Filter
Blog

For MADRI, the End of an Era … and the Beginning of Another

Over the past 15 years, a group of power sector professionals have followed — and fostered — developments in an era of enormous change for the sector. In December, the group met in Washington DC for the 54th and final meeting of this group, the Mid-Atlantic Distributed Resources Initiative (MADRI). So MADRI’s final convening was…

Blog

“电力期刊”(The Electricity Journal)睿博能源智库特刊简介

美国是全世界温室气体排放第二大国,同时也是技术和经济实力的领头羊。美国有能力引领世界寻找应对气候变化紧迫挑战的解决方案,同时迅速彻底地完成自我脱碳。 为了使能源消费向更清洁、更具成本效益的方向转变,我们需要零碳发电技术,并在使用化石燃料的终端用户侧实现大规模电气化。零碳发电技术已经实现商业化普及应用,而且成本越来越低。另外,包括储能在内的技术方案,可以增加电网灵活性,也将更便宜和更具可用性。 简言之,技术不再是脱碳经济面临的挑战。 为了经济快速地进行脱碳,同时始终保持系统可靠性 ,我们现在必须尽可能经济高效地部署和运行这些技术。我们需要通过提高效率和灵活性来优化能源消费,实现脱碳目标。通过优化能源消费,使我们的经济完全依靠清洁能源,就成为一个可以解决的小问题。通过大幅提高耗能设备的灵活性,改善消费者自身的用电行为,我们可以随时随地充分利用清洁能源资源。 今年年初,睿博能源智库(RAP)受“电力期刊”( The Electricity Journal)之邀,开辟了一期以能源优化为主题的特刊,其中包括9篇文章(摘要),睿博能源智库试图将能源优化思想与电力行业领军人物的观点相结合,重点关注提高美国电力行业效率和灵活性的战略 ,这部分在可靠,经济实惠的脱碳方案中必不可少但经常被忽视。 作为开篇,Joni Sliger和Ken Colburn提出了一个全新的、具有延展性的能效愿景(即能效 2.0 ),这愿景依赖于我们对能源消费的优化,以及随时随地获得低成本零排放的能源资源。作者认为,过去的能效政策将能效等同于减少单一能源消耗(如电力),这已经过时,需要改进。 现在的能效项目需要包括化石燃料终端用途的共益电气化,以及对节能的分时价值的认可。本篇仅是抛砖引玉,随后的文章中会进行详尽的讨论。 第二篇文章作者为Steven Nadel,如今美国能源效率是1973年的两倍。Steven Nadel总结出美国能效的提升得益于五项“传统”能效政策:企业平均汽车燃油经济性标准,电器和设备能效标准,能源之星标签项目,电力公司资助的能效项目和建筑能源法规。他还解释了如何进一步完善传统能效政策,以便美国能够将预计2050年的能源消耗减少25%左右。这些传统的能效战略已经非常成功。 在此基础上,我们需要对能效政策进行进一步思考。第三篇文章中,Matt Golden,Adam Scheer和Carmen Best提出了一些促进能效提升和增加灵活性的非传统性方法。他们研究了日益增长的智能电表数据可用性,结合开源软件,允许电力公司像采购其他资源那样,从消费者和负荷集合商采购能效和需求侧灵活性,即:通过提供电价或征求出价,根据基于实际的而不是假定的价值、可衡量的绩效,提供效率和灵活性来支付费用。 第四篇文章作者为Max Dupuy和Carl Linvill,探讨了需求响应的新内容。历史上,需求响应项目几乎完全用于紧急减负荷以解决容量限制问题。本文探讨了对更广泛方法的需求(需求响应2.0版),即捕获灵活负荷,储能资源和分布式发电技术的潜力,以在批发市场和配电系统层面提供广泛的容量和辅助服务。 第五篇文章中作者为Karen Glitman,David Farnsworth和Julia Hildermeier,关注电动交通与电网的关系。近年来,交通运输部门超过电力部门,成为美国温室气体排放的最大来源。电动汽车充电负荷如果得不到很好的管理,会加剧电力系统紧张并增加消费者成本。如果正确管理电动汽车充电,电动汽车可以降低消费者成本和排放,并为电网管理提供有用的资产;适应和正确管理电动化交通的预期增长,将对发展低碳未来至关重要,这篇文章着眼于政策和法规的讨论。 第六篇文章作者Dave Hewitt和Susan Coakley,集中讨论建筑行业的脱碳,建议最大限度地利用新电气化技术,热效率测量和智能控制。 文章提供五种策略,这些方法有助于克服市场障碍,通过零排放发电技术驱动的电能替代来取代化石燃料供暖,从而带来经济、环境和健康效益。 第七篇文章作者为Travis Kavulla和GürcanGülen,提出了一个令人信服的关于容量市场的论点,即今天的容量市场与客户的实际需求和高比例可再生能源电网的运营现实不匹配。文章建议用运行备用需求曲线取代远期容量市场,该曲线仅在可用的时间和情况下支付容量电价,作为实时电价的补充。 特刊最后是两篇关于电力行业监管的文章。首先,电力期刊编辑顾问委员会成员Janine Migden-Ostrander提供了一套“脱钩”方案,这套方案可以帮助州公用事业监管机构将对电力公司的激励与脱碳目标和零售层面的其他公共政策结合起来。这些方案包括收入“脱钩”,基于绩效的监管和智能电价设计,可根据每个州的市场和经济环境来调整。在另一篇中, 前FERC主席Jon Wellinghoff提出,联邦监管批发电力交易存在一定障碍,他建议通过一些可以提高整体系统效率同时实现更大碳减排的实际行动来解决问题。 为了使电力部门转型为可靠、负担得起的脱碳化电力,明智的政策和法规是配方中必不可少的成分。“电力杂志”本期特刊将启发更多关于能源优化的辩论,以及我们可以采取哪些有效行动来实现电力部门脱碳。 This blog is also available in English.

