More Land is Needed for Solar and Wind Infrastructure Under a High Renewables Scenario in the Western US by 2050

Expanding United States electricity infrastructure to meet growing demand could require extensive power plant development footprints and land use conversion, depending on the mix of generation types chosen. Understanding where future power plant sitings are likely to take place and identifying potential conflicts and land-use tradeoffs will be key to identifying feasible and affordable investments and evaluating regional planning coordination needs. Here we use an integrated modeling framework that combines capacity expansion planning, hourly grid operations, and geospatial techno-economic analysis to develop projections (2025-2050) of power plant sitings in the Western United States (US) at a 1 km2 resolution for …

China’s Urban EV Ultra-Fast Charging Distorts Regulated Price Signals and Elevates Risk to Grid Stability

The wide adoption of electric vehicles is driving the rapid deployment of ultra-fast charging stations, particularly in China. This study uses simulations based on extensive real-world charging data from major Chinese cities and finds that deploying 2000 ultra-fast charging stations in a city may increase the peak-to-valley differences of the public charging load by up to 31.61% daily relative to baseline cases. While integrating energy storage systems can help smooth short-term load volatility, it may simultaneously exacerbate short-term demand surges, particularly during the transition from high- to low-price periods. Under an unregulated scenario, large-scale deployment of ultra-fast charging stations with …

China’s Urban EV Ultra-Fast Charging Distorts Regulated Price Signals and Elevates Risk to Grid Stability

The wide adoption of electric vehicles is driving the rapid deployment of ultra-fast charging stations, particularly in China. This study uses simulations based on extensive real-world charging data from major Chinese cities and finds that deploying 2000 ultra-fast charging stations in a city may increase the peak-to-valley differences of the public charging load by up to 31.61% daily relative to baseline cases. While integrating energy storage systems can help smooth short-term load volatility, it may simultaneously exacerbate short-term demand surges, particularly during the transition from high- to low-price periods. Under an unregulated scenario, large-scale deployment of ultra-fast charging stations with …

Summary of the NEA Assessment on Spent Nuclear Fuel Decay Heat for Light Water Reactors

This report summarises the NEA assessment of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) decay heat for light water reactors, which highlights the increasing importance of accurate decay heat estimations due to evolving fuel characteristics. Over the past decades, the nuclear industry has seen higher initial fuel enrichment, increased burn-up rates, and extended reactor cycle lengths. This necessitates a refined understanding of decay heat for safe handling, storage, reprocessing and disposal of SNF. Subgroup 12 (SG 12) of the NEA Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety (WPNCS) was established in 2022 to evaluate the accuracy of SNF decay heat predictions. The group examined …

Summary of the NEA Assessment on Spent Nuclear Fuel Decay Heat for Light Water Reactors

This report summarises the NEA assessment of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) decay heat for light water reactors, which highlights the increasing importance of accurate decay heat estimations due to evolving fuel characteristics. Over the past decades, the nuclear industry has seen higher initial fuel enrichment, increased burn-up rates, and extended reactor cycle lengths. This necessitates a refined understanding of decay heat for safe handling, storage, reprocessing and disposal of SNF. Subgroup 12 (SG 12) of the NEA Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety (WPNCS) was established in 2022 to evaluate the accuracy of SNF decay heat predictions. The group examined …

Leveling Up Decarbonization

Cities, corporations, and other institutions are increasingly pledging to decarbonize their operations to reduce their energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Leaders of these organizations have two general approaches at their disposal: demand-side and supply-side. Supply-side options include clean energy purchases from local electric distribution utilities, wholesale acquisition, and the purchase of renewable energy credits without the associated energy. These options are widely used and have standards and market mechanisms built up around them.

Demand-side management, which includes energy efficiency and demand flexibility, is also important, but lacks key market services (e.g., streamlined decarbonization options, access to emissions data) to support cities’ …

Violence Against Women & Girls | Energy Brief

Energy is essential for economic growth and improving lives. However, projects can unintentionally increase the danger of violence against women and girls if gender-specific risks are ignored. This resource guide offers concrete help in designing energy projects such that they help to prevent such violence and empower women.

Risks for women and girls in energy projects may arise from:

Influxes of male workers Job losses during energy transitions High energy costs Poor access to lighting and clean cooking Unsafe worksites Weak accountability—especially in fragile or conflict-affected areas with harmful gender norms

To counter such risks, gender-responsive strategies can:

Improve women’s

Contracts for Difference to Spur Clean and Competitive Industry: Options for Federal Policymakers

A government-issued contract for difference (CfD) to support industrial decarbonization is an agreement between two parties in which one party (the government) promotes innovative, low-carbon industrial production, and the other (the producer manufacturing the product) seeks price certainty for the clean product. This report is intended to provide U.S. federal policymakers with background on CfD policy and to outline the core details for policymakers to consider when designing a CfD policy to facilitate clean industrial production.

The core feature of a clean industrial CfD is the “strike price”: the per-unit price—usually determined through auction—that a producer requires to manufacture the …

Gateway to Green

India’s ports have the potential to become key hubs in the global green hydrogen transition. Beyond serving as traditional transit points, they can evolve into dynamic energy ecosystems by seamlessly integrating green hydrogen into their value chains. This transformation would not only accelerate India’s clean energy shift but also strengthen its role in global trade while unlocking new revenue streams through bunkering, refueling, and value-added services.

A robust Common User Infrastructure (CUI) framework will be key to developing green hydrogen facilities. Strategically located ports can cater to both domestic and export markets, leveraging their proximity to industrial clusters and existing …

Two Stage Coordination Planning Method of Wind Power and Storage Considering Uncertainty of Distributed Source-Load

With the widespread integration of distributed power sources, the power grid is facing challenges such as increased losses, rising costs, voltage fluctuations, and overload, resulting in greater operational complexity. Traditional scheduling methods are no longer adequate, making reasonable planning of distributed power generation and energy storage configurations particularly crucial.…