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Smart households in a high Renewables world: flexible, efficient, cheaper

March 10, 2022 by Marco Reiser and Karoline Steinbacher

Smart controls can enable household heating and EVs to interact flexibly with increasingly decentralised electricity generation. As renewables continue to be added to the energy mix, it will increase efficiency, reduce load, and save money. Marco Reiser and Karoline Steinbacher at Guidehouse summarise the challenges and opportunities, before looking at the SINTEG pilot in Germany. The main hurdles are technological (standardisation, interfaces, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buildings, Energy Tagged With: costs, DistrictHeating, efficiency, electricity, EVs, flexibility, Germany, heating, HeatPumps, HVAC, renewables, rooftopsolar, SINTEG, smart, standards

Can full-scale Distributed Solar really save $473bn in grid investments?

September 20, 2021 by Meredith Fowlie

A giant model of the entire US electricity sector which captures distributed energy resource (DER) potential has been getting a lot of attention. It estimates that distributed solar and storage can save $473bn in system-wide costs when deployed at scale (enough to power more than 25% of US homes). Rooftop solar is definitely much more expensive than grid generation, but its location (on your own roof) avoids a range of costly transmission and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Grids Tagged With: DER, Distribution, electricity, grids, investment, rooftopsolar, storage, Transmission, US

California: Designing electricity rates that are fair and encourage EV and Heat Pump take-up

March 25, 2021 by James Sallee

Electricity prices in California are not fair and not good for incentivising electrification, says James Sallee at the Energy Institute at Haas, because of the way people are being billed. There is no doubt that electrification (grid upgrades, etc.) and climate mitigation (including controlling California’s wildfires caused by power cable failures) must add to the cost of transition. But Californians can now find themselves paying up to twice the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Grids Tagged With: California, electricity, grids, JustTransition, prices, rooftopsolar, utilities

A marketplace for energy data will enable Europe’s grid expansion

February 10, 2021 by Veronika SpurnĂĄ and Helena Uhde

The growth of the decentralisation of energy generation and storage combined with the digitalisation of the metrics of supply and demand is pointing towards a marketplace for energy data, explain Veronika SpurnĂĄ and Helena Uhde at the EU-China Energy Cooperation Platform. Such a marketplace will monetise the data itself, in recognition of its vital role in enabling the intelligent distribution of energy and investment. There will also be a place … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Grids Tagged With: data, decentralisation, Digitalisation, DSO, electricity, emobility, EU, grids, heating, prices, prosumers, rooftopsolar, SmartMeters

Coal regions are ideally suited for utility-scale Wind, Solar and jobs

December 14, 2020 by Elif GĂŒndĂŒzyeli and Jörg MĂŒhlenhoff

Over 15% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU come from coal-fired energy generation. 18 EU countries still use coal for electricity production. The argument goes that the phasing out of coal threatens the livelihoods of coal workers and their regional economy. But it should be the opposite, argue Elif GĂŒndĂŒzyeli and Jörg MĂŒhlenhoff at CAN Europe. Coal regions are ideally suited for new gigawatt-scale wind and solar. They already have the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Oil, Gas & Coal, Renewables Tagged With: coal, electricity, Germany, infrastructure, jobs, JustTransition, Poland, Romania, rooftopsolar, solar, spain, wind

Rooftop Solar: economies of scale can challenge the centralised grid

November 12, 2020 by Javier LĂłpez Prol

One of our recent articles explained how rooftop solar PV is more expensive that a centralised supply, and that the transmission and distribution cost savings of the rooftop system, on their own, do not make up for this cost difference. Here, Javier LĂłpez Prol at the Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change, University of Graz, responds to those challenges. First, the economies of scale of distributed rooftop solar are yet to be realised. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Grids Tagged With: BehaviourChange, costs, Distribution, grids, investment, prosumers, rooftopsolar, solar, Transmission

Why promote Rooftop Solar when the Grid is so much cheaper?

October 13, 2020 by Severin Borenstein

Is rooftop solar in the U.S. getting more support than it deserves? One main argument from its advocates is that it will cut grid transmission and distribution costs that total hundreds of millions. Severin Borenstein at the Energy Institute at Haas crunches some numbers to try to uncover the true “avoided costs”. He shows that any savings won’t come even close to making up for the higher cost of rooftop electricity. It’s no match for the grid’s … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Grids Tagged With: DistributedGeneration, Distribution, electricity, grids, resilience, rooftopsolar, solar, storage, Transmission, US

Will Germany’s “EEG” energy law amendments make renewable targets harder to meet?

