Innovation Trends in Electrolyzers for Hydrogen Production

Electrolysis of water, using renewable electricity, is the sustainable option to produce green hydrogen as an attractive low-carbon energy carrier. To respond to the growing demand for renewables-based hydrogen, an extraordinary expansion of the market for electrolyzers is needed linked to a significant capacity increase in the manufacture and deployment of electrolyzers. A rapid reduction in electrolyzer system costs is essential and technology innovation is crucial to this end.

According to IRENA, investment costs for electrolyser plants can be reduced by 40% in the short term and 80% in the long term through key strategies such as improved electrolyser design …

Reliably Reaching California’s Clean Electricity Targets

California’s Senate Bill 100 sets targets of 60% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045. In December 2020, the Joint Agencies SB 100 report (hereafter, referred to as the “SB 100 report”) analyzed the feasibility of the SB 100 targets and showed that accelerating this timeline to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2030 or 2035 could be cost-effective. However, the SB 100 report identified the need for further analysis to understand the reliability impacts of a clean portfolio. The reliability events that occurred
during August 2020 highlight the shifting resource adequacy challenges for California and the increasing importance …

Charting the Course for Early Truck Electrification

Trucks in the United States produce 25 percent of transportation greenhouse gas emissions even though they only make up 10 percent of vehicles on the road. And the problem is growing — emissions from trucks have nearly doubled in the past 30 years and are slated to increase faster as e-commerce booms.

Fortunately, development in EV technology has led to breakthroughs in electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Today, although supply is still relatively low, there are dozens of battery-electric truck models available in the United States and Canada alone, and that number is increasing rapidly to meet demand. Across the …

Federal Funding: A Flight Path to Sustainable Aviation Fuels

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) –liquid fuels that can be used in today’s aircraft and are cleaner than fossil jet fuel–will play a major role in reducing emissions from aviation. Several programs across the federal government are working alongside industry and university partners to develop and scale-up these new fuels. As Congress begins crafting the Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations bills, it should provide increased funding for these programs, so we can accelerate our efforts to build out the supply of SAF needed to meet our climate goals.…

Achieving An Equitable And Reliable 85 Percent Clean Electricity System In California

This policy report is a companion resource to the technical report, providing California policymakers with a set of no–regrets actions to effectively implement reliability insights from the technical analysis. Our recommendations show that policymakers can mitigate the risk of deploying resources too slowly, reduce the air pollution impacts of legacy natural gas power plants on disadvantaged communities (DACs), and foster resource diversity that improves reliability and reduces the amount of new power generation resources required to serve Californians.…

Strengthen U.S. Energy Security and Bolster Allies by Shifting to Clean Energy

The oil and gas industry is exploiting the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine to ask the Biden administration to allow additional oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters, issue permits for new domestic energy infrastructure, and approve pending applications for additional liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects. The truth, however, is that more drilling and more pipelines will not help Ukrainians, will not facilitate a long-term global rejection of Russian oil, and will not relieve U.S. gasoline and energy prices.

Continued reliance on fossil fuels is the problem—not the solution. Instead, the United States must reduce the nation’s …

Powerless in the Pandemic 2.0

In September 2021, the Center for Biological Diversity and BailoutWatch published Powerless In the Pandemic: After Bailouts, Electric Utilities Chose Profits Over People. The report found electric utilities had shut off the lights of poor American families nearly a million times during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing the likelihood those customers would become sick and die.

In the eight months since, as we redoubled our data-gathering and state shutoff moratoriums expired, a fear we expressed in that earlier document has come to fruition: The problem is far larger than our earlier data set indicated. In the 33 …

Shell’s Energy Transition Progress Report: Still Lacking Absolute Emissions Scope 3 Interim Targets

The document has been produced ahead of the AGM on 24 May 2022, with the company asking shareholders for an advisory vote over the progress made during the past twelve months. Most of the information contained in the report had been already released over the past 12 months. But more detail and context have been added.

We take the opportunity to highlight two areas where Shell could further strengthen its Energy Transition Strategy:

Unlocking the Potential of Distributed Energy Resources

Distributed energy resources (DERs) are small-scale energy resources usually situated near sites of electricity use, such as rooftop solar panels and battery storage. Their rapid expansion is transforming not only the way electricity is generated, but also how it is traded, delivered and consumed.

Accordingly, DERs can create new power system opportunities, but at the same time, can pose new challenges when a grid has not been properly prepared. Many jurisdictions are just beginning to understand how DERs fit into the wider energy landscape – what they are and what impacts they have on the grid, and how they can …

Charting the Course for Early Truck Electrification

Trucks in the United States produce 25 percent of transportation greenhouse gas emissions even though they only make up 10 percent of vehicles on the road. And the problem is growing — emissions from trucks have nearly doubled in the past 30 years and are slated to increase faster as e-commerce booms.

Fortunately, development in EV technology has led to breakthroughs in electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Today, although supply is still relatively low, there are dozens of battery-electric truck models available in the United States and Canada alone, and that number is increasing rapidly to meet demand. Across the …