Energy Policy Now

As the nation’s reliance on natural gas as a fuel for electricity generation has grown, so have reliability challenges. --- Over 40% of U.S. electricity is generated by gas-fired powerplants yet, double the role the fuel played two decades ago. Yet the past few years have exposed risks arising from our growing reliance on gas-fired generation. Major power outages in Texas and the Eastern U.S. have...

Canary Media senior editor Eric Wesoff explains the latest in a history of solar PV trade disputes involving the U.S. and China, and what it could mean for the growth of solar power and domestic solar manufacturing. --- In April, a coalition of U.S. photovoltaics manufacturers petitioned the Department of Commerce to impose anti-dumping tariffs on solar panels from four Southeast Asian countries....

Kleinman Center visiting scholar Severin Borenstein discusses California’s struggle to balance residential solar growth with electricity rate equity. --- California’s residential solar market is at a critical inflection point after years of strong growth. Last year the state, which has more rooftop solar than any other, lowered the net metering rate that it pays solar households for the excess ele...

An expert in electricity markets explains why market price signals alone will struggle to incentivize adequate investment in the flexible electricity resources needed for future grid reliability. -- In the 1990s the process of deregulation – or restructuring – of the U.S. electricity system began, leading to the introduction of competition to an industry that had for a century been dominated by ve...

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse discusses the prospects for bipartisan U.S. carbon border fee legislation, and the need to protect the Biden administration’s clean energy and climate achievements. --- (This episode was recorded on March 15, 2024, during Penn Energy Week) Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has a reputation as an advocate for strong climate policies in Congress. The Rhode Island Democrat gained...

The U.S. Department of the Treasury is finalizing rules that will determine which new clean hydrogen projects will receive the IRA’s generous 45V tax incentives, and whether those projects will deliver promised climate benefits. --- The Inflation Reduction Act provides a range of incentives for the development of clean energy resources in the United States. Highest profile among those incentives a...

Physical attacks on critical European energy infrastructure have risen since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, threatening energy security and the pace of the low-carbon transition. --- Sabotage of critical energy infrastructure has been on the rise, most prominently in Europe, where multiple attacks have targeted subsea electric transmission cables and natural gas pipelines, including Nordstrea...

Local opposition to clean energy projects slows the transition to a low carbon energy system. A legal expert explores how a national policy of “repurposed energy” could speed things up. --- Clean energy infrastructure projects often face opposition from communities where they would be built, a fact that stands in the way of efforts to rapidly lower energy-sector carbon emissions.  Alexandra Klass,...

Each fall, the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy hosts a student blog competition, where students from any field of study can showcase their creativity, innovation, and passion for energy policy and sustainability. This year, we welcomed audio submissions, and we’re featuring our first-place audio blog here. This year’s winner is Benjamin Chen, a junior majoring in economics and minoring in comput...

A national network of CO2 and biomass transportation infrastructure, spanning pipelines to rail routes, will be needed to support the permanent removal of atmospheric CO2. Can the network be economically built? --- In December the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory published Roads to Removal: Options for Carbon Dioxide Removal in the United States , which explores pathways to permanently remov...

Cary Coglianese, director of the Penn Program on Regulation, explores AI’s potential to help regulators keep pace with energy sector growth and climate-tech innovation. --- The ongoing transition to a cleaner energy system has positive implications for climate, energy security and equity. Yet the same transition poses myriad challenges for regulators, who are faced with an energy system that is mo...

Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard Law School’s Electricity Law Initiative, discusses FERC’s pending reforms to the electric transmission development process in the U.S., and legal challenges they'll likely face. Description Nearly two years ago, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposed a set of regulatory reforms to speed a much-needed expansion of the nation’s network of long distance...

New research raises doubt around the climate benefits of the 45Q tax credit for carbon capture and storage for fossil fuel powerplants. --- The Inflation Reduction Act earmarks billions of dollars of incentives for carbon capture and storage from coal and gas-fired powerplants. Ideally, the incentive will provide a path for fossil generators to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as the electric...

Recent electric grid emergencies highlight the need for better communication, and coordination, between energy policymakers and grid operators. --- In early November the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, convened its annual technical conference on the reliability of the electric grid. In most years the conference attracts little attention beyond electricity industry insiders. But rece...

Brazilian economist and IPCC lead author Roberto Schaeffer examines what constitutes a “fair share” of emissions reductions under the Paris climate process, and how fairness is defined. -- This December, at COP 28 in Dubai, countries will consider the results of the first “global stocktake,” which is a global report card that compares real climate commitments and actions with the level that’s in f...

A metals industry executive explores the race to develop alternative supplies of critical minerals essential to the energy transition. --- For over a century the global energy system has been dominated by fossil fuels, and governments and industry have gone to great lengths to secure reliable supplies of oil, natural gas, and coal. All along, scarcity and competition over fossil resources has been...

Ramón Méndez Galain, this year’s recipient of the Carnot Prize, reflects on leading Uruguay to a 98% renewable electricity mix, and what the rest of the world might take from his country’s experience. --- In 2008 Ramón Méndez Galain, a particle physicist with no experience in government, was appointed Director of Energy for Uruguay and proceeded to reimagine the country’s electricity grid. In less...

Climatologist Michael Mann discusses his new book on Earth’s climate past, with insights into our climate future. --- Renowned Penn climatologist Michael Mann’s latest book, “Our Fragile Moment,” explores the history of climate change and the lessons it can provide into the trajectory of climate change today. The book is Mann’s response to the phenomenon of “climate doomism” which, Mann writes, mi...

A Penn economist explores the relationship between regional energy policy and oil company support for renewable power. --- In recent years there has been a divergence in the trajectories of the world’s major oil companies. The shift has been most noticeable in the case of the European oil majors, including companies such as BP and Shell, which during the past decade began to emphasize the importan...

Long-distance electric transmission lines are a critical to the energy transition, yet construction of new lines has come to a near standstill in the U.S. Rob Gramlich of Grid Strategies discusses recent market and regulatory action to resurrect transmission development. --- Electric transmission line mileage will need to triple by the middle of this century to make a net-zero carbon grid a realit...

As COP 28 draws closer, climate negotiators race to finalize a financing structure to help countries that suffer climate change-related damages. --- In late November this year’s global climate conference, COP 28, will begin in Dubai. The headline issue at COP will be the global stock take, which is a country by country review of progress toward fulfilling emissions reduction pledges under the Pari...

California is set to present its strategic plan to scale an offshore wind power industry based on unconventional floating wind technology. --- In late June the California Energy Commission will submit its strategic plan for the development of offshore wind energy to the state’s legislature. The plan is the culmination of two years of efforts by California to jump start its offshore wind industry a...

Nick Rohleder, Energy Policy Now’s former editorial assistant and current climate entrepreneur, discusses the challenge of managing the investment risk inherent in emerging clean energy technologies. --- Last year, $1.1 trillion dollars were invested globally in carbon-free energy technologies and infrastructure. This volume of investment marked a significant milestone, as the first year in which...

A new report examines the economic and climate impacts of Pennsylvania joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, now stalled in court. --- The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, was the first major carbon market to be established in the United States. Since its inception in 2009, RGGI has contributed to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector in a market...

A geographer explores the impact of location on worker opportunity and equity in the clean energy economy. --- The Inflation Reduction Act earmarks hundreds of billions of dollars for clean energy and the development of jobs in the clean energy supply chain, construction and operations. Critically, the law also acknowledges that the transition to clean energy presents a generational opportunity to...