No wonder young people have taken the reins of the climate demonstrations away from the adults. Zeke Hausfather at Carbon Brief shows that the global budget for avoiding warming of 1.5C or 2C has already been mostly used up. To put that in numbers, if children emit like their parents they’ll exhaust their carbon budget in just 9 years. It’s why emissions must peak in the next few years and then rapidly decline to hit the Paris targets. That’s … [Read more...]
Transition: nation-by-nation review of race to phaseout coal
The global effort to phase out coal consumption is speeding up. However, a lot of necessary work is still to be done, both to align with the ambition of the Paris Agreement and to ensure a just transition for affected workers and citizens. Oliver Sartor at the IDDRI runs through the leading examples of coal's phase-out across the world, nation by nation, and warns that coal producing and consuming countries that do not adapt are in danger of … [Read more...]
India kick-starts wholesale electricity market reforms
India’s wholesale electricity market is no longer fit for purpose according to Dheer Patel of the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP). Long term procurement contracts are forcing distribution companies (discoms) to buy expensive energy when cheaper alternatives are readily available. So the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) is launching a six-month pilot, starting 1st April, that enables “least-cost dispatch” of all centrally … [Read more...]
Are solar microgrids the future in the developing world?
Setting out to evaluate the real-world performance of solar microgrids in developing countries, a team from the Energy Institute at Haas partnered with startup Gram Power to provide small smart grid systems to unelectrified rural communities in India. While many industry experts see microgrids as important for future electrification, what the team found was that few communities wanted them, and they were difficult to implement and operate. … [Read more...]
How to get India’s clean energy and EV push (back) on track
New investments in clean energy in India dropped 20% last year as a result of cancelled auctions and renegotiated power contracts. Energy analyst Ankit Mishra spoke to experts to find out what went wrong and how India can be put back on track. India's push to electrify all new vehicles by 2030 will also require strong action from the government if it is to succeed. … [Read more...]
Is India’s coal power sector set to crash?
King Coal’s reign in India is about to come crashing down, writes Silvio Marcacci, Communications Director at think tank Energy Innovation. Coal supplied 80% of India’s total power mix in 2016-2017, but economics have flipped the country’s energy equation – new renewable energy is now cheaper to build than running most existing coal-fired power plants. … [Read more...]
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