Energy economics

Energy economics is a branch of applied economics, and this chapter introduces the basics of energy economics and its principles. It provides a general understanding of the different costs and business models being used in the implementation of energy sector projects. Moreover, energy economics deals with the time value of money—i.e., the potential earning capacity of money after adjusting for interest over time. Different methods to calculate the rate of interest are discussed here in detail. This chapter focuses on the general aspects of energy economics, and its intended impact is not country-specific. Rather, it focuses on the specific design, implementation, project management, financing, and monitoring features of business models and investments. Readers also learn about distributed energy resources in detail. This chapter addresses the barriers to implementing renewable energy to meet the energy needs of the vast population in developing nations. A framework and key barriers are defined here for identifying these barriers