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In California there is a recognised danger of powerlines sparking wildfires when it is extremely windy. Given this state of affairs, utilities in the state are responding with proactive, if drastic, measures – shutting off the power . Last week, the residents of the area controlled by Southern California Edison spent around 33 hours without electricity because of the high winds. This was a measure that was supposed to prevent the outbreak of a wildfire. The same thing happened to people living in a mountainous area of southeast San Diego. This occurred while huge portions of Southern California was under red flag alert – meaning that there was a high risk of wildfires because of the adverse weather. A spokesperson from San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) explained the importance of de-energising as a tool to protect communities at risk from being affected by wildfires. This dramatic step has come into play as a result of one of the worst wildfire seasons in California’

Global energy markets are increasingly included renewables and are accommodating the surplus clean energy by making power grid operations more regional. Renewable energy integration is a challenge that many countries are tackling head-on. Tactics for dealing with the situation include creating a slow but steady campaign, which will redesign their markets. One of the best examples of this regionalisation of energy markets can be seen in the US on the West Coast and in the Pacific North and Southwest. In the United States, the power grid that connects a wide area called the Western Interconnection is divided into independent balancing authorities (BA). Each of these BAs can assist with integrating renewable energy and matching supply and demand. Of the 38 BAs that operate in the Western Interconnection the largest is the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). In light of California’s declaration that by 2030 they will be running off 50% renewables, CAISO is facing so

When Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia announced his $300 billion privatisation plan there was much excitement for what was then being termed the ‘sale of the century’. Now, 19 months down the line, very little seems to have actually happened. Among the myriad of problems that seem to be plaguing this transition are substantial bureaucracy, poor legal structures and lacklustre investors. This has affected many of the country’s sectors – most noticeably grains, the postal service and healthcare. A Saudi banker explained that the transformation is going to take much longer than anticipated due in part to the constantly shifting priorities of the government. They are also encountering problems on a lower level with institutions which have little by way of book-keeping. They will need a full make over before they will be at an adequate standard for privatisation. This sell-off of Saudi Arabia forms an important part of the Prince’s Vision 2030 plan. The overarching pu

Costa Rica is known for its natural beauty, but what many people don’t yet know is that this small Central American country is also one of the leading producers of green energy in the world. Costa Rica has set itself ambitious renewable energy goals, and it is well on target to achieving near 100% renewable energy production. On November 22, 2017 Costa Rica’s electricity generation statistics hit the records again when the country was able to produce all of its energy using renewable sources for the 300 th day in 2017. To provide context, that means that on that date, only 26 days saw electricity production by non-renewable sources. A staggering 201 consecutive days of uninterrupted 100% renewable energy production was also recorded. This breaks a previous record of 299 days which was set in 2015. Costa Rica is able to produce its renewable energy thanks to abundant natural resources that favour energy production. Its terrain and the geology allow for significant hydropower

Yesterday, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. released recommendations regarding the US’s increasing dependence on natural gas. The report made it clear that greater coordination was required between the electric and gas sector. It also laid out its predictions as to what the consequences of a disruption along the natural gas supply line would be. The NERC’s report targeted regulators and pushed for them to do more to make the current system more resilient to gas supply disruptions and to help diversify it. It included a number of steps indicating how regulators were expected to do this. It is crucial that the industry is able to take severe disruptions in its stride in order to stop them from snowballing into much more serious issues. John Moura, the director of Reliability Assessment and System Analysis, explained that “the operating realities of renewables and other intermittent generation resources, when combined with ongoing coal and nuclear retirements, create

