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.

Climate change, sustainability practices, and investment and asset management were a few of the central topics of the 2018 Sustainable Investment Forum, which met in New York City on Sept. 26. The event brought together banking experts, asset managers, and global institutions – including World Bank Group and United Nations.

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.

While solar and wind resources are abundant in the western United States, the region faces technical, operational and management challenges in transitioning to cleaner energy portfolios. Integrating renewable energy into existing electric grids continues to be a difficult hurdle for many electricity markets. When utilities face intermittent renewable energy generation, energy imbalance markets (EIMs) have been developed to mitigate the gaps between production and demand.

At the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, we constantly scan the horizon for transformative solutions in clean energy markets and finance. And as far and as wide as we look, we are drawn back to study the remarkable work across our home state of Connecticut.

With so much happening at a state level in solar power and energy efficiency, it is difficult to keep up with the variety of approaches and perspectives. So the Yale Center for Business and the Environment is here to help by launching “States of Clean Energy Innovation,” an online news hub with customized clean energy data and stories about the United States and Puerto Rico. Each state is different. Each state has thoughtful leaders working on our transition to clean energy. And each state deserves its own dashboard.

What insights about the cleantech startup ecosystem can accelerate the clean energy economy? Speakers on a panel at Horizon18 in Boston on Oct. 11, “Game Changers in the Clean Economy Marketplace: Innovative Solutions for the Future,” said that while some dynamic trends are taking place in the market, they recognize the obstacles that slow down new startups and technologies.

Although New Hampshire isn’t in the forefront of clean energy in New England, the solar power and energy efficiency industries are active there, according to Michael Behrmann, director of New Hampshire Clean Tech Council. In this interview, he said that some solar developers are working around bottlenecks at the state level by bypassing bureaucratic intervention. There is more state support for energy efficiency than for solar power.

Wyoming is dipping a toe into the solar market this year for the first time. In the energy efficiency arena, it has not yet explored its potential. However, analysts predict it will become a leading wind-power state in a few years. Scott Quillinan, director of operations and communications at the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources, said in this interview that the state is experiencing differential growth in its clean energy markets.