Blog

Clean, Flexible and Efficient: A Recipe for Energy Optimization

The United States is the second-highest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet — but we are also a leader in technological and economic strength. We have the capability to lead the world in finding solutions to the urgent challenge of climate change — while rapidly and thoroughly decarbonizing ourselves. To move our energy use…

Blog

How Do You Know If “The Price Is Right” for Community Solar Programs?

In television’s longest running game show, contestants are challenged to guess the prices of a wide variety of consumer goods. The contestant who comes closest to the actual price, without going over, is the winner. I found myself thinking about The Price Is Right at a recent workshop in Denver, hosted by the Community Solar…

Blog

Preparing for Emergencies with Wind, Solar, Energy Storage, and Microgrids

Resilience is a character trait that is universally admired and respected in people. In recent years, it has also gained attention as a new imperative for infrastructure planning and development. In the wake of Superstorm Sandy and other recent natural disasters, there is heightened awareness that one of the essential components of resilience is the…

Blog

Lighting the Path to a Brighter Future

With so many attention-grabbing headlines coming from sunny places like Nevada, Arizona, California, and Hawaii, one could easily be led to think that’s where all of the solar power action is in the United States. Not true! In fact, solar power is steadily gaining ground in all corners of the country. Consider, for example, the…

Blog

It’s Aready Happening: New EIA Numbers Show a Utility Sector in Transformation

My colleague David Littell recently wrote about the inexorable shift of the US power sector toward cleaner sources of electric energy, noting that the cost of renewables has been dropping, energy efficiency continues to grow, and storage technologies have been improving, among other things. Shortly after we published his article, the US Energy Information Administration…

Blog

Skate Where the Puck Is Going to Be

Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky once said, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” Strangely enough, when I think about what lies ahead for electric utilities and state regulators, I think about Gretzky’s greatness. And then I think about the amusement…