Renewable energy for sustainable development: Reviewing the Nicaraguan energy transition, its challenges and opportunities

Energy is fundamental for development. Renewable energy has been appointed among the primary strategies to tackle the current climate crisis and build more resilient and sustainable energy systems. Developing and emerging economies have been leading investments in renewable energy. Due to the modest size of most of these economies, transitioning to sustainable and renewable energy systems could be a swift and less resource-intensive process, once adequate strategies and policies are in place.
Nicaragua actively invested in renewable energy capacity in the last decade, positioning itself among the early leaders of the energy transition in Latin America. With a vast renewable energy potential, produces more than 50% of its electricity from renewable energy sources. Furthermore, using the distributed nature of renewable energy sources to its advantage, the country provided access to modern energy to nearly 99% of its population in 2020, a significant increase from 54% in 2006.
Renewable energy is playing an important role in dissociating economic development from environmental degradation. The next steps for Nicaragua's transition should involve both a cross-sectoral and decentralized approach to energy planning. Thereby, renewable energy can be integrated into highly oil-dependent economic sectors such as transport and industry. The country should adopt technologies to increase the uptake of renewable energy and leapfrog the resource-intensive development path followed by it adopt technologies to increase the uptake of renewable energy and leapfrog the resource-intensive development path followed by its forerunners. This thesis provides a roadmap to accelerate the energy transition in the country that is applicable to other nations in the Global South.