The greatest sustainability challenge facing humanity today is the greenhouse gas emissions and the global climate change with fossil fuels led by coal, natural gas and oil contributing 61.3% of global electricity generation in the year 2020. The cumulative effect of the Stockholm, Rio, and Johannesburg conferences identified sustainable energy development (SED) as a very important factor in the sustainable global development. This study reviews energy transition strategies and proposes a roadmap for sustainable energy transition for sustainable electricity generation and supply in line with commitments of the Paris Agreement aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting the rise in global average temperature to 1.5°C above the preindustrial level. The sustainable transition strategies typically consist of three major technological changes namely, energy savings on the demand side, generation efficiency at production level and fossil fuel substitution by various renewable energy sources and low carbon nuclear. For the transition remain technically and economically feasible and beneficial, policy initiatives are necessary to steer the global electricity transition towards a sustainable energy and electricity system. Large-scale renewable energy adoption should include measures to improve efficiency of existing nonrenewable sources which still have an important cost reduction and stabilization role. A resilient grid with advanced energy storage for storage and absorption of variable renewables should also be part of the transition strategies. From this study, it was noted that whereas sustainable development has social, economic, and environmental pillars, energy sustainability is best analysed by five-dimensional approach consisting of environmental, economic, social, technical, and institutional/political sustainability to determine resource sustainability. The energy transition requires new technology for maximum use of the abundant but intermittent renewable sources a sustainable mix with limited nonrenewable sources optimized to minimize cost and environmental impact but maintained quality, stability, and flexibility of an electricity supply system. Technologies needed for the transition are those that use conventional mitigation, negative emissions technologies which capture and sequester carbon emissions and finally technologies which alter the global atmospheric radiative energy budget to stabilize and reduce global average temperature. A sustainable electricity system needs facilitating technology, policy, strategies and infrastructure like smart grids, and models with an appropriate mix of both renewable and low carbon energy sources.
Geothermal energy has a potential for several applications including geo-exchange, direct thermal application and power generation. Whereas the untapped capacity is over 100 GW globally, its growth realizes only 3-4% growth per year while the global share of electricity generation is less than 1%. Limitations of geothermal energy include scarcity of exploitable sites, remote locations often far from load centers and undesirable gaseous emissions. Project development faces challenges of poor funding, technology and long gestation periods of between 5 and 10 years for conventional power plants. Smooth implementation of geothermal project requires, social acceptance, through minimization of environmental effect, avoidance of adverse effects on the people and giving direct benefits to local communities. It is through both subsurface and power plant technologies that environmental challenges of geothermal power plants are addressed. Research and development into new, efficient and costeffective technologies will enhance safety and environmental integrity with respect to geothermal energy and electricity development. A geothermal power plant project generally goes through exploration or prefeasibility stage, drilling or feasibility stage and development stage which involves development of production wells, reinjection wells, steam gathering system and power plant construction and commissioning. The last phase is power plant operation and maintenance before the plant is finally retired upon end of the generation contract or license. These phases of the cycle before generation all combined take relatively long and there is need to improve. The use of Wellhead power plants currently provide a quick access to geothermal electricity ahead of full development of a conventional power plant hence enabling quicker access to geothermal electricity. Drilling which is a critical process in geothermal resource exploration and development is expensive, and therefore development of geophysical methods to resolve this problem is highly desirable as it could significantly reduce the cost of geothermal energy development hence advanced technology in drilling and upfront activities will reduce costs and risks in development. Better technology in upfront activities will significantly reduce the high risks and costs while power plant conversion technologies and better reservoir management and engineering will increase output, resource availability and efficiency of resource exploitation. Geothermal energy resources are significant and if the technical, financial, environmental, social and logistical challenges are addressed, it can be a major player in global energy and electricity market as renewable, safe and cheap resources. Research and development of technology and solutions to current challenges should be enhanced. The study concluded that technical barriers, high financial costs and long gestation periods prevent faster development of geothermal electricity.
Strategic planning and management is the way to go for organizations to prepare themselves to sustain and overcome competion in market places. It is important for all organizations in private sector, public sector and nonprofit organizations. It is a process that begins with self-assessment and realization and then reorganization to compete in a business environment. Business strategies form the basis of survival in a competitive environment and should therefore be well developed by the right people and the right organizational levels. Strategy formulation and implementation should be linked by an evaluation strategy to realize strategy success otherwise the strategies remain useless paperwork. Strategy implementation challenges include political interference, limited resources and global economic situations that may be beyond the organizations' control and so organizations should monitor the internal and external environment and make changes or adjustments to prevent strategy failure. This can be realized by effectively evaluating strategy implementation process. A good strategic plan will give significant benefits to organizations like increased profitability and better corporate governance. Strategic management however is expensive, requires significant resources and investment in market research and other resources yet does not always guarantee success. To be successful in strategic planning and implementation organizations, should invest in market research and forecasting, adequate budgeting, as well as recruitment, training and motivation of qualified personnel and having a holistic approach in strategy formulation and implementation by bringing everybody in the organization to contribute and participate. Strategies should be creative and innovative while the execution should be both effective and efficient. Quick and effective feedback will enhance monitoring and evaluation and facilitate successful strategy implementation. Organizations should be customer oriented to deal with competition and hence proper strategy formulation and implementation. It should however be noted that having a strategic plan does not always guarantee success. However, a well-crafted, innovative and creative plan that is well executed will guarantee success. An effective strategy should start with a SWOT analysis which will enable the organization to build on its strengths and utilize opportunities while controlling or managing threats and weaknesses.
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