Lessons from the Lone Star State: A surge in wind power on the Texas grid didn’t cause reliability problems (and brought down electricity prices) because regulators improved the efficiency of wholesale electricity markets.
Sarah Fields Photography/Shutterstock.com
Energy Secretary Rick Perry wants to know if wind and solar are compromising the reliability of the grid and hurting coal power. The answer lies in his home state of Texas.
Solar provides tremendous opportunities for emerging entrepreneurs.
Shutterstock
Africa’s energy potential remains under-exploited, the energy entrepreneur is well-positioned to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the energy sector.
Why were so few complaints about wind farms investigated further? And who made these complaints anyway?
from www.shutterstock.com
Have the hordes of wind farm complainers all gone shy?
Over a period in which the Australian economy saw around 600,000 additional people get jobs, employment in the renewables sector has been going backwards.
AAP Image/City of Sydney, Damian Shaw
Estimates released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggest that the number of direct full-time equivalent jobs in renewable energy activities has continued to fall from its 2011-12 peak.
To manage renewable energy efficiently, all weather variation need to be taken into account.
Greg Clarke/Flickr
Relying less on fossil fuels is one of the key challenges of energy transition, and taking weather variations into account can help increase the overall efficiency of a renewable-energy system.
Andrew Blakers, Australian National University; Bin Lu, Australian National University, and Matthew Stocks, Australian National University
The Turnbull government is funding energy storage as a crucial missing piece of the electricity grid puzzle. Analysis suggests an affordable, fully renewable grid doesn’t require any heroic assumptions.
Many believe we can stabilise the power supply by asking customers to help - but there’s a problem.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, U.S. President Barack Obama and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon shake hands during a joint ratification of the Paris climate change agreement in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, Sept. 3, 2016.
How Hwee Young/Pool Photo via AP
Matthew E. Kahn, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Although Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax invented by China, Chinese leaders believe cutting carbon emissions will generate economic and political payoffs at home and abroad.
South Africa’s new energy plan shows a greater reliance on gas, solar and especially wind power.
Shutterstock
Skirmishes over funding for renewable energy research are just the latest battle in a saga that stretches back to the early 1980s – years before the public became widely aware of the climate threat.
Companies like Tesla, with batteries and electric cars, are disrupting traditional energy companies in Australia.
www.shutterstock.com