Advanced Energy Perspectives

Over the course of 2016, most of the advanced energy policy conversations in Nevada have been around net metering, with much score-keeping of progress and setback. Between rollback in June and partial reinstatement in December, net metering has taken center stage, with more to come this year. But another official decision has set the stage for Nevada to once again be an expanding market for advanced energy. It was a little-noticed ruling by the state’s public utility commission (PUC) to incorporate costs and benefits across all attributes in weighing various options for meeting the needs of electricity customers. AEE’s nonprofit educational affiliate, the AEE Institute, was right in the middle of it.

On August 3, the U.S. EPA rolled out its final Clean Power Plan regulation for greenhouse gas emissions at existing power plants. Reaction in the states varied, with some new states deciding to sue EPA and others quietly noting they are well positioned to meet their targets. But the response under consideration in North Carolina stands out for being not only self-defeating in its resistance to the EPA rule, but also costly to ratepayers.

This post is one in a series of feature stories on trends shaping advanced energy markets in the U.S. and around the world, drawn from Advanced Energy Now 2015 Market Report, which was prepared for AEE by Navigant Research. 

The rise of distributed generation (DG) is one of the most important trends in the energy industry today. Traditional utility business models, which rely mainly on volumetric electricity sales to provide the revenue needed to cover the costs of the grid, are challenged by the dramatic growth in the deployment of technologies that generate electricity “behind the meter,” which reduce the need to purchase power from central utility-scale generation facilities. Leading distributed generation technologies, including solar photovoltaics (PV), small and medium wind, fuel cells, and natural gas generator sets, combined in 2014 for $6.3 billion in revenue from installations in the United States, and $35 billion globally. 

This post is one in a series of feature stories on trends shaping advanced energy markets in the U.S. and around the world, drawn from Advanced Energy Now 2015 Market Report, which was prepared for AEE by Navigant Research. 

While one of the key indicators of a society’s advance is the degree to which it can distance itself from its trash, waste is increasingly viewed as a strategic resource. Recently surpassing 7 billion people, the world’s population is not only growing in number, but its propensity to consume is also accelerating. In 2014, an estimated 1.5 billion tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) was generated globally. This total is expected to surpass 2 billion tons annually within the next 10 years. According to the World Bank’s 2012 report “What a Waste,” the amount of MSW generated worldwide is growing faster than the rate of urbanization. With waste generation rates set to more than double over the next 20 years in low- and middle-income countries, the costs of managing waste disposal are expected to see a steep rise – but so are opportunities to leverage advanced technologies across the waste value chain.

This post is one in a series of feature stories on trends shaping advanced energy markets in the U.S. and around the world, drawn from Advanced Energy Now 2015 Market Report, which was prepared for AEE by Navigant Research. 

Combined heat and power (CHP), also known as cogeneration, simultaneously generates electricity and useful heat in an integrated system. This application of technology achieves greater levels of overall efficiency than separate heat and power systems because heat that is wasted in conventional electric generating systems is recovered and put to use. CHP systems can reach thermal efficiencies up to 85%. CHP provides highly efficient electricity and process heat to many industries in the United States; 83 GW of CHP capacity are installed in the United States, which is approximately 8 percent of the national electricity generation capacity and 12 percent of annual power generation. Navigant Research estimates the vast majority of CHP is used for industrial applications, 80% to 90% of the total.