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RAP experts keep their finger on the pulse of the energy sector and provide timely analysis of topics impacting stakeholders TODAY.
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April 4, 2024
A New Chapter of Growth for RAP
- Regulatory Assistance Project
The Regulatory Assistance Project is beginning a new chapter of growth and thought leadership as we continue bringing clarity to the complexity of the clean energy transition. After thoughtful discussions between Richard Sedano and the RAP board of directors, Sedano… View Summary +
July 8, 2022
Making sense of India’s fast-changing policy landscape: Integrated modelling to inform decision-making
- Kakali Mukhopadhyay ,
- Ranjit Bharvirkar ,
- Frederick Weston
With several notable recent economic reforms, India is one of the fastest-growing emerging economies. The country aspires to become a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25 and a $10 trillion one by 2030. There is ample evidence that India’s growth… View Summary +
July 8, 2022
The E3-India model: It’s come a long way
- Hector Pollitt ,
- Ranjit Bharvirkar ,
- Frederick Weston
In 2016, the Regulatory Assistance Project approached Cambridge Econometrics about building a new macroeconomic modelling tool for India. The rationale for the model was simple: India needed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, but much of the policy to… View Summary +
May 24, 2022
A Song in the Key of E: Emissions, Efficiency, Equity, and Electrification
- Frederick Weston
A lot of folks out there (including we at RAP) have, for the last four decades, been devising ways to make utilities more economically efficient, their customers more energy-efficient, and the power system cleaner, sustainable, more equitable, and non-emitting. But… View Summary +
May 18, 2022
制定输电价格:完美很难,搞砸容易
- Frederick Weston
中国在朝着放开电力批发市场的方向稳步前行。谨慎地实施运行调度以及电价改革,改善了电力体系的运行效率,揭示了低成本、零碳排放的可再生能源的真实价值,并提高了系统的总体可靠性。 然而,挑战依旧存在。其中一点尤为特殊,即如何为各受益者公平地分摊及回收输电成本。这个问题没有完美的解决方案,也很容易搞砸。制定正确的(或者至少大部分正确的)输电价格是解决问题的关键,如果这一点没做好,就会削弱其他市场改革的效力,而这些改革对经济效率和低碳转型是非常必要的。 1965年11月,加拿大东部和美国东北部大部分地区停电,这之后社会上便流传着一个或真或假关于电网故障的故事。当时,3000万人断电13个小时,经济停滞不前,民众对失去公共安全的恐惧激增。加拿大的一条输电线路因设备故障而离线,导致一系列的输电线路负荷过载,最终无法运行。防止重蹈覆辙成为当年闹得满城风雨的政治事件。不过,几天后发生的事情则可能只是传言。… View Summary +
April 4, 2022
Indian power sector has opportunities to create value for the discoms and their consumers by mainstreaming behind-the-meter resources
- Mahesh Patankar ,
- Frederick Weston
The electricity sector in India has experienced an evolution of sorts throughout the years. Since the early the 1990s, the sector has grown from a vertically integrated monopoly with generation, transmission, and distribution all under one roof, to the current… View Summary +
