Severin Borenstein at the Energy Institute at Haas and Ryan Kellogg at the University of Chicago question whether carbon pricing is the best way to decarbonise the electricity grid. The authors did an empirical analysis of all of the fossil plants in the US. It shows that a CES (clean electricity standard) or zero-emissions subsidies would close down fossil plants in almost the same order as a carbon tax. So using alternative policy tools can … [Read more...]
Record Renewables additions for 2021 and 2022 despite supply bottlenecks prove Solar & Windâs resilience
Despite â or perhaps because of â global market and political turmoil, renewable power is set to break another record in 2022. Thatâs after 2021 also saw record new capacity from solar, wind and other renewables worldwide. Itâs mainly driven by solar PV in China and Europe as governments around the world take advantage of renewablesâ energy security and climate benefits, according to the IEAâs latest Renewable Energy Market Update. 295GW of new … [Read more...]
U.S. Solar breaks new records. Whatâs needed to keep the momentum?
The latest available data reveals itâs been a record breaking 2021 for U.S. solar. John Rogers at UCS runs through the highlights. Solar passed the 100GW milestone, with 23.6GW newly installed, up 19% on 2020 and 77% up on 2019. Solar was the biggest source of new electric generating capacity for the third year in a row. Residential, non-residential and utility-scale all performed well. Across the nation, solar accounted for 3.9% of total … [Read more...]
Piloting peer-to-peer electricity markets in China and the EU
Peer-to-peer (P2P) electricity trading is being promoted, to varying degrees, in both the EU and China. It allows individual citizens and businesses to produce and trade their own solar power (local, rooftop), while enabling the close-to-real-time balancing of supply and demand to maintain system stability. Helena Uhde at the ECECP gives an insight into the current status, implementation, regulations and policies in both regions. She cites two … [Read more...]
Event summary: âUnlocking the potential of Bioenergyâ
Sara Stefanini provides a written summary of our panel discussion held on Thursday March 17th 2022. Itâs a full summary of the 90 minute discussion (including audience questions), but it begins conveniently with a summary of the highlights (potential for bioenergy, hard-to-abate sectors, sustainability, policy needs). Those highlights include the need to scale bioenergy up from around 50 EJ today to 150 EJ by 2050; the importance of carbon … [Read more...]
Carbon Taxes have a multiplier effect on clean energy policies
President Bidenâs Build Back Better package has already had to be cut back drastically. The climate part of the package is to halve the U.S.âs greenhouse gas pollution from its peak by 2030. Given the limitations on what Biden can do, will tax credits alone (favouring low-carbon solutions) achieve the target, asks Meredith Fowlie at the Energy Institute at Haas. She reviews papers that say it almost certainly wonât. However, the addition of a … [Read more...]
The Gas Crunch: EU and China can share lessons on Energy Security and Renewables Integration
With adversity comes opportunity. The global gas crunch has hurt countries around the world but has also made them appreciate their common concerns. That has provoked policy-makers to take a serious look at current and future energy security policies. In the EU the competitive gas markets, enabled by short-term spot markets, has reminded us of the value of long-term contracts when prices are volatile and rising. Meanwhile, Chinaâs … [Read more...]
UNEP 2021 Emissions Gap report: only 11 countries have net-zero targets enshrined in law
Zeke Hausfather at Carbon Brief summarises the UNEP 2021 Emissions Gap report, released last week. It explores the impact of the net-zero emissions pledges of nations, and the âgapâ between them and the Paris targets. As COP26 gets started, 136 countries either have some form of commitment to a net-zero target or are considering it. Of those, 49 plus the EU have a firm net-zero commitment. But only 11 countries have targets enshrined in law. … [Read more...]
Only Carbon Removal can make Germanyâs new climate goal a reality
Germany canât hit its emissions targets without significant carbon dioxide removal (CRD), explain Simon Göss and Hendrik Schuldt at cr.hub. Clean energy and energy efficiency wonât do it alone. Policymakers have grasped that hard-to-abate sectors (industry, agriculture, buildings, transport) will struggle to deliver the reductions needed. Meanwhile, the climate disasters (floods, wildfires, etc.) that have cost lives this year are piling on … [Read more...]
Where to build new Wind Turbines in Germany? Lowest cost vs residents and nature
Germany was a wind energy leader. But by 2019 it was only ranked sixth globally for newly installed capacity per year. Antje Nieber and Paul Lehmann at the University of Leipzig explain why. At its heart is a conflict of priorities: lowest cost versus the interests of residents and nature, being played out at the national and federal levels. The switch from feed-in tariff support to lowest-cost tenders stalled a lot of wind projects. Lawsuits and … [Read more...]
The standard models overestimate the cost of the low carbon transition
Why have forecasts for new low-carbon energy consistently underestimated their cost reductions? The IEA has, famously, repeatedly had to raise its estimates for solarâs contribution every year since 2009, and now describes it as the âcheapest electricity in historyâ. Writing for Carbon Brief, Alexandra Poncia at Arup and Paul Drummond and Michael Grubb at University College London explain that standard models focus on âtechnology-pushâ policies, … [Read more...]
Weâre making much more progress decarbonising Electricity than Transport. Why?
In the OECD, since 2000, electricity sector emissions have fallen by 8% while transport emissions have actually increased by 5%. The best performers like the UK recorded drops in both: 40% and 6% respectively. In the U.S. itâs 25% and 0%. Catherine Wolfram at the Haas School of Business asks why transport is still going in the wrong direction, given the power sectorâs progress. She posits three theories. Rich nations are outsourcing … [Read more...]
A pathway for profitable CCS in California
A study from the energy departments of Stanford University, from where Kara Glenwright writes, lays out a pathway for California to capture and store up to 60 Mt (million tonnes) of CO2 a year. 76 site locations have been identified where work could start immediately to store 20 Mt/yr profitably under the existing low carbon rules. But first a raft of clarifications on the laws is needed, showing that the success of CCS doesnât just depend on the … [Read more...]
Which sectors need Hydrogen, which donât: Transport, Heating, Electricity, Storage, Industry?
Which sectors are most suited to hydrogen, and which are not? For the answer, six academics from the UK and the Netherlands - Tom Baxter, Ernst Worrell, Hu Li, Petra de Jongh, Stephen Carr, and Valeska Ting â use their areas of expertise to neatly summarise hydrogenâs pros and cons in Road and Rail, Aviation, Heating, Electricity and Energy Storage, and Heavy Industry. Their general message seems clear: hydrogen is still very expensive, so it can … [Read more...]
Improving cost and performance modelling for energy technologies, old and new
Measuring the performance of an energy technology is key to informing policies and pathways as the transition scales up. But are we measuring all the right things and getting accurate answers? If weâre not, those policies and pathways could end up wrong. Paul Sapin at Imperial College, UK, explains how they are creating a library of data-rich models to greatly improve predictive power for all energy technologies, both existing and emerging. He … [Read more...]
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