Energy crisis an opportunity to focus on markets and technologies – GridBeyond

A new report from GridBeyond finds that the energy crisis has the potential to speed up the energy transition, which in turn would lead to greater energy security.

With energy prices having become high and volatile due to gas supply restrictions over the past year, a net zero energy sector offers the chance to build a more reliable, resilient and sustainable system that reduces exposure to this volatility and should bring down costs.

However, during the period when declining fossil fuel and expanding clean energy systems co-exist, a new energy security paradigm is needed to maintain reliability and affordability.

The report from GridBeyond, a Dublin-headquartered energy management platform provider, is based on input from both within and outside the energy sector and envisages that the energy crisis is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

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The report states that the rise in fossil fuel prices would promote incentives to conserve energy and to increase the use of renewables, with a positive effect on emissions reductions. However, a concerted effort is needed to limit the risk of a persistent rise in the use of coal as energy imports from Russia are phased out.

Policy makers and network operators now need to focus on the market structures and technologies required to eventually phase fossil fuel out completely.

In many markets this will result in a fundamental redesign of energy markets to delink the price of electricity from the price of gas and to implement mechanisms that appropriately value flexible generation, e.g. energy storage, and demand response, e.g. load shifting or peak shaving.

“Events in Ukraine highlight the continuing importance of energy security, but this immediate challenge sits alongside the need for the world to achieve a deep and rapid decarbonisation,” says GridBeyond CEO, Michael Phelan.

“But energy market volatility and security constraints present an opportunity to supercharge the energy transition by ramping up clean energy investments and reshaping industrial and end consumer consumption.”

The report concludes that the environmental case for clean energy needs no reinforcement, but the economic arguments in favour of cost-competitive and affordable clean technologies are now stronger – and so too is the energy security case, which results.

The energy trilemma is currently pulling in the same direction but maintaining electricity security in tomorrow’s power systems calls for new tools, more flexible approaches and mechanisms to ensure adequate capacities.

Power generators will need to be more responsive; consumers will need to be more connected and adaptable and grid infrastructure will need to be strengthened.