Topic: Energy Storage

Hospital connected to community microgrid

Co-authored by Sara Harari, Nate Grady, Emilie Charlotte Løberg and Sofie Møller As climate change becomes the new reality, policymakers must decide how to invest limited resources in advanced technology and infrastructure. At the heart of this challenge is the debate over adaptation versus mitigation: should we focus our efforts on avoiding the worst effects of climate change (i.e. reducing the amount of greenhouse gasses we release going forward), or should we divide our resources and invest simultaneously on adapting to the most likely effects of climate change? Historically, most international efforts have focused on mitigation; if we can quickly...

Vastly higher clean energy targets are essential to empower the international community to make the leap to a sustainable future, according to Richard Heinberg, coauthor of “Our Renewable Future: Laying the Path for One Hundred Percent Clean Energy.” In this interview, he delves into the practical challenges involved in the global transition to renewable power sources.

Across the nation, new elected officials have been sworn in this January. They can alter the trajectory of clean energy projects in the years to come. Incoming governors may preside over expanding clean energy markets.

Sharan Burrow at the Investor Summit on Climate Risk

“There are no jobs on a dead planet,” said Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation. Burrow is vice-chair of The B Team, a coalition of business and civil society leaders that was founded by Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz. In an attempt to address the dual dangers of economic injustice and environmental disaster that Burrow’s remark references, The B Team launched the Pledge for a Just Transition to Decent Jobs in August 2018.

A microgrid connecting to the office of a champion decision maker

Community microgrids can be initiated by a wide range of individuals or organizations. They include mayors and utilities. They also may include “anchor” off-takers like hospital management, development companies, or community organizations. But to succeed, they require that at least one person really take the lead and energize the project.

The market for renewable energy projects paired with storage is gaining momentum. It is poised for large growth in the coming years. That was the consensus of the “Storage and Renewables: Policy and Market Trends” panel discussion during the Renewable Energy Markets conference in Houston on Oct. 9 – 11.

At Storage East 2018, policymakers, businesses and utilities – the entire storage value chain – convened in Washington, D.C. to discuss the next steps for the Eastern Interconnection in the United States. On Oct. 16, utility companies, power services, and energy developers engaged in a panel discussion on how to best incentivize the rollout of energy storage under current regulatory conditions.

Because energy storage can help the power industry with many problems ranging from intermittency issues hamstringing renewables to energy crises threatening entire population centers, it is being acclaimed by many as the linchpin of tomorrow’s clean energy future.

At the GTM Blockchain in Energy Forum hosted at Pacific Gas and Electric Company in San Francisco on Sept. 11, technology and energy experts focused their attention on emerging blockchain applications aimed at enhancing grid resilience: smart asset management and demand response programs. Blockchain has exploded over the past two years in the power sector.

In this explainer, we’ll take a close look at the infrastructure of microgrids – more specifically, community microgrids. We will show how they can play an essential role in local resiliency while delivering system-wide benefits.