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that there is 2 trillion barrels of shale oil resources in place in the US, with over 70% located on federal land. This equates to around 60% of global resources. Of the 2 trillion barrels 1.5 trillion barrels is thought to be located in the Piceance Basin of Colorado and the remaining 0.5 trillion barrels is located in the Utah, Wyoming and the Eastern states. Oil shale reserves in the west (in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming) have a higher calorific value than reserves in the east in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. It is worth noting that that these are resources and not reserves. The largest deposit is the Eocene Green River Formation in north western Colorado, north eastern Utah and south western Wyoming accounts for 83% of deposits. Of this the most recoverable is in the Piceance Basin in western Colorado and the Uinta Basin in eastern Utah. A total of 5% of deposits are located in the east of the US in the Devonian-Missi

If you manage a business nowadays you cannot avoid acknowledging the need to save energy. From both a business and environmental perspective, energy saving is crucial. Not only will a clear commitment to energy saving give your company a competitive edge but it will also raise you up in the esteem of your clients and help gain and maintain their trust. But, simply having a vague notion of energy saving is not enough. Businesses need a clear, concise energy strategy that is accessible and easy to understand. Fortunately, that is not as tricky as it sounds. Direct Energy Business has recently released a guide on how to create the ultimate business energy strategy. The guide is called “6 Ingredients for an Effective Business Energy Strategy” and it lays out the six elements that are needed to achieve energy strategy greatness. These elements can be summed up as follows: 1.       Find a supplier that you trust and that is independent. Things to look out for include re

Agneta Rising, the Director General of the World Nuclear Association (WNA) made a statement explaining that the barrier blocking the way to a nuclear generation must be removed. By doing so the world will be presented with a competitive option with which to push back against climate change. She believes that currently nuclear power is being prevented from being maximised. She spoke at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi this week and continued her speech by saying that all low carbon technologies should be able to compete on a level playing field. In other words, every form of low carbon energy should be given the chance to make its contribution to cleaning up our world. The qualities that should be valued with these technologies are, according to Rising, effects on health and the environment as well as reliability and how much it will cost to send to the grid. She also touched on the electricity markets, saying that the majority of t

Today saw Theresa May’s government introduce the Smart Meters Bill into Parliament. This bill is a big step towards energy efficiency and includes provisions that will help consumers get the most out of their smart meters. A smart meter is a small display you have in your home that shows you exactly how much energy you are consuming and how much this energy is costing you. This will allow you to keep track of what you are spending and identify elements of your home that use up more energy than others. Ultimately, they will help people reduce their expenditure on energy. The bill provides that every household and small business should have this technology made available to them by the close of 2020. The bill will also ensure that the government can regulate the rollout of these meters. By doing this, the government will be in a position to act on the findings it gathers and to do what is necessary to improve consumer experience. A further policy contained in the bill st

A plan has been laid out by the government to increase national income and output whilst reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is known as the Clean Growth Strategy . There are multiple aims of this ambitious strategy. As its name suggests, the overall goal is clean growth. It plans to do this by providing consumers and businesses with an affordable energy supply. This in turn should be able to increase productivity and allow for the employment of more people. All of which will be done with environmental protection in mind. Naturally, this strategy will rely on the co-operation of industry to achieve what it sets out to accomplish. Since its public release, industry members have spoken out on how they feel about this plan. While so far responses have been generally positive, there are notable points that need to be considered before the strategy is put into play. Nick Molho, Executive Director of the Aldersgate Group is enthusiastic about the Clean Growth Strategy. He

The waves that surfers enjoy riding, and the bane of existence for seasickness sufferers on ships and boats can also be used to generate electricity. Using the power of waves in the oceans or other large bodies of water is in actual fact another way of harnessing the power of the wind to generate electricity. Wave power generation is a relatively new form of generating electricity , and this shows in the number and size of plants currently in operation, generating power using the waves. And unlike wind power generation using turbines, where the basic concept of blades and a turbine is the same, there are still many variants of wave power plants each with unique design characteristics and features. Still in its infancy, there has not been a fully commissioned plant with an installed capacity larger than 2.5MW. In comparison, a single onshore wind turbine can have a capacity higher than this. Though, with the technological developments taking place, and the feasibility of these

