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Articles tagged as: renewables

Virtual Power Plants Catalyze Grid Stability in Texas

Bringing Energy Equality to Renters in Texas with Virtual Power Plants

Historically, choosing solar energy as a way to cut down on electric bills and add value to homes has only been a viable option for people with good credit and the ability to purchase a home. With a new program, however, the opportunity to power one’s place of residence with solar is being extended to renters and people with lower credit scores through virtual power plants, community solar and innovative storage.

Project TexFlex
The apartments at 2410 Waugh Street in Houston’s…

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Can H2 solve the Texas freeze?

Can H2 solve the Texas freeze?

By: Keshav Ahuja

The snow has finally melted, and the debate settled. The primary cause of the Texas electrical grid failure during the Great Freeze of 2021? The loss of fossil fuel generation capacity. The solution… 

 

Texas citizens were in the dark and cold when they needed these services the most. The blackout exposed several vulnerabilities, highlighting the lack of critical equipment weatherization. How do we move forward to avoid…

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EVs will be the Resilience and Disaster Recovery Solution of Choice for Intelligent Grids

The EV infrastructure as the solution of choice for intelligent grids and is pleased to announce an investment into OpConnect, alongside Reinventure Capital and Black Founders Matter.

OpConnect is a Minority Owned Small Business taking on big names like ChargePoint, ABB, and Shell (which purchased Greenlots). The team has developed a lean model that has enabled EV service providers to quickly integrate their EV charging networks with advanced payment processing and customer care tools.

Mobility and energy are undergoing a massive transformation as transportation moves toward an electric future. The investment…

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Energy Storage: New Technologies and Forecasts

Energy Storage: New Technologies and Forecasts

By Keshav Ahuja

Energy storage is one of the most discussed topics today and is expected to be a key component of the global energy transition and stabilizing the grid for Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards. Over the last decade, energy storage technologies have continued to evolve, adapt, and innovate in response to changing energy requirements and regulatory policies.

Energy storage technologies are broadly categorized into four segments: electrical, thermal, mechanical, and electrochemical storage. Though electrochemical (batteries) and mechanical (hydrogen/pumped hydropower) storage remain the most common forms of energy adoption, research on…

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The Intelligent Grid: Smart, Autonomous, Predictive

The Intelligent Grid: Smart, Autonomous, Predictive

By Nishant Jain

The Intelligent grid transformation will be the backbone of our new energy infrastructure. CIC defines an Intelligent Grid as having 3Ds – Digitalized, Decarbonized and Democratized – which is actualized by some key elements of ‘smart’, ‘autonomous’ and ‘predictive’.

Smart – The key element for a system to get “smart” is its ability to exchange signals between its components. The underlying technology has evolved from the Internet of Things (IoT) toa combination of low power sensors, connected device, computing, and software to enable digital monitoring and control of systems.

For example, a smart…

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Texas’ Big Post-Covid Opportunity to Modernize Its Power Grid 

Texas’ Big Post-Covid Opportunity to Modernize Its Power Grid

by Eugene Han and Alex Rozenfeld

Modernizing Texas’ power grid will stimulate jobs and resilience. The time is right to look at ways of cultivating robust power sources that can withstand both pandemics and climate events.

Throughout  history, civilizations have seen pandemics as mechanisms for innovation to support the future well-being of their people. In the 19th century, multiple cholera epidemics broke out in New York, causing traffic jams of horses and carriages as people fled for the perceived safety of the suburbs. These outbreaks resulted in the building of underground…

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Why the Texas oil crash is terrible for renewables

Don’t celebrate plummeting oil and gas prices. The crash won’t be good for renewable energy.


BY ALEXANDER ROZENFELD

Texas oil and gas companies are experiencing their most dire crisis ever. As countries have shuttered and industries slow from COVID-19, demand for oil and gas has plunged while supply from OPEC, Russia, and the United States continues to rise. Oil usually hovers around $40-$60 a barrel, but during this pandemic, prices are struggling to stay above $20. For some, the crash of the fossil fuel energy industry is a reason to celebrate. Such celebrations by the “oil is our enemy” crowd…

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The World’s Climate Solution Capital May Be Texas

Introducing the Climate Change View from Texas

Let me start 2020 with a confession: I’m not a Texan, but I got here as fast as I could. Why, though? What’s so special about this state? Historically, people flocked to Texas to take advantage of its resources, which spurred three big Texas industries: ranching, oil, and real estate. More recently, it has become known for its affordable cost-of-living, business-friendly policies, and of course, as the epicenter of the shale oil & gas revolution.

Texas is the self-proclaimed oil & gas capital of the United States, producing more than a third of…

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US Electrical Infrastructure at a Critical Crossroads

The Road not taken?

‘Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken’ by Amory Lovins, the founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, explores two different electrical infrastructure paths for the coming 50 years. The first path is a continuation of present federal policy. The second involves a serious commitment to energy efficiency, renewables, and transitional fossil fuels. Lovins argued, convincingly, that the two roads are mutually exclusive; the year was 1976!

Forty-four years later– and renewables are finally being connected to the US grid at scale.

However, the grid was originally designed to distribute electricity in one direction and supply and…

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