It is the goal of the Biden administration to shape a future electric industry that is carbon-free with abundant storage. How will this massive push be accommodated, and who will benefit?
As the US continues on its path of decarbonization and goal of a low to zero carbon economy, one huge opportunity in this transition is the use of CCUS.
As clean energy technology becomes the latest frontier for geoeconomic rivalry, the security of supply chains for rare earths and critical minerals—essential materials for clean energy—has become a global strategic issue. The fragility of global supply chains revealed by COVID-19 and rising competition from China have only heightened the importance of supply chain security for critical minerals.
The Texas deep freeze was close to the sum of all fears for electric and gas utilities. If it could go wrong, it did go wrong, and Texans suffered. Clearly Texas must rethink, rebuild, and reprioritize. Everything in the state is on the table, from its electric isolation to whether it should be under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) umbrella with new interconnections to the national grid.
There is a growing overproduction of electricity from solar and wind, but solar in particular, especially in the Southwest. Utilities are in a rush to find ways of saving this electricity and balancing their systems. Batteries and other storage systems are all on the table, along with what may have the most promise: green hydrogen. This is hydrogen made by electrolysis, using surplus electricity.
Electric utilities are heavily dependent on sensors and growing interconnectivity. Smart meters, dispersed generation, variable generation -- like wind and solar -- require real-time data streams in order to make the split-second adjustments on the grid. Likewise in aberrant weather and other disaster scenarios, such as wildfires, uninterruptible communications are essential for utilities. How should they build communications systems that won't fail if the internet goes down, or if they are under cyberattack? How can utilities be sure that 5G won't make whatever system they decide to build obsolete?
During this virtual press briefing, our guests speakers gave insight on this new financial industry effort to measure the carbon impact of loans and investments as a building block for further climate action.
Energy storage co-located with fossil energy assets offers a suite of benefits to asset owners, the electricity grid, and society. To realize these benefits, the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has initiated a new program - the Advanced Energy Storage Program. This program will conduct research and development to advance energy storage technologies and integrate them with fossil assets to reduce barriers to wide-spread deployment.
