The integration of new clean generation sources on top of the increase in electrification of industry, e-mobility, and heating and cooling means grid investment must be made a priority. Anything else will leave deployment-ready solutions waiting, slowing down the transition. The backdrop is that over one third of the EU’s grids are already more than 40 years old. Eurelectric has produced a manifesto, “Connecting The Dots”, that estimates … [Read more...]
Do e-bike subsidies lift sales, change habits and cut emissions?
What happened when Sweden introduced a 25% rebate on the cost of an e-bike for 12 months over 2017-18? Lucas Davis at the Haas School of Business reviews a study that digs into the consequences. Sales increased by 70%. E-bike prices remained steady, so the sellers didn’t simply raise prices to eat up the rebate. The study estimates that although a third of those sales would have “happened anyway” (i.e. no additionality) the remaining two-thirds … [Read more...]
New research ranks the 12 best ways to cut car use in cities
Behaviour change is as an important part of our transition journey as the clean energy revolution. Kimberly Nicholas at Lund University summarises research that has gathered together nearly 800 peer-reviewed reports and case studies from across Europe that analyse ways of reducing car use. One main challenge is to quantify the benefits so policy-makers and citizens can make evidence-based decisions on how to re-imagine city mobility. Nicholas … [Read more...]
Industry’s large on-site batteries can profitably help stabilise the grid
Energy-intensive industries that invest in their own large on-site batteries will provide multiple benefits to themselves as well as to grid stability, says a new study by the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy (JISEA) in partnership with NREL and others. It matters because future power systems will need to be highly flexible due to the variability of wind and solar. The study assessed two established energy-intensive industries (chlor-alkali … [Read more...]
How to keep Wind and Solar profitable as its electricity gets cheaper
Success can cause problems. As wind and solar penetration increases the electricity it generates gets cheaper. If it stops being profitable we’ll stop building it, thus endangering our emissions-free goals. Dev Millstein at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory summarises their research paper that looks at how market value changed over time at 2,100 utility-scale power plants across major power markets in the U.S., using 2019 data. It’s clear … [Read more...]
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