Emergence Strategy in Action: Gogoro Seizes Opportunity in the Transition to Sustainable Mobility

How did Gogoro go from stealth startup to being the largest worldwide provider of light EV battery swapping — all in a little over a decade? The company, which vastly simplifies the charging experience for the rapidly growing two-wheeled electric scooter market, now operates in nine countries.

Gogoro’s success story has all the hallmarks of emergence strategy, including deft system sensing to identify strategic opportunities aligned with its vision and a flexible partnership strategy to increase the company’s influence in a rapidly evolving business ecosystem.

At almost every turn, Gogoro has outpaced bigger potential rivals by taking strategic decisions based …

Hybrid Power Plants: Status of Operating and Proposed Plants, 2024 Edition

Improving battery technology and the growth of variable renewable generation are driving a surge of interest in “hybrid” power plants that combine, for example, wind or solar generating capacity with co-located batteries. While most of the current interest involves pairing photovoltaic (PV) plants with batteries, other types of hybrid or co-located plants with wide-ranging configurations have been part of the U.S. electricity mix for decades.

This annually updated briefing tracks and maps existing hybrid or co-located plants across the United States while also synthesizing data from power purchase agreements (PPAs) and generation interconnection queues to shed light on near- and …

Energy Storage Primer 101

Energy storage is a vital component of modern energy systems, providing the flexibility needed to balance the supply and demand of electricity. As energy consumption continues to rise, driven by the increasing reliance on renewable energy sources like wind and solar, the ability to store energy efficiently has become crucial. Energy storage systems capture excess energy generated during periods of low demand and release it during peak demand times, ensuring grid stability and enhancing the reliability of the power supply. These systems are not only essential for integrating renewable energy into the grid but also play a key role in …

The Incredible Inefficiency of the Fossil Energy System

Today’s fossil energy system is incredibly inefficient: almost two-thirds of all primary energy is wasted in energy production, transportation, and use, before fossil fuel has done any work or produced any benefit. That means over $4.6 trillion per year, almost 5% of global GDP and 40% of what we spend on energy, goes up in smoke due to fossil inefficiency.

The winds are changing, though, as fossil technologies are undercut by more efficient alternatives. End-use efficiency is driving out fossil fuels, reinforced by three new tailwinds that upend the energy landscape: renewable electricity, localization, and electrification. These drivers will allow …

Solar and Storage Integration in the Southeastern United States: Economics, Reliability, and Operations

Solar energy has the potential to be a core energy resource for the southeastern United States. To better understand the implications of higher levels of solar PV (27%-43% of total generation capacity) and electricity storage (13%-49% of peak load) would affect electricity system reliability, costs, and operations in the U.S. Southeast, this study sought to address two main questions. First, how would higher levels of solar PV and electricity storage impact the costs, reliability, and operations of electricity systems in the Southeast in 2035? Second, at different levels of solar PV and electricity storage, what are the benefits of operational …

Demand-Side Support for Scaling Carbon Dioxide Removal

The carbon dioxide removal (CDR) sector is growing rapidly — eclipsing 11 million tonnes (Mts) in cumulative sales, with total investment of $2.7 billion and an annual growth rate of over 250%. However, even under the most ambitious scenarios for global reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement will require billions of tonnes of CDR annually by 2050.

Massively scaled demand for CDR will be needed to achieve this multi-gigatonne (Gt) annual delivery target. The voluntary carbon market (VCM), along with philanthropic support, has provided an invaluable catalyst for the early development and initial …

Thematic Bonds Can Help Increase Investment in Responsible Mining of Critical Minerals

Without an increase in the supply of critical minerals, there is no pathway to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C temperature rise limit, as they are essential components of many clean energy technologies ranging from solar panels to wind turbines to electric vehicles and storage batteries. A key challenge to increasing supply to meet expected demand growth from the energy transition has been an underinvestment in the mining and exploration of critical minerals over many years. Elevated price volatility of critical minerals in combination with the long lead times of mining projects is a headwind to new investments, as are potential …

The U.S. Large-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Database

The United States Large-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Database (USPVDB) provides the locations and array boundaries of U.S. ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) facilities with capacity of 1 megawatt or more. It includes corresponding PV facility information, including panel type, site type, and initial year of operation. The creation of this database was jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) via the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) Energy Markets and Policy Department, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Energy Resources Program. The PV facility records are collected from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), position-verified and digitized …

Leading the Way: Partnerships and Solutions

We are at a critical crossroads in our nation’s use of energy. Our need to advance clean, reliable energy solutions that allow for strong economic growth is paramount. Through the Better Buildings Initiative, DOE partners with hundreds of leading organizations to advance and demonstrate realworld solutions. These solutions showcase our collective success in driving down costs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy independence, and fostering workforce development.

Through the Better Buildings Initiative, DOE works with organizations across the nation to improve buildings and manufacturing plants. The cumulative result of this work is reported below and demonstrates the remarkable impacts …

Enhancing Building Energy Efficiency through Advanced Sizing and Dispatch Methods for Energy Storage

Energy storage and electrification of buildings hold great potential for future decarbonized energy systems. However, there are several technical and economic barriers that prevent large-scale adoption and integration of energy storage in buildings. These barriers include integration with building control systems, high capital costs, and the necessity to identify and quantify value streams for different stakeholders. To overcome these obstacles, it is crucial to develop advanced sizing and dispatch methods to assist planning and operational decision-making for integrating energy storage in buildings. This work develops a simple and flexible optimal sizing and dispatch framework for thermal energy storage (TES) and …