Utilities and Carbon Removal A Gigaton Scale Opportunity

Energy utilities and Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) are important and parallel threads on the path to deep decarbonization. Utilities, especially electric utilities, are leading the energy sector decarbonization efforts — integrating gigawatts of new clean energy resources each year while preparing for surging demand from new climate loads, including transportation and building electrification, clean fuels production, and now carbon removal. Carbon Removal, a suite of pathways to draw carbon down from the atmosphere, is emerging as a necessary complement to direct emissions reduction measures for legacy emissions and hard-to-abate sectors.

In this report, they examine four key threads which intertwine …

Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report 2024

For more than a decade, the biennial Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report (MTR) has been the sector’s flagship publication, produced by the World Bank / ESMAP and GOGLA with support from key partners. It serves as the primary source of information on the off-grid solar (OGS) sector for investors, industry professionals, policymakers,
and other stakeholders.

Building on previous editions, Part One of the 2024 MTR focuses on the state of the OGS market and explores key
trends in supply, demand, finance, and policy over the last two years. Part Two focuses on the market outlook
and explores the factors that …

Heliostat Consortium Annual Report 2024

Heliostat-based concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) systems offer immense potential to provide low-cost, dispatchable renewable thermal and electrical energy to help achieve 100% decarbonized energy infrastructure in the United States. CSP with low-cost thermal energy storage can be used either to produce dispatchable electricity or provide high-temperature heat to difficult-to-decarbonize industries, such as cement, steel, and chemical production.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) is working to improve the techno-economic performance of heliostat-based CSP systems, with a target of $0.05 per kilowatt-hour electricity (kWhe) or $0.02 per kilowatt-hour thermal (kWhth) for heat generation for next-generation CSP …

California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard

California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) is a prominent and increasingly controversial part of the state’s climate mitigation strategy. The LCFS requires the carbon intensity of transportation fuels sold in California to decline every year. To comply, bulk fuel sellers must either reduce emissions within their own supply chains or procure credits from companies that sell lower-carbon fuels—all based on life cycle carbon intensity calculations overseen by the state climate regulator.

The LCFS program mobilizes significant financial flows through private transactions, rather than by raising public funds from auctioning pollution rights. It has issued more than 22 billion dollars’ worth …

The People’s Republic of China’s Emissions Trading Scheme: Origins, Characteristics, and Lessons for Greater Asia

The national emissions trading scheme (ETS) of the People’s Republic of China is at an important juncture. China is using the ETS as a tool to bend the country’s emissions curve while cleaning its domestic environment, driving innovation, and capturing a greater share of high-value segments of the global economy. This paper first explores the origins of the ETS, including the seven subnational ETS pilots that formed the foundation of China’s national efforts. It then looks at the characteristics and performance of the national ETS. The paper provides a case study in policy experimentation that is applicable for nascent and …

Women’s Employment in the Pacific Power Sector

Pacific Island Countries (PICs) face economic challenges due to their remoteness, limited resources, and gender inequality. The remoteness, size, and limited resources of Pacific Island Countries (PICs) contribute to several economic challenges, including limited economies of scale, high transportation costs, and vulnerability to external shocks. While economies vary across the region, most countries rank relatively low on human development and gender equality indices. To address these challenges, PICs are increasingly focused on sustainable development and economic diversification to build resilience and improve living standards.

The energy sector plays a crucial role in addressing these challenges by providing reliable and climate …

Deploying Long-Duration Energy Storage in Virginia

Energy storage is crucial to enabling new clean energy to serve as firm, reliable electricity generation. Virginia has one of the largest state-level energy storage targets in the country, with a goal to deploy 3.1 GW of energy storage capacity by 2035—enough to power more than 2.3 million homes—and aims to procure 100 percent of its electricity from non-emitting sources by 2045. As the state looks to grow its share of renewable energy, deploying energy storage—and particularly long-duration storage—can help to maximize the utilization of this energy while supporting grid reliability. This brief provides insights from a roundtable hosted in …

From Principles to Action: Corporate Innovation Stories to Build Climate Resilience

Resilience, in general, is widely viewed as the capacity to bounce back, evolve, and thrive amid unexpected events, shocks, or stressors. For major companies, resilience involves a holistic approach to organizational design, behaviors, and work practices that promote agility, adaptability, and creative problem-solving to adapt, withstand, and recover from disruptions while maintaining value delivery to stakeholders. To meet the current and increasingly severe impacts from climate change, companies must adjust their strategies and internal structures to meet climate-related challenges; have the tools and knowledge to effectively assess and manage these risks; foster a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and shared …

Fluoride-salt High-temperature Reactor (FHR) Reactor Physics Calculations Benchmark

Under the auspices of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Nuclear Science Committee (NSC), the Working Party on Scientific Issues of Reactor Systems (WPRS) has been established to study reactor physics, fuel performance, radiation transport and shielding, reactor core thermal-hydraulics, and the uncertainties associated with modelling of these phenomena in present and future nuclear power systems. The WPRS has different expert groups to cover a wide range of scientific issues in these fields.

The Expert Group on Reactor Physics and Advanced Nuclear Systems (EGRPANS) was created in 2011 to perform specific tasks associated with reactor physics aspects of present and future …

Near-Term Reserves Tight in Revamped PJM Market

While the record-high clearing price in PJM Interconnection LLC’s 2025/2026 Base Residual Auction this past June signals the need for more reliable capacity, it may also trigger a wave of efficient and low-cost generation that pushes down wholesale electricity prices in PJM. The elevated clearing prices followed market changes PJM made to enhance market efficiency and reliability, aiming to promote competition as existing generators retire and recent extreme weather events have revealed resource adequacy deficiencies. Consequently, PJM’s near-term reserve margins are forecast at 6.8% in 2025.

Gain strategic insights into PJM supply and demand forecast, projections on generation mix and …