The electricity grid of the future needs to be flexible in order to integrate growing use of renewables, a new book from the International Energy Agency (IEA) says.
In Harnessing Variable Renewables: A Guide to the Balancing Challenge, the agency uses case studies of eight geographic regions, each facing unique energy challenges, to develop a four-step Flexibility Assessment (FAST) method. Keep reading →
The US energy sector has a surprising amount of Canada in it.
Canada’s energy industry is a major driver of that country’s economy, even in areas where development of new fuel resources isn’t the focus. Cheap hydropower helps underpin the manufacturing sector in the Eastern part of the country, while access to a vast array of natural resources in Alberta and British Columbia are major parts of the western provincial economies. Keep reading →
Donald Jessome and his partners are on track to break ground next summe
r to bury a 350-mile stretch of cable – much of it on the murky bottoms of Lake Champlain and the Hudson River – to bring a mix of hydro and wind power from Quebec to New York City’s congested electricity grid.
The US $2 billion underwater transmission system, which avoids the problem of unsightly and controversial overhead power lines, would dramatically boost the region’s use of clean energy. Except there’s one hitch: New York State doesn’t consider large-scale hydroelectric power a renewable source of electricity. Keep reading →
