New Agora and INETTT tool helps translate clean energy ambition into actionable policy reform

The global commitment to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 has shifted attention from ambition to implementation. As technology costs continue to fall, policy and regulatory reform has become the critical factor determining whether countries can deliver on their clean energy targets. Current geopolitical tensions are also underscoring the energy security value of accelerating domestic renewable deployment, thereby reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels. 

In this context, Agora Energiewende is launching the Renewable Energy Policy Framework: Power (REPF), in collaboration with the International Network of Energy Transition Think Tanks (INETTT). The REPF is a practical, web-based tool designed to help translate high-level commitments on wind and solar deployment into concrete, implementable policy reforms. It provides a shared diagnostic language for governments, regulators, development partners, investors and civil society to identify priority constraints, sequence reforms and support more effective policy dialogue. By enabling structured comparisons across countries and policy domains, the REPF facilitates cross-country learning and knowledge exchange on what works in different institutional contexts and how successful reforms can be adapted and scaled.

The need for such reforms reflects a fundamental shift in the energy transition landscape. In most markets, wind and solar are now the cheapest sources of new electricity generation and are frequently more cost-effective than operating existing fossil fuel assets. Yet in many countries, deployment has not accelerated at the pace required; IRENA figures show that to meet the global tripling renewables target, solar and wind installations need to rise by an annual rate of 16.6 percent per year between 2025 and 2030. The main constraints are now structural: slow and unclear permitting processes, weak transmission planning and misaligned electricity market and procurement frameworks. 

Shifting from technology barriers to system-level constraints

The REPF is built on the recognition that the nature of the task has changed. While early renewable energy expansion was driven by feed-in tariffs, auctions and other financial support mechanisms, the next phase of the transition depends on coordinated system reform. Rather than focusing on individual policy instruments in isolation, the REPF takes a systems approach. It identifies how regulatory design, institutional capacity, grid infrastructure and market arrangements interact to shape investment outcomes, providing a structured diagnostic of the conditions required for large-scale deployment of wind and solar power.

The framework is organised across seven policy areas: grids; planning and permitting; power system flexibility for renewables; risk mitigation and procurement incentives; fossil fuel phase-out; just transition; and targets. Twenty-four qualitative indicators – such as carbon pricing, power purchase agreement design, grid connection procedures and fossil phase out strategies – structure the assessments further. This enables users to systematically identify bottlenecks, assess trade-offs and understand where reforms are needed across the electricity value chain. It is designed to be applicable across diverse market structures and levels of system development, while remaining adaptable to national contexts.

Regional application across eight Asian countries

In its first application, the REPF has been implemented across eight countries in South, Southeast and East Asia: Thailand, Viet Nam, Pakistan, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. Published in a report “Renewable Energy Policy Framework: Power”, the analysis was carried out in close coordination with INETTT member think tanks, bringing together country-level expertise and comparative regional analysis within a shared methodological framework.

The Asia region provides a particularly important test case for the framework. Countries across the region will need to more than quintuple wind and solar capacity by 2030 to align with net-zero pathways, increasing the share of variable renewables in the power mix to around 30 percent, up from less than 6 percent today. While several countries have demonstrated early success through instruments such as green energy auctions in the Philippines and feed-in tariffs in Viet Nam, these systems are now encountering new constraints related to grid integration, system flexibility and institutional coordination. The REPF helps identify where countries are in this transition curve and what policy adjustments are needed to move from early deployment success to sustained, system-wide scale-up.

Unlocking investment through policy and regulatory reform

The pace of renewable deployment is increasingly shaped by the quality, predictability and coherence of the policy environment. Clear, stable rules can reduce investment risks, improve project bankability and help build a stronger pipeline of renewable energy projects. 

Transparent and competitive procurement systems, streamlined and predictable permitting processes, effective spatial planning and clear grid connection procedures are critical to creating an enabling environment for renewable energy projects. Where these conditions are in place, projects face fewer delays, financing becomes more accessible and investment pipelines become stronger and more resilient.

The 44-page report Renewable Energy Policy Framework: Power, where the framework is applied to eight Asian countries, was produced in collaboration with the International Network of Energy Transition Think Tanks and is available at www.agora-energiewende.org. The web-based REPF tool is available as part of an integrated platform for free on the INETTT website. Both were launched at a webinar hosted by INETTT on 10 September 2026.