Modelling the Transformation of Energy-Intensive Industries Based on Site-Specific Investment Decisions

The transition towards climate-neutral industry is a challenge, particularly for heavy industries like steel and basic chemicals. Existing models for assessing industrial transformation often lack spatial resolution and fail to capture individual investment decisions. Consequently, the spatial interplay between industry transformation, energy availability, infrastructure availability, and the dynamics of discrete investments is inadequately addressed. Here we present a site-specific approach that considers individual industrial sites to simulate discrete investment decisions. The investment decision is modelled as a discrete choice among alternative technologies with their total cost of ownership as the main decision criterion. Process costs depend on the scenario-specific assumptions, …

Sustainable Aviation Fuel: Policy Recommendations to Enable a Low-Carbon Fuel Mix

Meeting our long-term climate goals will require the large-scale deployment of a multitude of new, innovative technologies and low- and zero-carbon fuels across every sector of the economy. First-of-a-kind technologies will need to rapidly reach commercial scale without sacrificing safety, social equity, or sustainability. This can only be achieved through systemwide collaboration between corporate incumbents, financiers, innovators, communities, and policymakers. To help meet this challenge, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) has created four distinct technology working groups focused on the technologies of sustainable aviation fuel, long duration energy storage, clean hydrogen, and engineered carbon removal. This brief …

Policy Recommendations to Unlock the Value of Long-Duration Energy Storage

Long-duration energy storage (LDES) will play an increasingly important role in decarbonizing the power sector as more variable renewable energy is added to the electric power grid. LDES is defined by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as any system that can store energy for 10 or more hours. It is a diverse technology class with a range of potential system forms, including electrochemical, mechanical, chemical, and thermal energy storage. While shorter-duration lithium-ion batteries (typically 0 to 4 hours) will continue to address storage needs in the near term, LDES will be essential to enabling the long-term decarbonization of the …

Long Duration Energy Storage: Policy Recommendations to Unlock the Value of LDS (Factsheet)

In November 2023, C2ES launched a long-duration energy storage (LDES) technology working group – one of four technology working groups focused on developing policy solutions that will enable the deployment and commercialization of critical-path technologies. This group convenes leading voices across the power sector ecosystem, including utilities, inter-day and multi-day LDES providers, Independent System Operators/Regional Transmission Organizations (ISOs/RTOs), financiers, members of C2ES’s Business Environmental Leadership Council (BELC), and other key stakeholders. Storage technologies in scope for the first year are mechanical and electrochemical LDES with a duration of dispatch greater than ten hours. Informed by working group discussions, C2ES has …

National Nuclear Security Administration: Assessments of Nuclear Weapon Acquisitions

The United States is investing tens of billions of dollars in nuclear weapon acquisition programs to modernize aging nuclear weapons. NNSA is currently managing seven such programs, in coordination with DOD.

Two Senate Armed Services Committee reports include provisions for GAO to review NNSA’s management of its nuclear weapon acquisition programs, as well as the status of these programs biennially. This report assesses (1) the processes NNSA uses for managing these programs and (2) the challenges NNSA faces. The report also includes individual assessments of the five NNSA nuclear weapon acquisition programs under way at the start of GAO’s review.…

Leveraging De-Risking Instruments and International Co-ordination to Catalyse Investment in Clean Hydrogen

Clean hydrogen is a nascent technology that could play an essential role to achieve net-zero emissions. However, less than 10% of announced clean hydrogen projects worldwide have reached final investment decision, as equity and debt investors often consider these projects to be too risky. This report provides a better understanding of the risk mitigation strategies to unlock and mobilise private capital for clean hydrogen in emerging markets. It highlights how de-risking instruments can address key barriers faced by investors in clean hydrogen projects and suggests ways to allocate risks among actors. The report also proposes actions to enhance international co-ordination …

The Texas Oil & Gas Association’s Quarterly Energy Economics Review

The Texas Oil & Gas Association’s (TXOGA) Quarterly Energy Economics Review has evolved into a flagship publication for the oil and natural gas industry, offering actionable insights by translating economic developments into practical implications for our members and stakeholders interested in energy market fundamentals.

As of this writing, the global economy is navigating a rare combination of economic dynamics. Abundant liquidity and low interest rates are fueling asset price appreciation, yet significant risks and uncertainties are simultaneously driving demand for defensive assets. Only a few periods in modern history—the economic downturn (marked by high inflation and unemployment, “stagflation”) in the …

Guidance for Developing Performance Standards and Specifications for Concrete

Performance standards and specifications (PSS) — which focus on desired properties rather than recipes — have long been highlighted as enabling sustainability, reducing costs, and improving both the durability and performance of cement and concrete in the construction industry. However, adoption has been slowed by bottlenecks, such as the need to develop a suite of specifications that can substantially help guarantee concrete performance and the need to develop better durability and long-term performance tests.

In the United States, the movement away from ordinary Portland cement (OPC) to blended cements like Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) and Limestone Calcined Clay cement (LC3), …

No Blackouts or Cost Increases Due to 100 % Clean, Renewable Electricity Powering California for Parts of 98 Days

Critics of a global transition to clean, renewable electricity argue no wind- or solar-dominated grids exist and solar and wind’s variabilities cause blackouts. This paper uses data from the world’s 5th-largest economy to show no blackouts occurred when wind-water-solar electricity supply exceeded 100 % of demand on California’s main grid for a record 98 of 116 days from late winter to early summer, 2024, for an average (maximum) of 4.84 (10.1) hours/day. Compared with the same period in 2023, solar, wind, and battery outputs in 2024 increased 31 % 8 %, and 105 %, respectively, dropping fossil gas use by …

Beyond Borders: Power Grid Interconnections and Regional Electricity Markets for the Sustainable Energy Transition

This report provides a foundational guide to regional energy integration, with a particular focus on developing and emerging economies. Many regions are about to integrate power grids and markets across national boundaries, which can offer economic benefits, enhanced power supply quality and security, and opportunities for scaling up climate change mitigation measures. The report begins with an overview of the different levels of power system integration, followed by an analysis of the primary drivers behind regional energy integration. It identifies five key building blocks essential for achieving deeper integration: interconnection infrastructure, planning and investment coordination, technical and operational coordination, commercial …