October 8, 2020 by Simon Göss

Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz/EEG), now 20 years old, is under discussion as a new amendment is supposed to come into force on January 1st 2021. Simon Göss at Energy Brainpool takes a detailed look at the highlights, including the new and higher targets, the financial role of municipalities, clean electricity subsidies, and solar and wind tender volumes. He explains there has been serious criticism of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Policies Tagged With: biomass, EEG, finance, Germany, rooftopsolar, solar, wind

Sweden’s new “prosumers”: electricity generation at the city, village and residential level

September 25, 2020 by Harry Kretchmer

54% of Sweden’s power already comes from renewables – the target is 100% by 2040 - and more and more is being generated locally on a small distributed scale, says Harry Kretchmer writing for the World Economic Forum. ‘District Heating’ plants are today using excess heat to warm over 75% of Swedish homes. Residential generation is happening too, creating “prosumers” who both produce and consume. In Ludivika, 1970s flats have been retrofitted with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Grids, Smartgrids Tagged With: DistrictHeating, electricity, eon, grids, HeatPumps, prosumers, renewables, rooftopsolar, smartgrids, storage, Sweden

Virtual blockchain for prosumers replicates a live utility-scale grid

May 29, 2020 by Wayne Hicks

Wayne Hicks at NREL describes research that’s created a virtual blockchain “prosumer” accounting system that replicates a live utility-scale grid. The goal of a real-world application is to allow countless individual households with their own electricity storage and generation to buy and sell power to each other; a truly revolutionary pathway. Clearly, it will require a system that securely accounts for vast amounts of transactions - a big enough … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blockchain, Energy, Grids Tagged With: blockchain, efficiency, electricity, EVs, grids, prosumers, rooftopsolar, smartgrids, storage

Midwest U.S. grid operator MISO: modelling for a clean energy future

November 19, 2019 by Sam Gomberg

Planning can’t be easy for a grid operator. Take MISO which operates one of the world’s largest energy markets. They’re responsible for integration and bulk transmission across the central U.S., but decisions on the actual future energy mix and demand are being made elsewhere: by state governments, utilities and consumers big and small. Given the amounts invested in infrastructure and the lead times involved, no one will thank MISO if their … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Grids Tagged With: electricity, EVs, grids, markets, renewables, rooftopsolar, Transmission, US

Germany 2021: when fixed feed-in tariffs end, how will renewables fare?

October 21, 2019 by Kerstine Appunn and Benjamin Wehrmann

Starting in 2021 many of Germany’s existing “pioneer” wind turbines, solar PV installations and biogas plants – launched with generous price guarantees - will stop receiving fixed feed-in tariffs. That means renewable capacity may be shut down if they can’t find a new business model to run on. The new rules comes at a decisive time for Germany’s energy transition as it tries to increase renewables to meet emissions targets and gradually increase … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Policies, Renewables Tagged With: biogas, biomass, electricity, feed-in tariffs, Germany, grid, policies, PPAs, renewables, repowering, rooftopsolar, solar, subsidies, wind

Most read this week

  • Make Hydrogen in developing nations: share prosperity while meeting our climate goals by Dolf Gielen | posted on January 26, 2023
  • 10 Carbon Capture methods compared: costs, scalability, permanence, cleanness by Ella Adlen | posted on November 11, 2019
  • Can new cheap, frequent “laser” monitoring of critical components extend Nuclear plant lifetimes by decades? by David Chandler | posted on February 1, 2023
  • Wind and Solar generated record 20% of EU electricity in 2022. More than gas, nuclear, hydro, coal by Daisy Dunne | posted on February 3, 2023
  • Micro-nuclear reactors: up to 20MW, portable, safer by Christina Nunez | posted on April 22, 2021
  • The U.S. should support the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) by Joseph Majkut | posted on January 30, 2023
  • Utah: 140MW Geothermal bid can beat the cost and performance of the proposed Nuclear SMR by Dennis Wamsted | posted on January 27, 2023
  • EU Energy Outlook to 2060: how will power prices and revenues develop for wind, solar, gas, hydrogen + more by Alex Schmitt | posted on December 6, 2022
  • Biofuel is approaching a feedstock crunch. How bad? And what must be done? by IEA | posted on January 23, 2023
  • Can Aluminium-air batteries outperform Li-ion for EVs? by Helena Uhde | posted on September 8, 2021
  • EU ETS and CBAM: what the big update to emissions trading rules means for Europe’s key sectors by Simon Göss | posted on January 16, 2023
  • Steel decarbonisation: Australia must stop making excuses and follow Europe’s lead by Simon Nicholas | posted on February 2, 2023
  • What’s best for Hydrogen transport: ammonia, liquid hydrogen, LOHC or pipelines? by Herib Blanco | posted on May 5, 2022
  • Gravity Batteries: any nation can do it at scale using rocks by Simon Read | posted on July 27, 2022
  • Wind (and Solar) need their own Financial Transmission Rights to hedge their unique congestion risks by James Kim | posted on January 31, 2023
  • Hydrogen production in 2050: how much water will 74EJ need? by Herib Blanco | posted on July 22, 2021
  • Why hydrogen fuel cell cars are not competitive — from a hydrogen fuel cell expert by Zachary Shahan | posted on June 17, 2016
  • Concrete: 8% of global emissions and rising. Which innovations can achieve net zero by 2050? by Ben Skinner | posted on January 24, 2023
  • The 10 big problems with simply replacing fossil cars with electric by Schalk Cloete | posted on December 6, 2021
  • Smart Glasses: experts can monitor and advise on power plant inspections anywhere in the world by Christoph Gatzen | posted on January 25, 2023

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        Recent Posts

        Wind and Solar generated record 20% of EU electricity in 2022. More than gas, nuclear, hydro, coal

        Steel decarbonisation: Australia must stop making excuses and follow Europe’s lead

        Can new cheap, frequent “laser” monitoring of critical components extend Nuclear plant lifetimes by decades?

        Wind (and Solar) need their own Financial Transmission Rights to hedge their unique congestion risks

        The U.S. should support the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)

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