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 …

NDCs, NCQG, and Financing the Transition: Unlocking Flows for a Net-Zero Future

“Climate finance” will be a key subject at COP29, with particular attention to the proposed “New Collective Quantified Goal“ (NCQG) for financial flows from high-income to low-income countries. But the term “climate finance“ is often used vaguely and broadly, covering several different challenges and priorities.

In its latest publication “NDCs, NCQG, and Financing the Transition” the ETC clarifies the nature and scale of different types of finance required, and proposes four principles to ensure a useful conclusion of the NCQG debate. It also explains the vital role that updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) can and must play in unleashing financial …

Advancing Geothermal Research Fiscal Year 2024 Accomplishments Report

Geothermal resources have delivered renewable electricity for more than 100 years, and renewable heat for far longer, but recent research and advancements have shown that geothermal is more than a 24/7 clean energy source. With the ability to also provide cooling and storage—plus the potential to access critical minerals, capture and sequester carbon, produce green hydrogen, and more—geothermal technologies and resources are emerging as key solutions to the climate crisis.

In fiscal year 2024 (FY24), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) broadened its research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) portfolio and partnerships with exciting innovations such as next-generation geothermal technologies …

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 …

Coal-to-Clean Success Stories

Even as there are promising shifts toward cleaner sources of electricity production in much of the world, 73 percent of the global power sector’s pollution still came from coal-fired power in 2021. There are several hurdles to shifting these sources to cleaner options. However, we have seen instances of relatively rapid, managed, and just coal-to-clean asset transitions in diverse geographies. RMI identified three such examples in the case studies below.

– In Chile, a strong mandate from the government attracted international capital that enabled the early retirement of Tocopilla coal units 14 and 15, avoiding hundreds of thousands of tons …

Transportation Electrification Building Blocks: Practical Guidance to Plan for Rapid EV Load Growth

As electric vehicle (EV) adoption continues to grow, so do concerns about the electric grid’s ability to handle these vehicles’ charging needs, from not only passenger EVs, but also electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Transportation electrification will not happen at the speed needed if cities’ and states’ electric grids can’t handle the charging load.

Many stakeholders are worried that there’s not enough time to prepare the electric grid for new power demand without interrupting the pace of EV adoption, given that installation of new equipment and upgrades to existing infrastructure can take years — much longer than the time required …

Trading Tensions: Navigating Policy Tools for a Diverse Critical Minerals Supply Chain

The United States faces a strategic challenge in securing reliable access to critical minerals that are the backbone of its economic prosperity and national defense. From the smartphones in our pockets to the advanced weapon systems protecting our nation, critical minerals like lithium, nickel, cobalt, rare earths, and aluminum are integral to the technologies powering modern society. These minerals are also crucial components in clean energy technologies, such as wind turbines and solar panels, and are essential for the batteries that drive the growing fleet of electric vehicles transforming the transportation sector. This report addresses the question: “How can the …