July 1, 2020
Agricultural demand-side management needs multi-sectoral interventions
- Mahesh Patankar ,
- Frederick Weston ,
- Robert Lieberman
Cheap agricultural electricity has bedevilled the Indian power sector for decades, but enhanced agricultural demand-side management won’t solve the problem alone Virtually everyone with a working knowledge of the Indian power sector will agree that one of the sector’s biggest… View Summary +
March 18, 2019
Five Suggestions to Promote China Power Sector Transition
- Frederick Weston ,
- Max Dupuy
Even the casual observer of China during the last thirty years can’t help but be awestruck by the country’s transformation—across all sectors, but especially the power sector, the central infrastructural industry on which economic development depends. What had been a… View Summary +
March 18, 2019
中国电改将推动低碳愿景成为现实
- Frederick Weston ,
- Max Dupuy
在过去的三十年中,即使是不曾刻意关注中国的人,也不禁对这个国家的转型感到震惊。这种转型体现在在所有领域,尤其是电力行业,即经济发展所依赖的中央基础设施产业。中国拥有着世界上最大的电力系统,过去时常发生电力短缺,电网投资不足,但现在已成为技术最先进的电力系统。这一成就在全球无与伦比,是中国跃居全球经济前沿的重要原因之一。 特别值得注意的是,电力系统的成就帮助中国在严重的空气质量问题上面取得了进展。虽然在这方面还有许多工作要做,但已取得显著成效。这包括关闭效率最低,污染最严重的发电厂,在新型高效燃煤发电厂上大量投资安装污染排放控制设施。中国实施了越来越严格的空气质量规划,颁布并修订了大气法,这些做法共同要求提高工业和终端能效、可再生能源发展,以此作为改善空气质量的手段。现在中国正在实施自发电行业开始的碳排放交易制度,这将有助于向低排放,低成本的未来能源系统过渡。 这些工作都契合了一个主题,并在2015年3月颁布的电力改革9号文件中得以体现,该文件为电力行业改革提出了全面的愿景,以期实现提高系统可靠性,增加市场机制的效用,保护消费者, 节约能源,减少排放,增加可再生能源和分布式发电的使用,完善治理和监管制度,包括更好地规划和强化机构能力等多个目标。这些都是值得称赞的目标,如果这些目标实现,将会降低电力系统的长期成本及其对环境的影响。 但对于中国或欧美国家来说,“改革正确”绝非易事。改革是一项持续不断的努力,不断成形的过程,是不断变化的环境,不断发展的技术和更迫切的政策要求共同作用的结果,特别是那些处在环境和能源政策交汇之处的领域。中国创造有竞争力的批发电力市场的动力是基于这样一种信念,即竞争将降低成本,推动环境改善,并激励创新。其他地方的经验告诉我们,只有刻意设计市场,才能确保这些目标的实现。… View Summary +
August 24, 2018
中国离自愿性可再生能源市场还有多远?
- Orrin Cook ,
- Frederick Weston
睿博能源智库专家认为,中国的自愿性可再生能源市场潜力巨大,如果进一步健全监管框架,补全市场机制,中国将很可能出现大量的自愿性可再生能源需求。 2015年以来,美国企业正越来越多地认购可再生能源,美国新增可再生能源利用的主要推动力是企业用户与可再生能源发电厂签订购电协议,这已经成为美国可再生能源发展的一个主要趋动因素。而预计2018年美国的自愿认购的可再生能源消费将超过1亿MWh。 中国自愿可再生能源市场于一年前正式启动。2017年6月,第八届清洁能源部长级会议(CEM)在北京举办,其中可再生能源企业采购分论坛重点聚集中国对可再生能源日益增长的需求,介绍了绿色电力消费合作组织(GECCO)在内的新的市场举措。2017年夏,随着可再生能源绿色电力证书自愿认购机制和追踪系统的推出,市场的乐观情绪高涨。然而,在接下来的一年中,据统计只有大约22,000个可再生能源证书(MWh)达成交易。“绿证”制度推行率低,显示了中国企业认购可再生能源的最佳条件尚未成熟。与美国的自愿认购需求相比,中国自愿可再生能源市场规模较小,但同时也说明中国如果能发挥同样自愿性可再生能源市场力量,其潜在效益将十分巨大。然而,… View Summary +
August 24, 2018
Voluntary Renewable Energy Markets in China: Key Conditions for Unlocking Demand
- Orrin Cook ,
- Frederick Weston
During the summer of 2017, at the Eighth Clean Energy Ministerial in Beijing, Center for Resource Solutions co-presented a side event highlighting the growing demand for renewable energy in China and new market initiatives, including the Green Electricity Consumption Cooperative… View Summary +