FOCUS ON – SMART CITIES
2022 – THE YEAR OF THE SMART GRID 2022 is the year we act on our net-zero pledges from 2021, and no action is more vital than completing the energy transition. We have eight years to cut global emissions in half. So, in the interest of time, let’s get straight to the point: without smart grids, there will be no energy transition.
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he International Energy Agency (IEA) cites grid integration as one of the top 4 challenges to increasing renewable energy capacity, alongside non-technical challenges (financing, permissions, and social acceptance). From now to 2026, renewables could grow 60% faster than in the past five years, thanks to the maturity of wind and solar generation and the net-zero commitments of 137 countries. But to move from commitments to reality, we need smart grids to make that energy work.
Smart grids perform four tasks critical to the energy transition. They boost grid resilience, increase renewable energy integration, drive down costs, and enable universal access to clean electricity. The resilience of the grid is critical – clean electricity fails if we can’t use it – so let’s start there. Many people don’t know that in the past decade, smart grids helped save Europe from blackouts, while simultaneously supporting the transition to clean energy. Long before the energy transition, spikes in electricity demand were stir-
ring up grave concerns about the ageing grid infrastructure, and the potential for a blackout domino effect across Europe. So, when the energy transition started gaining steam in Germany, experts warned that exceeding 4% renewable generation could not only break the German grid, but could also impact its neighbours. Fast forward to 2020. Germany surpassed all forecasts, reaching 45% renewable energy. 33% of that was from solar and wind, the most variable sources. Globally, we have reached 30% renewable
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