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 business case for off-grid renewables as a means to expand rural electricity access keeps growing stronger, thanks to steady cost reductions and technological innovation. Yet further accelerating the growth of either mini-grid or stand-alone solutions will depend also on stable policies and regulations, along with dedicated funds and de-risking instruments for renewables.
Technology and business innovation could cut the costs of renewable power generation for mini-grids by 60% in 20 years, according to this conference report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Yet around 600 million people are still expected to lack electricity access in 2040, despite international …
View Full ResourceIn May 2015, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (Commission) initiated a proceeding to consider development of policies related to grid modernization with a focus on distribution system planning. The Commission held three workshops to gather information on distribution system planning and grid modernization, and to identify specific actions, technologies, and policies that could support and enable grid modernization. The Commission also sought two rounds of comments to support this effort. This report summarizes the actions in the proceeding to date, identifies aspects of the stakeholder comments identified as important for discussion of grid modernization, and proposes a process for continuing …
View Full ResourceThe construction of small solar farms is running ahead of grid integration rules in many areas, and that can be a problem for utilities. In states where there is nothing like California’s trendsetting Rule 21 in place to oversee the process – and FERC rules do not apply – utilities are finding the best way to manage this solar flood is to “smarten” their transmission and distribution grids. [1] By embracing the smart grid, utilities are not only mitigating the technical difficulties associated with integrating solar farms, they are also putting themselves in a position to benefit from the enhanced …
View Full ResourceIf the United States is to sustain its economic prosperity, quality of life, and global competitiveness, it must continue to have an abundance of secure, reliable, and affordable energy resources. There have been many improvements in the technology and capability of the electric grid over the past several decades. Many of these advances to the grid depend on complex mathematical algorithms and techniques, and as the complexity of the grid has increased, the analytical demands have also increased.
The workshop summarized in this report was developed as part of an ongoing study of the Committee on Analytical Research Foundations for …
View Full ResourceRecent catastrophic weather events, existing and prospective federal and state policies, and growing investments in smart grid technologies have drawn renewed attention to the reliability of the U.S. electric power system. Whether electricity reliability is getting better or worse as a result of these or other factors has become a material issue for public and private decisions affecting the U.S. electric power system.
This study examines the statistical relationship between annual changes in electricity reliability reported by a large cross‐section of U.S. electricity distribution utilities over a period of 13 years, and a broad set of potential explanatory variables including …
View Full ResourceCalifornia, Hawaii, and New York are in the midst of radically reforming their state regulatory processes and eventually markets to accelerate the integration of distributed energy resources (DER) into the grid. Each state process fundamentally envisions the future regulated utility as an enabler of customer choice to manage energy costs through advanced distribution planning, modern integrated grids, and opportunities for DER to provide market-based grid services. Increasingly, ICF International sees the three state reform initiatives converging toward a common set of
goals, mechanisms, and shared elements. In this white paper, we take an initial look at two of these shared …
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (“MISO”) has responsibility for reliable electric system operations in all or parts of a 15-state area in the middle of the U.S. The large geographic region covered by its footprint (shown below) makes MISO the largest grid operator in the U.S. in terms of area served. MISO is the second-largest Regional Transmission Organization (“RTO”) in the U.S. in terms of electrical load.
In this report, we analyze reliability considerations in the MISO region as the stakeholders there anticipate compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) Clean Power Plan. As we concluded in our prior …
View Full ResourceEnvironmental regulations, state-level portfolio standards, new methods for accessing natural gas reserves and aging power plants are opening opportunities for new electricity generation from renewable resources and natural gas. Advances in efficiency and smart grid technologies also have the potential to change historical demand curves. New renewable generation technology costs, including solar and wind, continue to fall, and installations are increasing. NREL works within these currents of change, and helps shape them to enhance our energy and environmental security. We help utilities, policymakers, investors, regulators, and industrial leaders around the world understand and navigate these currents. Our analysis, data sets, …
View Full ResourceWe are witnessing today the birth of a new mega-infrastructure. It will emerge from the convergence of energy with telecommunications, transportation, Internet, and electronic commerce. Starting with the electric grid, which underpins all of these interdependent systems, new ways are being sought to improve network efficiency and eliminate congestion problems without seriously diminishing reliability and security. But with these efforts come uncertainty – plus a general disruption to industry and commerce that may well prove greater than any transition yet seen.
Of course, the job of controlling a heterogeneous, widely dispersed, yet globally interconnected system like the electric grid poses …
View Full ResourceIn November 2014, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) issued an “initial reliability review” in which it identified elements of the CPP that could lead to reliability concerns. Echoed by some grid operators and cited in comments to EPA submitted by states, utilities, and industry groups, the NERC study has made reliability a critical issue in finalizing, and then implementing, the Clean Power Plan.
In order to gain insight on the issue, the Advanced Energy Economy Institute commissioned The Brattle Group, a leading consulting firm to utilities and grid operators, to conduct a critical review of the NERC study. …
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