Smart grid technologies offer a range of potential benefits, but maximising the value of grid modernisation programmes is easier said than done. Mike O’Boyle of US-based think tank Energy Innovation describes the five-step framework his organisation has developed to help utilities and public regulators pursue grid modernisation in a way that benefits everyone.
Despite China’s plans to halt more than 100 new coal-fired power plants this year, new data suggests China’s energy companies will make up nearly half of the new coal generation expected to go online in the next decade. But China’s climate concerns have so far been driven by narrow concerns over local pollution, said Eric Gimon, a senior fellow at Energy Innovation. “For now, those concerns seem not to extend elsewhere,” Mr. Gimon said.
California environmentalists are outraged over speculation that the state’s governor is pushing the oil industry’s wish list in negotiations to extend the state’s cap-and-trade climate program. Chris Busch took a pragmatic view of the bill language being circulated by Gov. Jerry Brown’s office. “Given how hard the politics are, let’s get this politics part done, and then the regulation can be improved over time,” he said.
Clean energy is taking over the world, driven by a combination of climate change policies and market economics. California has paced America in seizing this opportunity, building a thriving green economy through smart policy. But the fate of California’s cap-and-trade program, a cornerstone of the state’s green growth strategy, depends on the state Legislature extending the program beyond 2020.
Governor Jerry Brown is drafting proposals for extending California’s cap-and-trade programme, attempting to gain a two-thirds majority vote while assuaging industry and environmental campaigners. “The outlines of the deal… sound very positive, and will leave CARB significant scope to continue to improve the programme over time,” said Energy Innovation’s Chris Busch.
Offshore wind, in contrast to the widespread cost declines and capacity additions we’ve seen with onshore wind and solar PV, has historically been more of a ‘boutique’ resource—a great idea in theory, but still expensive and concentrated in certain parts of the world. That is now changing, as offshore wind becomes mainstream for three reasons: location, advancing technology, and declining price.
Imagine that we have built enough wind and solar power plants to supply 100 percent of the electricity a region like California or Germany consumes in a year. Sure, the wind and sun aren’t always available, so this system would need flexible resources that can fill in the gaps. Filling this gap is one of the principal flexibility challenges of a low-carbon grid. But what will that flexibility cost?
Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s (BNEF) New Energy Outlook 2017 is the newest report to predict a diminishing role for fossil fuels as renewable energy and battery storage become cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable grid resources to 2040.
In many markets, oversupply is chasing after flat or decreasing demand. Several states have provided subsidies or out-of-market support for plants that would otherwise retire. This article analyzes the proposed market reforms and evaluates each on policy merits.
Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement has encouraged major nations and leader states within the U.S. to reaffirm and strengthen their commitments. China and California have already begun forging new trails to capture this opportunity.
