Challenges with renewable energy integration and building grid resilience<\/p>\n
Ageing infrastructure<\/p>\n
70 percent of the US grid\u2019s transmission lines and power transformers are more than 25 years old, with some components dating back to the 1940s4, More than 40 percent of Europe\u2019s grid infrastructure is also ageing5 and requires either replacement or sophisticated monitoring to prevent failure.<\/p>\n
Network instability<\/p>\n
Existing grids were designed for predictable, one-way power flow, not the bidirectional, intermittent nature of renewable energy. Solar and wind lack the physical inertia of traditional turbines to maintain a stable system frequency.<\/p>\n
Extreme weather<\/p>\n
The increasing frequency of severe weather events7 is presenting new challenges to grid resilience. In coastal and flood-prone areas, there is a major focus on hardening the grid. Equally pressing is mitigating wildfire risk in dry regions, where sparks from overhead equipment can ignite devastating fires.<\/p>\n
Heavy investments<\/p>\n
Undertaking grid modernization is costly and complex. One recent report4 estimated that an annual investment of \u20ac67billion is needed until 2050 to deliver a European distribution grid that will enable the energy transition, based on renewables.<\/p>\n
Skills gap<\/p>\n
In the past two years, employment growth in the US utilities sector was faster than in traditional industrial sectors5. But the sector boom has exposed a skills shortage and the need for low- or no-maintenance equipment, to lower costs and ease workforce burden.<\/p>\n
Policy & regulatory hurdles<\/p>\n
Grid modernization faces challenges from grid codes, permitting processes, and market design frameworks.<\/p>\n
Cyber security<\/p>\n
Digitalization and remote operations have made cyber attacks on critical grid infrastructure a paramount concern for utilities.<\/p>\n
Financing models for modernization<\/p>\n
Unclear cost allocation and return-on-investment pressures complicate funding for grid modernization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Challenges with renewable energy integration and building grid resilience Ageing infrastructure 70 percent of the US grid\u2019s transmission…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[130],"tags":[232,2056],"class_list":{"0":"post-46238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-abb","8":"tag-abb","9":"tag-motion"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116372818089040458","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}