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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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December 9, 2016
Efficiency First: a New Paradigm for a Sustainable Energy System in the UK
The UK’s energy policy is at crossroads. Ambitious carbon targets, an aging energy infrastructure, rising fuel poverty, and a legacy of fossil fuel investment warrant bold political decisions to ensure the UK transitions to a sustainable low-carbon energy system. Because… View Summary +
October 5, 2016
Delivering the Benefits of Customer Participation in the Energy Market
- Philip Baker
Europe’s new energy project promises to put a focus on consumer interests, yet what this new market would look like in practice is often poorly understood. As the European Commission ponders the design of a new and interconnected energy market… View Summary +
August 18, 2016
从电力规划看煤电产能过剩和可再生能源弃电的问题
最近几个月,中国政府为解决可再生能源弃电和煤电机组投资过度双重挑战颁布了一系列政策。特别是国家发改委,国家能源局《关于做好风电、光伏发电全额保障性收购管理工作的通知》(发改能源【2016】1150号)和《关于促进我国煤电有序发展的通知》(发改能源【2016】565号)。这些政策可能在近期会取得一些实质性的进展,然而它们并没有涉及到背后更深层次的问题,即增加系统灵活性的需求,改革对发电商的补偿机制,而是依赖于一些固化的手段:保障风电和太阳能光伏发电的年运行小时数,以及暂缓建设和批准电力盈余省份的煤电项目。 与此同时,国家能源局六月份发布了《电力规划管理办法》,这可能最终会对改善可再生能源并网和减少煤电过度投资起到更重要的作用。这个文件为制定更好的电力行业规划建立了框架,承诺要从以满足快速电力需求增长为首要目标的模式向更复杂地权衡多目标的发展模式转变,包括支持可再生能源发展,实现电力系统安全可靠、经济合理、清洁环保等。… View Summary +
August 12, 2016
Excess Coal Generation Capacity and Renewables Curtailment in China: Getting With the Plan
In recent months, the Chinese government has issued several high-profile policy statements directed toward the twin challenges of renewable energy curtailment and runaway investment in coal-fired capacity. These new policies appear to signal policymaker interest in dealing with… View Summary +
August 9, 2016
The Duck is Learning to Fly in California and Hawaii
- Jim Lazar
I took a look at electricity data recently from California and Hawaii and I saw a duck that was learning to fly. Well, what I saw was that the so-called Duck Curve–the load shape some grid operators… View Summary +
July 27, 2016
The Case for Market Monitoring—A Key to Successful Electricity Markets
- Sarah Keay-Bright
The European Commission wants households and business consumers “to be at the heart of” the EU’s upcoming European energy market reforms. This priority, which the European Council and European Parliament seem to support, makes sense as the potential gains for… View Summary +
July 27, 2016
EU Vehicle CO2 Standards: Redesign for Power System and EV Synergies
- Sarah Keay-Bright
The EU’s upcoming CO2 standards for light-duty vehicles (LDVs) provide an opportunity to accelerate modernisation and decarbonisation of both the transport and power sectors. This presents a one-time opportunity to boost EU global competitiveness. Adapting these standards to take… View Summary +
July 7, 2016
Hot Showers and Cool Rides: Wind, Sun, and the Duck Curve
- Jim Lazar
As we look out over the power sector transformation that is unmistakably upon us, there are those who warn of the sacrifices, the risks, and the costs that could come with more and more intermittent electricity generation—wind… View Summary +
March 18, 2016
Capacity, Competition, and Consumers Top RAP’s List of Missing Market Priorities
The European Commission’s Market Design Initiative (MDI) rightly identifies investment and security of supply, demand-side participation in markets, and market governance as three central pillars of a successful market reform. In framing the initiative’s priorities, however, the Commission has neglected… View Summary +
March 2, 2016
Long Live the Duck — and May He Fly Flat
- Jim Lazar
Utilities and grid operators from Germany to Hawaii have expressed concern about their ability to maintain reliable service as increasing amounts of variable renewable energy–primarily wind and solar–are added to a grid that has historically consisted overwhelmingly of… View Summary +