New nuclear projects have the potential to provideup to 30% of electricity for developing countries, according to a December report by the Rockefeller Foundation.
The report, “The Role of Nuclear Energy in Powering Universal Energy Abundance for Emerging Economies”, said countries with an emerging market and developing economy could use nuclear power to deliver up to 30% of electricity generation while lowering system costs by up to 31% by 2050. The Rockefeller Foundation said this can be achievable under the right policy and regulatory conditions.
Brazil, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Philippines, Rwanda and South Africa were selected for the study because they are seen as countries with some of the fastest growing energy markets, according to the report.
The report looks at simulated scenarios of how these selected emerging countries would look with or without nuclear generation in its portfolio. The report found that nuclear power can be complementary to other renewables rather than adversarial.
Using nuclear power to reach a zero-carbon system can be preferable to overbuilding solar and storage, according to the report. This could be a critical point for emerging countries that are dealing with finance, land and supply chain restraints.
The report, commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation, was done by Bayesian Energy and Radiant Energy Group.