THE BIG PICTURE: Wind Turbine Trends

Average wind turbine capacity, rotor diameter, and hub height increased in 2017, continuing a long-term trend. One reason that wind producers choose bigger turbines is to optimize wind power project cost and performance, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Source: U.S. DOE, 2017 Wind Technologies Market Report, […]

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THE BIG PICTURE: Small Modular Reactors

Interest in small modular reactors (SMRs) has ramped up of late owing to applications in niche electricity or energy markets where large reactors would not be viable—such as for cogeneration in countries with small grids, remote and off-grid areas, and for nuclear/renewable hybrid projects. Modular attributes may also enable SMRs to target the economics of […]

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Interactive Chart: Change in U.S. Biomass Generation (2013 to 2017)

While the larger conversation about plant economics and mass retirements in the U.S. has been focused on coal and nuclear power plants, the nation’s much smaller biomass power industry is grappling with similar issues in markets where cheap natural gas, wind, and solar generation resources are proliferating. See more at: “U.S. Biomass Power, Dampened by […]

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THE BIG PICTURE: A Power Sector Carbon Decline

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests that if states fully implement the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule—which it proposed in August 2018 to replace the 2015 Clean Power Plan—by 2025, U.S. power sector carbon dioxide emissions could be about 34% below 2005 levels. At the end of 2016, they had fallen 24%, and by the end […]

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THE BIG PICTURE: Trump’s Regulatory Targets

President Trump campaigned on a promise to reduce regulation and control regulatory costs. One of his first actions after taking office was to issue an executive order calling for the elimination of two existing regulations for every one new regulation issued. Toward that end, the Trump administration has acted or sought to reverse more than […]

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THE BIG PICTURE: A Gas Trade Transformation (Infographic)

According to the International Energy Agency, global natural gas trade has grown by more than 40% over the past 15 years. Over the next five years, current trade flows are expected to significantly diversify, boosted by development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure. LNG trade, which grew by 11% in 2017 to 391 billion cubic […]

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THE BIG PICTURE: The Electric Vehicle Push

Because the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) could ramp up demand for electricity and slash transportation-related emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants, a growing group of stakeholders, including power companies and trade groups, strongly advocate for an accelerated EV rollout. By mid-2018, several countries with potentially large EV markets had set EV deployment targets, as well […]

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