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Incisive commentary from RAP experts
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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May 18, 2023
Clean, efficient and smart: District heating can support Europe’s decarbonisation efforts
Valuable flexibility can be exploited with efficient heating and cooling systems In the 1920s, the Parisian heat network burned coal to provide steam to pre-heat the trains leaving Gare de Lyon station. Over time, the network grew into a district… View Summary +
March 15, 2023
Building for the future: How can cities prepare for transportation electrification?
- Julia Hildermeier ,
- Marion Pignel ,
- Thomas Lymes
For cities, the fast growth of electric vehicles (EVs) is a challenge and an opportunity. In the process of becoming cleaner and smarter, cities face a two-fold challenge: First, they are promoting a shift towards more sustainable modes of transport… View Summary +
August 26, 2022
EV smart charging: A golden opportunity for distribution system operators
Electric vehicles (EVs) offer a cleaner, more energy efficient means of transportation than vehicles with internal combustion engines. Less well known is that they also provide a still largely unused resource to improve grid operation. Although the additional electricity demand… View Summary +
July 6, 2022
House power: the hidden powerhouse of the new energy landscape
- Sophie Yule-Bennett
Raoul Dufy’s 1937 fresco La Fée Électricité — an arresting 600 square metre tribute to “the great adventure of electricity” — depicts science and technology leaps such as Faraday’s discovery of electromagnetic induction, Gramme’s direct current dynamo, Baudot’s… 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 +
January 31, 2022
The Complex Landscape of Net Metering Reform in California: Ensuring A Smart TOU Rate Foundation
California, long a leader in rooftop solar, is now wrestling with the complications — as illustrated by the current debate over the California Public Utility Commission’s proposed decision on “net energy metering 3.0,” released last month. Before the end of… View Summary +
December 21, 2021
The Complex Landscape of Net Metering Reform in California: Why an Installed Capacity Charge?
Rooftop solar in California has grown from an infant industry two decades ago to a 10-gigawatt resource that contributes significantly to customer and electric system needs today. The state is blessed with ample sunshine in many regions, and its urgency… View Summary +
November 6, 2021
EU’s buildings directive should give EV owners the right to a smart plug
- Jaap Burger ,
- Luka De Bruyckere
The electrification of mobility is in full swing. As electric vehicles (EV) become ever more popular, public charging points are spreading – their numbers have doubled in the last two years in the EU. But public charging points alone will… View Summary +
November 1, 2021
It’s Time to Consider the (Non-Pipeline) Alternatives
For many years, the topic of regulation of gas distribution utilities has been far from the limelight and has not received the kind of attention that electric utility regulation attracts. But there are an increasing number of reasons to take… View Summary +
October 20, 2021
Europe’s gas decarbonisation package: Putting new wine in old wineskins?
- Megan Anderson ,
- Jan Rosenow
Putting new wine in old wineskins is a timeworn saying first mentioned in the Bible. Doing so is not a good idea we are taught: ‘the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as… View Summary +