Advanced Energy Perspectives

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) plan to regulate carbon emissions is just the latest challenge facing the U.S. electric power system. Technological innovation is disrupting old ways of doing business and accelerating grid modernization. Last year, AEE released Advanced Energy Technologies for Greenhouse Gas Reduction, a report detailing the use, application, and benefits of 40 specific advanced energy technologies and services. This post is one in a series drawn from the technology profiles within that report.

Superconductivity is a property of some materials whereby electrical resistance, which normally decreases gradually with decreasing temperature, suddenly drops to zero below a critical temperature. Advances in materials have created high-temperature superconductors (HTS), whose relatively “warm” critical temperatures of -315° to -230°F allow for the use of less expensive and easier to handle refrigerants such as liquid nitrogen. HTS transmission passes electricity through a cable that is insulated with high-pressure liquid nitrogen pumped by refrigeration equipment. The insulation allows HTS transmission to carry 10 times the power of a standard cable of similar thickness with almost no power losses. These lines can connect directly to the existing AC transmission network to add highly efficient transmission capacity that can relieve congestion without the need for high voltages.

With EPA’s Clean Power Plan scheduled for its first day in court on April 16, opposition to the rule has heated up on the Hill—or, more accurately, off the Hill. Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) issued a call for states to “just say no” to EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) with an op-ed in the Lexington Herald-Ledger, then sent a letter to the governors of all 50 states advising them not to comply with the rule.

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. 

Photo courtesy of RES Americas. 

China continued to deploy wind power at a remarkable rate, installing an estimated 23.3 GW in 2014, a 45% increase over 2013. China accounted for 45% of the 51 GW installed globally in 2014, representing $94.6 billion in revenue. This is the most wind ever installed by a single country in a single year, bringing China’s cumulative wind capacity to over 114 GW. For comparison, all of Europe installed an estimated 12.8 GW last year, representing modest growth over the 12 GW installed in 2013. 

Featured image courtesy of Madalyn Knebel.

Advanced energy is an industry full of innovative technologies. This week it’s time for energy storage to shine—and we mean that literally. At the top of the news this week is energy storage systems paired with small-scale solar installations, creating mini-microgrids that can power homes, offices, even a network of communities – creating islands of energy self-sufficiency.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) signaled last week that the part one of the first-ever Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) of the United States’s comprehensive energy strategy would come out by the end of April. This first installment will focus on transmission, storage and distribution issues impacting the electricity grid. While not publicly announced, it appears that the second part will focus on supply and end use of energy. The goal of these reports – and the QER writ large – is to identify trends, threats, and opportunities in the energy system and inform executive and legislative actions, including investment in research and development. It is no coincidence that both the Senate and House announced plans to introduce legislation to address the “energy infrastructure” issues associated with the first QER report.