Coal has a bad reputation for being a leading cause of pollution. While it is true that coal power plants emit many pollutants, many industrialised nations and developing nations rely on coal to power their electricity grids and supply consumers and industry with much-needed power. Coal is a non-renewable and limited resource; however, it is not scarce and there are many deposits and active coal mines in use today. Because of its abundance, it has been a staple in electricity production for many regions; especially those lacking other resources such as sufficient hydro-electric capacity, or other hydrocarbons such as oils or natural gases. China spans the crown in terms of overall coal-fired generation capacity and it should be no surprise that it features heavily on this list, though in terms of the largest coal-fired individual plants, the first (mainland) Chinese plant is found at position number 3. Europe is a leading region for renewable energy production, however, be

If you are familiar with NRG Expert then you might know of us as purveyors of data and information regarding the global energy market. While this is very much the bulk of our work, NRG Expert does not limit its offerings to simply providing energy reports to businesses. The analysts and experts that make up the NRG Expert team also offer a consultancy service. This service assists businesses looking for opportunities in the global energy and environment markets. The huge volume of data that NRG Expert provides, compiled within its exhaustive reports and databases, can be daunting for someone without a comprehensive knowledge of the energy industry. The specific data can be challenging to interpret and manipulate – particularly within the context of developing businesses strategies – and this is where NRG Expert steps in to help.  Our in-house intelligence unit has a vast array of experience and skills that can help companies execute projects in a way that will maximise ca

Energy storage technologies are beginning to show great promise and penetrate the market, allowing for a better integration of renewable energy systems into the grid. Hydroelectric pumped-storage facilities have been in use for decades, and have generally been the only effective way of storing energy on a grid scale for many years. In the last few years, however, we have seen battery storage develop into a feasible solution for large-scale storage of energy as well as being used in small-scale domestic applications. These technologies have an impact on the grid and the load balancing capabilities and must be managed as an integral part of the system. With consumers bringing these devices onto their premises, communication and smart-grid technologies are vital to maximise the benefits that these systems can have for the entire grid infrastructure. Demands from the customer for power vary greatly during the day and night, and they vary considerably from season to season. In many

Some of the world’s largest power plants are in some of the most remote locations compared to where the electricity they generate is consumed. The technology of choice for many of these lines is HVDC or High Voltage Direct Current, which allows the electricity generated to be supplied up to hundreds of kilometers away. As the technology is not inexpensive, and requires a stable reliable generation supply in order to be effective. With increasing power demands and strain on electricity systems , developing High, and Ultra High Voltage power lines is only set to increase as new generation projects come online. As population centers are usually located far from hydro-electric plants, it is no surprise that most of the long-distance projects supply power from these dams to large population centers. Rio Madeira transmission link, Brazil Coming in at 2,385km, the Rio Madeira Transmission Link in Brazil tops the chart as the world’s longest. Supplying power from the Santo Antônio an

If you weren’t already aware of NRG Expert’s fantastic Data of the Month offer then now is the time to be enlightened. As leading experts in the energy market research sector, NRG Expert has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the global energy market. The main products produced by NRG Expert are reports – these are comprehensive and meticulously detailed databases filled with information and statistics. Accompanying these databases is a report that gives the reader some background information about the energy topic at hand and forecasts where the sector is likely to be heading over the coming years. But, what does that have to do with NRG Expert’s Data of the Month? Every month, NRG Expert releases a sample of the kind of data this is contained within their reports. This sample gives prospective buyers a realistic look at what they can expect from their purchase. The Data of the Month that has been released by NRG Expert this month is all about the ElectricityTransmission and

