21st Century Power Partnership Celebrates 15 Years of Wins in Transforming the Global Power Sector
21st Century Power Partnership Continues Progress, From Country-Specific Action Plans to Thought Leadership That Helps Shape the Future of Power Systems
The energy challenges the world faces today and tomorrow require coordination and collaboration on a global scale.
The 21st Century Power Partnership (21CPP) was established to address these challenges and to accelerate the global power system transformation. 21CPP is a long-standing initiative under the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), which is a global forum that promotes policies and collaborative action to advance the transition to a global clean energy economy.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) serves as the operating agent for 21CPP and plays a pivotal role in driving the initiative's success by coordinating with CEM's Secretariat and 21CPP's co-lead countries—the United States, Brazil, and India—to conduct activities that advance power sector transformation globally. NREL has held this role since 21CPP's inception in 2012, making 21CPP one of NREL's longest-running international programs.
This year, both the CEM and 21CPP celebrated their 15th anniversary at CEM's annual conference (CEM15), hosted in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, in October. The gathering united global energy leaders to showcase progress and highlight recent transformative clean energy efforts.
"21CPP continues to reach key milestones and produce important contributions toward decarbonizing the power sector," said NREL's Jal Desai, a systems engineering researcher and lead for all CEM initiatives at the laboratory. "We're providing technical assistance to countries, supporting fellowships, building thought leadership, and generally working to embolden global power transformation."
Springing Into Action (Plans)
Following lessons learned at CEM13 in 2022, several participating countries committed to creating action plans for power sector decarbonization. 21CPP supported this effort by providing expert guidance, training, and coordination with other CEM workstreams, resulting in plans that outline implementation steps aligned with each country's existing power sector goals. The first cohort of action plans, from India, Australia, Chile, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, was launched at CEM14 in 2023.
This year, another four action plans were published by Brazil, Canada, the United States, and Uruguay. Common themes emerged amongst the individually developed plans, including emphasis on cross-sectoral collaboration, long-term scenario development, building grid modernization approaches, developing procurement and investment approaches, embracing innovative market designs, and prioritizing all-asset flexibility.
"These are self-determined national action plans for power sector transformation and resilience," said NREL's Doug Arent, executive director of Strategic Public-Private Partnerships at NREL and long-time senior advisor for 21CPP. "Countries integrate best practices on technology, policy, and regulation and transfer them into action plans that make sense given their national resources and capabilities, tailoring their plans to meet their power sector goals."
Policy and action steps—and the overall action plans—are already proving valuable to countries.
"If we take, for instance, the EU's action plan, the measures outlined therein are having a real impact," said Paula Pinho, director for Just Transition, Energy Efficiency and Innovation at the European Commission. "Take, for example, the EU's target to cover 42.5% of its energy consumption from renewable energy sources by 2030. It is already paving the way for a share of 70% of renewables in electricity by the end of this decade.
"Based on action plans from other countries, we see that similar achievements are being made. We can see what works, what's not, and how to overcome common challenges. That is encouraging and inspiring," Pinho said.
"These inspiring action plans have created the opportunity for us to learn and share from each other," said Thiago Barral, Brazil's national secretary of Energy Transition and Planning. "This is the perfect example of the value of the Clean Energy Ministerial."
Thought Leadership for Resilience, Affordability, Decarbonization, and Sustainability
As part of 21CPP's support for power sector decarbonization, it publishes thought leadership reports on the latest decarbonization progress, technological advancements, and market design and regulatory issues for future power systems. NREL, partnering with the International Energy Agency, coauthored the most recent report, which serves as an industry benchmark that highlights valuable tools and new ways of thinking about power system transformation.
For CEM15's thought leadership report, 21CPP examined nations' progress in power sector transitions and highlighted areas for further improvement. The report also examines advancements in renewable energy integration and identifies key policy and regulatory actions that can accelerate energy grid resilience, flexibility, and sustainability. These actions include enhancing grid infrastructure, optimizing market design, supporting long-duration storage solutions, and fostering demand flexibility—all essential for maintaining reliable grid operations and advancing toward a 100% renewable energy future.
"Over the years, 21CPP's thought leadership reports have highlighted just how far we have come in global power system decarbonization efforts and how to replicate and scale successes around the world. These reports provide valuable guiding principles and ideas that continue to steer how energy leaders think about power system transformation," Desai said. "What was seen as cutting edge and novel just over a decade ago is now part of how grid systems operate. We have more ideas, tools, and resources coming that will sustain hope about the future of the grid in the decades to come."
Going Above and Beyond: More Ministerial Wins
NREL's partnership with the Clean Energy Ministerial goes beyond its stewardship of 21CPP. As the operating agent for several major CEM initiatives, NREL also actively coordinates their direction and operations.
The Clean Energy Solutions Center, which is also one of NREL's first international programs under CEM, aids governments, advisors, and analysts to create policies and programs that advance the deployment of clean energy technologies. It was revitalized in 2021 under new leadership from Desai following the retirement of Victoria Healey, the Solutions Center's former long-time leader.
The Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis, a center within NREL, is the operating agent of the Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy Future (NICE Future) initiative, which engages global leaders on nuclear energy and highlights the role it can play in clean energy systems.
Launched in 2023, CEM's newest initiative, Supercharging Battery Storage, aims to boost battery storage deployment and lower costs. The initiative's inaugural report spotlights crucial topics in battery energy storage systems (BESS) for developing economies, such as enabling environments, deployment and financing, BESS operation, and value stack. Through lessons learned and best practices, this report empowers developing economies to harness the full potential of battery storage.
Electrifying global fleets to improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions, and improve air quality is also central to CEM's vision. Housed at NREL, CEM's Electric Vehicles Initiative accelerates electric vehicle adoption by showcasing opportunities, key drivers, and a future vision for electric mobility adoption by showcasing opportunities, key drivers, and a future vision for electric mobility.
Finally, international community partners have joined together to build knowledge and community around hydrogen best practices in the H2 Initiative Twin Cities Program, which shares lessons and best practices from successful hydrogen deployment worldwide.
Together, these initiatives underscore NREL's commitment to providing comprehensive support for clean energy transitions across sectors, fostering global collaboration that promotes economic development and accelerates energy technology deployment. Their impact was recognized by U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm in her remarks on the 15th anniversary of CEM (watch Sec. Granholm's remarks beginning at 11:20).
Amid these diverse initiatives, 21CPP remains central to NREL's mission, exemplifying how global, collective action can create meaningful progress.
"The power sector represents an enormous challenge and opportunity," Arent said. "21CPP's successes in 2024 and at CEM15 underscore how collaboration and partnership are key to decarbonizing our power systems. There's much work ahead, but by uniting our efforts, we can make real strides in reducing global emissions."