Category: Renewable Power

Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #30 – Rhodes & Meehan

Leave a comment

This week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode features David Spence interviewing Joshua Rhodes & Colin Meehan about their research on “Keeping the Lights on in a High Renewables Grid.”

Josh & Colin explain the concept of grid “inertia” and why it is so important for grid stability. The grid must always maintain the same frequency and inertia steadies this frequency when a power plant suddenly goes offline. They explain that wind and solar power do not provide the same inertia as conventional plants but describe ways of making the grid flexible to accommodate high levels of renewable power nevertheless.

Josh & Colin also describes how renewable power sources can provide “fast frequency response” as a substitute for inertia. But they explain that doing so would require reducing power output from these sources, which might require modifying markets to pay for ancillary services that maintain the grid’s frequency.

The discussion builds on one of Josh’s recent articles: “Evaluating rotational inertia as a component of grid reliability with high penetrations of variable renewable energy,” which was published last year in the journal Energy.

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
Apple | Google

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #28 – Sanya Carley

Leave a comment

In this week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode, the University of Colorado’s Sharon Jacobs interviews Sanya Carley of Indiana University about Sanya’s work on Alternatives talks with about Sanya’s work on “Energy Justice.”

Sanya explains her efforts to identify communities that are particularly likely to be harmed as the country moves to cleaner energy sources. She describes steps that the government can take to address these disparate impacts and how to allow affected communities to participate in developing solutions.

This conversation relates to a number of Sanya’s recent publications, including a paper titled “A framework for evaluating geographic disparities in energy transition vulnerability,” that was published in Nature Energy in 2018.

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
Apple | Google

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #26 – Michael Gerrard

Leave a comment

This week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode features Columbia’s Mike Gerrard talking with Shelley Welton about his research on “Deep Decarbonization: Legal Impediments to a Massive Renewables Build-Out.”

In the interview, Mike explains why dramatic cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions will require a massive build out of new zero-carbon power sources to 1) replace coal and gas power plants and 2) electrify the other parts of the energy system that currently depend on fossil fuels, such as gasoline for cars and natural gas for heating. Mike and Shelley explore how federal environmental statutes, especially the National Environmental Policy Act, are holding up new investment in renewable energy.

The discussion relates to a larger project, known as “Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonizaton” and Mike’s 2017 article in the Environmental Law Reporter, “Legal Pathways for a Massive Increase in Utility-Scale Renewable Generation Capacity.”

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
Apple | Google

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #25 – Victoria Mandell

Leave a comment

Another week, another EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode. This week, Victoria Mandell of GRID Alternatives talks with the University of Colorado’s  Sharon Jacobs about Victoria’s work on “Energy Poverty, Energy Burden and Rooftop Solar.”

Victoria and Sharon talk about why some policies that favor rooftop solar are regressive: “You have low income customers paying for high income customers to have solar on their roofs.” Victoria explains the complex interactions between equity, efficiency, and environmental goals in adding more solar energy to the grid.

Victoria has published some of her thoughts on energy poverty, rooftop solar, and the Colorado Public Utility Commission in this brief post: “Environmental and Economic Justice in Distributed Solar Energy Investment.”

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
Apple | Google

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #24 – Arne Olson (Part II)

Leave a comment

This week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode is Part II of Arne Olson‘s discussion with David Spence on “Modeling Decarbonization in the West.” This two-part series covers Arne’s research on achieving a reliable transition to low-carbon energy on the West Coast. Today’s 15-minute podcast episode starts where the last one left off, focusing on California.

Arne describes why California may need to maintain some natural gas power to address wintertime shortages, unless it is able to develop significant nuclear power or long-term energy storage.

The interview builds on another of Arne’s recent papers, “Long-Run Resource Adequacy under Deep Decarbonization Pathways for California.”

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
Apple | Google

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #23 – Arne Olson

Leave a comment

This Thursday’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode features Arne Olson talking with David Spence about his research on achieving a reliable transition to low-carbon energy on the West Coast. This week’s 18-minute podcast is the first part of a two-part series on “Modeling Decarbonization in the West,” and it focuses on the Pacific Northwest.

Arne and David’s discussion focuses on the reasons that natural gas may play a continuing useful role in the grid as it moves to lower and lower carbon emissions. Arne explains why the grid can decarbonize while maintaining natural gas power to ensure reliability during emergencies.

The interview builds on Arne’s recent paper, “Resource Adequacy in the Pacific Northwest.”

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
Apple | Google

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #22 – Leah Stokes

Leave a comment

Happy new year! For this week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast interview, we have David Spence interviewing Leah Stokes, from the University of California – Santa Barbara about her research on “The Politics of Technology Transitions.”

Leah and David discuss politically sustainable methods of accomplishing an energy transition, focusing on Leah’s research on the history of policies supporting renewable and zero-carbon technologies. She traces a trajectory for transition that begins with subsidies to nurture new technologies until they are politically potent enough to take on incumbent industries. Leah and David also discuss Texas’s support for solar and wind power.

The discussion builds on three papers that Leah has recently published with co-authors: “The political logics of clean energy transitions,” “Politics in the U.S. energy transition: Case studies of solar, wind biofuels and electric vehicles policy,” and “Renewable Energy Policy Design and Framing Influence Public Support in the United States.”

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: Apple | Google

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #21 – Joshua Macey

Leave a comment

This week’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode features Cornell’s Joshua Macey talking with David Spence about his research on “Renewables and Reliability in Competitive Wholesale Electricity Markets.”

In the interview, Joshua explains why electric power providers in competitive markets are relying more and more on capacity markets, which pay them just for being available to provide power, and less on energy markets, which pay them only when they are actually providing power. He critiques the way that interstate grid operators and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have implemented these capacity markets, arguing that current rules discriminate against renewable resources such as wind and solar power.

The discussion builds on Joshua’s forthcoming University of Pennsylvania Law Review article with Jackson Salovaara, “Rate Regulation Redux.”

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
Apple | Google

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #18 – Ari Peskoe

Leave a comment

This Thursday’s EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode features Harvard Law School’s Ari Peskoe talking with David Spence about his research on “Reliability, Decarbonization & Federal-State Conflict Over Electricity Markets.”

Ari and David talk about restructured power markets and struggles over the extent of federal and state authority to ensure that there are enough power plants and that electricity remains reliable. And Ari explains his work on a brief of electricity law scholars that defended states’ authority to adopt “zero emissions credits” that support nuclear power.

This discussion also builds on Ari’s recent paper, which is titled, “Easing Jurisdictional Tensions by Integrating Public Policy in Wholesale Electricity Markets.”

As an aside, my favorite part of the podcast comes near the start, when David offers the funny-because-it’s-true observation that “Ari is a Twitter public servant” because he “provides a lot of public goods on Twitter.”

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
Apple | Google

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Energy Tradeoffs Podcast #17 – Melinda Taylor

Leave a comment

Another week, another EnergyTradeoffs.com podcast episode. This week, the University of Texas’s Melinda Taylor talks with David Spence about her research on “Studying Intensive Energy Development (Oil & Gas, Wind and Solar) in West Texas.”

Melinda talks about her work with the Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation on “a community-based landscape conservation plan” for three West Texas counties that are part of Texas’s staggering oil, gas, & renewable power boom — the biggest energy boom the world has ever seen. These “relatively yet-untouched counties in west Texas … host beautiful, iconic landscape features.”

You can learn more about this area of West Texas, and the energy boom — and hear more from Melinda — in this trailer for “The Long Game” a documentary series by the Mitchell Foundation.

The Energy Tradeoffs Podcast can be found at the following links: 
Apple | Google

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

1 2 3 4