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Net zero steps need recalibration

22 April 2024

Commentary
Jennifer Aguinaldo
Energy & technology editor

After more than 100 countries supported tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030 at Cop28, policymakers, offtakers and transmission system operators are grappling with the hard questions of implementation.

At the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi in mid-April, Carlos Gasco Travesedo, energy policy executive director at the Department of Energy, highlighted the distinction between tripling renewables capacity and increasing renewable power that can be absorbed and transported by electricity grids without compromising their efficiency and stability.

There is a consensus among stakeholders that new approaches, such as battery energy storage systems, international grid connectivity and digital technologies, particularly those powered by artificial intelligence, will help integrate more clean energy into the electricity production mix.

Adopting technology is crucial to meeting the 2050 or 2060 net-zero targets and the 2030 or 2035 lower greenhouse gas emissions commitments.

Each solution requires regulations and investments to ensure it remains relevant in 10 or 20 years' time as new technologies emerge.

For example, while some experts say grid connectivity is essential to load balancing and achieving sustainability in power systems, others consider this solution not commercially viable and point out it requires unifying grid codes between countries.

Battery energy storage systems are now being positioned to address spinning reserves due to their ability to store and discharge energy from various sources when needed. Yet, batteries remain relatively expensive, negating to a large extent one of the key energy security pillars.

These scenarios reinforce the role of natural gas – which has half the polluting capacity of coal – as a transition fuel, given the costs and risks associated with nuclear energy. Although natural gas itself is part of the fossil fuel troika that countries have committed to transitioning away from. 

The ideal solution to providing affordable, reliable clean energy will likely remain elusive for a while longer. 

As one senior executive with an international utility developer tells MEED, there is no playbook to confidently follow.

This implies that the transition must proceed gradually to prove, or disprove, that a mix of solar, nuclear, wind and hydrogen is the holy grail of energy transition.

Related reads:

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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