Climate and Energy最新文献

Microgrids continue to prove their value to electric grids around the world by improving reliability and resiliency across many different use cases. Microgrids support the interests of connected customers by ensuring electricity is available during electric grid disruptions and outages—regardless of their duration. The ability of the controlling entity to connect and disconnect loads from the utility grid can prevent localized outages from cascading to larger scale outages by providing grid operators a mechanism by which to isolate disruptions to preserve service to other critical facilities and loads.

The potential of solar energy to address India's energy challenges is significant, providing a clean, renewable, and domestic source of energy, while reducing India's dependence on fossil fuels, and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Moreover, the nation's solar industry has the potential to create employment opportunities, stimulate economic growth, and empower rural communities to achieve energy independence and improve their quality of life. By providing reliable electricity for households, businesses, and essential services, solar energy can stimulate economic growth, enhance education and healthcare, and reduce dependence on polluting fuels. Moreover, it can create job opportunities and foster sustainable development in rural areas. This article highlights the complexities of India's solar energy landscape, analyzing the interplay between policy, technology, and societal factors, and provides a comprehensive analysis of India's solar energy trajectory from the time period 2021 to 2024.

Wildfires, record heatwaves, hurricanes, tornados, floods, power outages—the news on the climate front is worsening. Previous editorials have focused on increasing heatwaves and weather events. What had previously been record breaking temperatures has once again been broken. These continuing events are raising havoc with our electric grid resulting in more and prolonged power outages from storm damage, and straining resources as grid operators struggle to maintain grid reliability in the face of long-duration heat events—all placing mounting pressure on utilities to upgrade systems to meet these new challenges. And the cost of upgrading systems are ultimately borne by customers.

The convergence of economic development, urbanization, technological innovation, and environmental challenges necessitates novel approaches to meeting and managing energy demands. Three emerging trends present unique challenges that make striking the appropriate balance to meet societal needs particularly challenging for our energy systems.

Determining the optimal allocation of financial resources to support growth in demand and improve operational efficiency is a strategic and intricate challenge for utilities. Unlike other industries in which return on invested capital (ROIC) and capital turnover ratio are standard metrics of capital efficiency, the utility sector operates under unique regulatory constraints that render these measures less applicable.

As is currently well known, on June 28 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron Deference, a key foundation of modern administrative law for 40 years. The case, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (Loper Bright), had nothing to do with energy, but the impact of the decision has significant implications in the energy arena. The order follows a steady drumbeat of U.S. Supreme Court decisions issued during this term and in recent prior ones curbing the regulatory enforcement capabilities of Executive Branch agencies. But while this is a landmark case and would be expected to lead to a host of new legal challenges to agency rules and actions, its practical effect might result in being more nuanced, maybe with some wholly unexpected consequences.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)'s Order No. 1920, issued May 13, 2024, is FERC's latest attempt to craft a nationwide policy to regulate market entry and pricing for the electricity transmission network.¹ Approved by a one-vote margin (2:1) in a short-staffed Commission, the Order numbers 1,300 pages. In the accompanying dissent and concurring opinion, the three participating Commissioners are unusually critical of each other, in places verging on insulting, with accusations of faulty reasoning, unspoken agendas, basic lapses in logic, and blatant inconsistency with the limits on federal regulatory authority. The 2:1 split continues the evident partisanship apparent in FERC's 2023 orders on natural gas pipeline issues that I wrote about earlier this year.²

Global clean energy and decarbonization goals are forcing governments around the world to take a hard look at their energy resource portfolios and future plans for meeting increasing electricity demand. While the last several years have seen a significant uptick in the deployment of solar, both terrestrial and offshore wind, and battery storage here in the United States, nuclear energy is once again being considered a critical energy generation source. Nuclear power, and in particular small modular nuclear reactors, are being considered as carbon-free power generation sources to strategically meet new loads.

The June 2023 column “COP27 Loss and Damage Fund—financial band aid or effective mechanism?” outlined the definition, evolution and potential establishment of a Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) to financially aid least developing countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS) and others countries impacted by sea level rise from climate change, while the January 2024 column “Loss and Damage Fund—operationalized at COP28 but funding and allocation process unresolved” outlined the initial funding and allocation process challenges. Since COP28 both the LDF Board and World Bank have been addressing elements required to operationalize the Fund. A key challenge is that only $661 million has been pledged to the Fund, while up to $400 billion is needed annually to address economic and non-economic loss and damage. While it is recognized that the initial pledges are “financial resources for commencing operationalization of the Fund,” they are “by no means enough for an initial resource mobilization effort.”

Abnormally high record-setting temperatures which began in 2023 have now marked a one-year continuous trend worldwide, with May 2024 being the hottest May ever recorded. Surpassing the 1.5° Celsius (C) warming threshold for a consecutive 12 months, scientists are increasing their warning of continued extreme heat waves that are pushing Earth towards a dangerous threshold.