News & Blog

Electrification as a Way to Increase Energy Efficiency and Decarbonize As the world moves away from fossil fuels, electrification is set to play a major role in reducing carbon emissions and improving energy efficiency across various sectors. This shift is expected to lower overall energy demand (at least in already industrialized countries) while simultaneously increasing…

  Read more in-depth information in ESIG’s Brief for Decision Makers – IBR Interconnection Requirements: Status and Needs. At the end of 2023, U.S. interconnection queues contained twice as much capacity as is currently installed in the country, and more than 95% of this generation is inverter-based resources (IBRs). (See the ESIG blog on August…

Distributed generation resources (DGRs), such as solar on our roofs and battery storage devices in our garages, can help lower the cost of electricity and increase consumer choice, while providing clean, local energy. As DGRs become more common, it’s crucial to understand their effects on both local and regional grids. This helps planners better navigate…

Is anyone else suffering from “The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon” where now that I’m seeing lots of commercials about electric vehicles (EVs), it feels like they are everywhere? It’s the same phenomenon that applied on those road trips as a kid where you looked for blue cars and they suddenly appeared. While walking my dog, Wallie, the…

As the global energy landscape rapidly shifts towards renewable energy sources, ensuring the stability and reliability of power systems has become more complex and critical than ever before. One of the key components in this evolving grid architecture is the grid-forming inverter-based resource. These grid-forming inverters (GFMIs), unlike traditional grid-following inverters, are designed to “form”…

  U.S. Interconnection Queues Have Unprecedented Amounts of Renewable Energy and Storage Grid interconnection, the process of connecting generators or energy storage to the electric grid, has emerged as a significant obstacle to the energy transition in the United States. From 2000 to 2010, the U.S. averaged between 500 to 1,000 new annual transmission interconnection…

For long-term transmission planning, the topology of the existing transmission grid is typically assumed to be fixed, and not a decision variable. But this may be about to change in the U.S. with FERC Order 1920, which requires consideration of transmission switching among other technologies. Using transmission switching as a decision variable can provide significant…

  Challenges in Forecasting Long-term Energy Demand in California Just as you might plan how to advance in your career, train for a big race, or save money for a trip, forecasting energy demand allows governments, utilities, and other businesses to plan for future energy needs. Such forecasting paints a valuable view of the future,…

  Motivation for Grid-Forming Technologies in Germany To guarantee a safe and stable system operation, the transmission system is designed to withstand different disturbances. In this context the Continental European power system can balance sudden power imbalances of up to 3 GW if it stays interconnected and all grid users comply with grid code requirements.…

  Challenges Arise The landscape of energy demand and generation forecasting is barely recognizable when compared to just a decade ago. Resources used to be mostly dispatchable, and demand curves followed a familiar pattern. Today, though, grid operators must consider things like non-dispatchable, utility-scale renewables; retirement of traditional generation; behind-the-meter solar generation; demand response; energy storage;…