Increased investment in digitization and distribution of grids - Richa Kushwaha

Description:

Unprecedented growth in renewable energy in the past decade has put forward an opportunity to get a maximum advantage towards energy transition by increasing investment in digitalization and in increasing the network of green grids. With the rise increasing efficiency of wind and solar energy, it is crucial to manage renewable inconstant energy production cycles throughout the day. It is important to share resources across a wide geographic area and upgrade domestic power grids to integrate renewables energy distribution.

Enablers:

- Huge global & local investment to increase transition towards modern digitalized distribution grids.
- Increasing collaborative efforts such as Trans-European Networks for Energy (TEN-E) to support and better manage the imbalance of renewable energy production and distribution.
- As stated in the World Energy Investment report 2020, global grid spending needs to rise by 50% by 2030 to meet long-term sustainability goals relating to the energy transition, thus governments have to increase investments soon in this direction.

Inhibitors:

- Power grid investment decline is observed in the last three years in major economies such as China, Europe and middle east.
- Apart from investment in increasing modern grid system, more investment is needed to modernise or replace ageing grid infrastructure.
- Contraries are not yet ready to collaborate together to achieve global goals in terms of energy sharing.
- Decentralised projects are still not getting enough attention when we talk about cross border projects.
- As shown in a report by Seattle times, only 2% of global giving goes to curb climate change.Much more investment is needed

Paradigms:

Considering the quick pace of renewable energy transition in the last decade, unprecedented investment is required in the Research and development of new technology of storage and distribution due to the intermittency of renewable energy production. In the future, this issue can be solved by the development of high-capacity batteries capable of storing large quantities of power along with creating a modern grid distribution network.

Experts:

-https://ukcop26.org/energy
-The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

Timing:

With global pressure on policy building to tackle climate change and CO2 emission, it seems hopeful that investments will be made in this space. With huge investments in this sector, the advantages of renewable energy can be fully extracted.

Web Resources:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cop26-energy-transition-council-2022-strategic-priorities/cop26-energy-transition-council-2022-strategic-priorities
https://ukcop26.org/energy/
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w17086/w17086.pdf
https://irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2020/Apr/IRENA_GRO_Summary_2020.pdf?la=en&hash=1F18E445B56228AF8C4893CAEF147ED0163A0E47