The OurEnergyLibrary aggregates and indexes publicly available fact sheets, journal articles, reports, studies, and other publications on U.S. energy topics. It is updated every week to include the most recent energy resources from academia, government, industry, non-profits, think tanks, and trade associations. Suggest a resource by emailing us at info@ourenergypolicy.org.
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The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) new report on the U.S. electric grid makes valuable recommendations for expanding access to reliable, low-cost electricity by streamlining approval of electric transmission infrastructure and using markets to procure essential reliability services. As a low-cost source of energy that can provide reliability services as well as or better than conventional power plants, wind energy will flourish with the expansion of markets and infrastructure…
View Full ResourceAmericans’ safety, productivity, comfort, and convenience depend on the reliable supply of electric power. The electric power system is a complex “cyber-physical” system composed of a network of millions of components spread out across the continent. These components are owned, operated, and regulated by thousands of different entities. Power system operators work hard to assure safe and reliable service, but large outages occasionally happen. Given the nature of the system, there is simply no way that outages can be completely avoided, no matter how much time and money is devoted to such an effort. The system’s reliability and resilience can …
View Full ResourceCities are at the forefront of the national conversation about climate change. Increasingly, elected officials and city residents are finding ways to deploy more clean energy and reduce their carbon footprints. They are also looking for ways to reduce the risks that climate change poses to life and property, both today and into the future. Microgrids can help cities and businesses increase resilience, reduce emissions, and achieve other policy goals such as brownfield redevelopment or smart city implementation. Private and public entities, including utilities, are taking a fresh look at the role microgrids and other distributed energy resources can play …
View Full ResourceKeeping up with the influx of new information on distributed energy resources (DERs) can be daunting. The energy industry’s focus on DERs is driven by their potential to help solve the problems in modernizing the grid. In 2015, U.S. electric utilities spent $103 billion in capital expenditures to maintain and upgrade the grid, and they now expect average annual spending of around $100 billion through 2018, even as growth in electricity demand slows.
Combined, new investments needed to maintain and upgrade the grid and reduced load growth could raise retail rates significantly for electricity customers. If the grid is to …
View Full ResourceIndustry experts and efficiency advocates agree that improving the efficiency of building systems is an important strategy for achieving the next level of efficiency in buildings. A systems approach considers the interactions of components within and among various building systems (e.g., heating and cooling systems, lighting systems, miscellaneous electric loads), as well as interactions among multiple buildings, and between the building and the electric grid.
The Systems Efficiency Initiative (SEI) provides a critical forum for understanding the energy savings potential of a systems approach and for developing strategies for moving the market in this direction. Toward this goal, the SEI’s …
View Full ResourceAn energy system is, in some ways, like a neighborhood. Utilities and other distribution grid operators, DER operators, and end users all affect each other, directly and indirectly. Their differing agendas are, in many ways, complementary. Holistic awareness of an energy neighborhood can yield more robust and mutually beneficial energy systems.
Meanwhile, emerging technologies are creating opportunities to enhance grid capacity and resilience, as well as new business opportunities and economic efficiencies. Key technologies to watch include smart inverters, battery energy storage, and DER management systems. Also, strategies such as orienting solar plants for greater grid compatibility, or power purchase …
View Full ResourceWith the increasing penetration of distributed generation sources, such as solar PV, as well as energy storage technologies, microgrids—small-scale versions of centralized electric grid functionality—are gaining popularity. Microgrids can generate, distribute, and manage power and energy locally within a customer’s defined area—downstream of the utility connection. When properly designed, built, optimized, and operated, microgrids can achieve important goals for their owners, including cost control, reliable energy delivery, resilience, and carbon emission reduction.
This paper will review:
• The characteristics of microgrids and their various operational objectives
• The feasibility analysis required to plan a successful microgrid implementation
• Technological solutions …
Aging electricity grids will require additional investments in climate resilience to provide customers with reliable service. Energy storage offers an innovative opportunity for utilities to modernize their electric grids, improve efficiency, and reduce vulnerability to extreme weather—preserving and conferring numerous benefits to customers. Specifically, energy storage technologies—such as batteries, flywheels, pumped hydropower, and compressed air storage—can provide states and utilities with additional means to support electric grids and services. In particular, it will be important that utilities and grid operators consider using battery storage systems to augment grid resilience in the coming decades. These systems can take excess electricity off …
View Full ResourceEfforts to build community resilience often focus on growing the capacity to “bounce back” from disruptions, like those caused by climate change. But climate change is not the only crisis we face, nor is preparing for disruption the only way to build resilience. Truly robust community resilience should do more. It should engage and benefit all community members, and consider all the challenges the community faces—from rising sea levels to a lack of living wage jobs. And it should be grounded in resilience science, which tells us how complex systems—like human communities—can adapt and persist through changing circumstances. Six Foundations …
View Full ResourceChanges in climate create diverse challenges across the U.S. energy system. Some energy infrastructure assets have already suffered damage or disruption in services from a variety of climate-related impacts, such as higher temperatures, rising sea levels, and more severe weather events. In the absence of concerted action to improve resilience, energy system vulnerabilities pose a threat to America’s national security, energy security, economic wellbeing, and quality of life.
Building climate change resilience into our energy infrastructure planning is a challenging and complex undertaking. Planning horizons can span several decades (the typical service life of most energy assets), associated investments can …
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