North America’s electricity grid faces a shortfall of power. A grid policy expert explores one region’s efforts to ensure reliability and the controversies its proposals have raised.

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In December, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC, released its annual assessment of grid reliability across North America. The results were concerning.

NERC, which is the organization responsible for setting grid reliability standards, reported that electricity supply is struggling to keep up with rapidly growing demand across much of the U.S. and Canada. In several major grid regions, electricity shortfalls could occur under challenging conditions within the next one to three years.

On the podcast, Abe Silverman, assistant research scholar at the Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute at Johns Hopkins University, discusses the threat of electricity supply shortages with a focus on one area of the grid in particular, the PJM Interconnection. PJM is the largest regional grid operator in the U.S., serving 65 million people in the eastern part of the country. PJM recently announced that it, too, could face a capacity shortage as early as 2026.

To date, the grid operator has undertaken a complex set of actions to address its challenges, with more efforts on the way. Silverman explores PJM’s looming supply shortfall, and examines the steps it’s taking to shore up supply. He also explains the controversies that some of these actions have raised.

Abraham Silverman is an assistant research scholar at the Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute at Johns Hopkins University, and former general counsel for the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

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An Exploration of Solar Access: How Can Tenants Benefit from Solar Financing Policies? https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/an-exploration-of-solar-access-how-can-tenants-benefit-from-solar-financing-policies/

Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two experts discuss the challenge of keeping billions of people cool while minimizing electrical grid and climate impacts.

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Global air conditioner use could triple by the middle of this century, driving a dramatic increase in electricity demand. This growth will place additional strain on already overburdened electrical grids and lead to significant economic and environmental challenges.

Yet these negative impacts might be substantially reduced if more attention were paid to cooling people, rather than the air around them.

Two experts at the intersection of cooling technology and building design discuss how a paradigm shift in our thinking about how we cool ourselves could make it possible for billions of people to stay comfortable in an increasingly hot world while minimizing additional electricity demand.

Dorit Aviv, director of the Thermal Architecture Lab at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design and Adam Rysanek, director of the Building Decisions Research Group at the University of British Columbia, share insights from a Kleinman Center-funded research effort into sustainable cooling. Their work focuses on the development of systems that have the potential to meet a dramatic increase in cooling demand, and do so without putting energy systems and climate into further jeopardy.

Dorit Aviv is director of the Thermal Architecture Lab at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design.

Adam Rysanek is director of the Building Decisions Research Group at the University of British Columbia.

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Cooling People, Not Spaces: Surmounting the Risks of Air-Conditioning Over-Reliance https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/cooling-people-not-spaces-surmounting-the-risks-of-air-conditioning-over-reliance/

The Untapped Potential of ‘Repurposed Energy’ https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/the-untapped-potential-of-repurposed-energy/

Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to cut support for clean power. Two guests from Bloomberg NEF weigh the likely impacts on clean energy development.

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President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to reduce federal support for clean power as soon as he takes office in January. Yet political realities may limit the extent to which incentives, such as those in the Inflation Reduction Act, may be rolled back, leaving open the possibility that the incoming president may seek surgical rather than sweeping cuts.

A more fundamental question nevertheless remains: How much would reducing federal support for clean energy actually slow its growth in the U.S.? On the podcast, two experts on clean power markets and policy explore the likely scope, and practical impacts of Trump’s stated energy positions.

Meredith Annex is an energy economist and Head of Clean Power at Bloomberg NEF. Derrick Flakoll is Bloomberg’s Policy Expert for the US and Canada. The two analyze the incoming administration’s plans for clean power manufacturing, project development, and trade policy. They also share their insights on how these policies might unfold and what they could mean for the future pace of clean power growth in the United States.

Meredith Annex is Head of Clean Power at Bloomberg NEF.

Derrick Flakoll is Bloomberg NEFs Policy Expert for the US and Canada.

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California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/californias-low-carbon-fuel-standard/

Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.