SCS 1: Structuring Electricity Transition: Learning from Experiences Across the Atlantic and Beyond

As the world accelerates electricity transition, each country must design effective pathways to ensure
the process unfolds in an orderly manner. Challenges include gaining acceptance from policymakers and
stakeholders, as concerns persist about technology intermittency, transmission capabilities, and
environmental impacts. Society remains anxious about land use, costs, and security of supply—issues
that depend on market design, power adequacy, transmission reliability, and a strong emphasis on
education. Institutional readiness is still lacking in areas such as market mechanisms, policy frameworks,
regulation, competition, and supply security.
Research must help policymakers understand that the transition requires careful design, leaving minimal
room for setbacks. Differences in national contexts—policy perspectives, market structures, energy mix,
renewable potential and location, grid development, and societal attitudes—add complexity, along with
the need to convince media and the public of the benefits. This, despite the maturity of renewable
technologies, which are flexible, cost-effective, and modular—an undeniable advantage. Countries in
Europe, the Americas, and Oceania have accumulated over a decade of experience, yet there is no one-
size-fits-all solution. While ideas circulateglobally, each country faces unique challenges. There is still
much to learn, particularly in achieving 100% renewables. Integrating solar and wind farms has
progressed relatively well, but phasing out coal, gas, and even nuclear power remains difficult. Hydro,
biomass, and geothermal can help, but these resources are not abundant everywhere. Hybrid systems
(solar plus batteries) are widely available, yet seasonal variations outside tropical regions make baseload
provision challenging. This panel will examine experiences and challenges, aiming to establish some key
elements to be incorporated in market design to attain supply security, and electricity price reductions.
We will discuss energy auction designs complemented by capacity mechanisms—what configurations
work best? What other elements are needed? The discussion will be broad and forward-looking, with
the goal of inspiring progress toward net-zero targets and 100% renewable energy.