Nuclear power has been a source of much contention for some time now and the argument of whether it should be harnessed to its fullest potential has been hotly debated. Whichever side you stand on, there is no denying that having a solid understanding of the ins and outs of nuclear power is essential for getting to grips with the global energy industry. Especially now that it looks like nuclear power seems to be creeping back on to the world’s stage in various different forms. While the West appears to be focusing its attention on revamping existing nuclear facilities, the big Asian powers are in the process of building new ones. Japan and South Korea, in particular, are quickly climbing the nuclear energy ladder by producing new reactors and developing an unrivalled expertise in the area. Elsewhere in the world, Russia is currently exploring the possibilities of long-term uranium supply contracts – especially with Kazakhstan who is currently the world’s number one producer

The generation landscape is changing. More and more consumers and businesses are taking up incentives and investing in means of generating electricity on a smaller, more local scale. Governments, on all levels, are also looking at ways in which power generation can shift from central (often polluting) means of generation to efficient local (often renewable or carbon neutral) production. The grid was not designed for this input. To maintain the integrity of the grid, the individual components must work in unison. The grid is designed with some leeway to be able to absorb disruption, though it is thanks to a set of highly technical components and increasing automation that the grid is able to function to the level of reliability and at the scale at which we have become accustomed. At the consumer level, installing a solar panel, or other means of generating electricity for a single property isn’t disruptive to the grid. It is when these systems become part of a larger whole or p

Solar energy is gaining in popularity. Most people know solar power as the rooftop panels that are being installed on more and more houses; or projects like Elon Musk’s Solar Roof. However, there are many different applications for solar and many ways energy can be generated using the power of the sun. Electricity is the most common use, but solar energy can also be used to heat water for use in the home, or a swimming pool, etc. Solar arrays can also be used to redirect the beams of the sun to a central point which is then converted to heat energy to drive turbines, much like a coal plant would use a burner – only this time there are no emissions, and just clean energy. A large array of solar panels, be it photovoltaic or thermal, is called a solar farm. Here we take a look at a few of the biggest in the world. Tengger Desert Solar Park Located in China, the world’s largest solar farm uses solar PV panels to generate 1,500MW of electricity. This plant covers 43 square kil

Hydro Power has been on the global energy scene for a while now but until recently it didn’t look hopeful that it was going to become the renewable source we were all hoping for. However, a turn of good fortunate and a wealth of new technologies have put this energy source back in the limelight. Run- of-river, small hydro and low head turbines are all being developed voraciously and are simultaneously providing clean energy options and appeasing hydro power critics. It is information such as this, along with intricate data analysis and thorough market research, that allows NRG Expert to confidently predict significant growth in the hydropower arena over the coming years. This growth is particularly expected in the form of small hydro projects in the Asia Pacific and Latin America regions. If this insight into the future of the global hydro industry has piqued your interest then you might want to delve deeper into the subject by purchasing NRG Expert’s hydro power market re

If you keep up to date with what’s going on in the global energy world then you will probably know that wind is the new black in the power generation sector. Wind power continues to grow in importance every day and is becoming a force to be reckoned with. With this in mind, it is crucial for anyone involved in the energy industry to really get to grips with this particular sector. Fortunately, the analysts at NRG Expert have compiled a report and database that provide essential information about the global wind industry. Researched and written by energy experts, this product is an informative and in-depth look at wind technology around the world. The database is complemented by a market research report. Combined, they provide a wealth of information about wind power generation and you can rest assured that everything contained in those pages has come from a vast array of reliable and credible sources. An Introduction to Wind Energy There are few successes in the ener

It is completely natural that anyone about to embark on a professional development course has a million and one questions they want answered before they begin. The students taking the Global Energy Certification are no different. Before signing up for the GEC, they want the who, what, where, why and how explained in full, with a few other questions on the side. There is an FAQ page on the GEC website with a full breakdown of what people normally ask us before they start the course. But, if you don’t fancy trawling through all of that, we, the team at NRG Expert, are going to answer a few of the most pressing questions here for your benefit. What are the Benefits of Taking the GEC This is probably the most important question you should be asking before taking any qualification. What is the point of me doing this? In brief, taking the GEC is a way to enhance your career by expanding your knowledge of the energy industry. It is a tangible way to show the extent of your