renewable energy source dispersion rather than on variability. Another considers how policymakers in Brazil, Mexico and Texas, US, have overcome the grid integration challenge. A third paper examines emissions from the global energy sector, finding that 40 percent of global GHG emissions come from energy. It further finds that, globally, the carbon dioxide emissions factor of energy generation has barely changed over the past 20 years.

Live Wire will be peer-reviewed and published on a monthly basis. [Press Release] [Publication Website: Live Wire]