Our warming world could lead to shifts in the Western United States' water availability and a drop in hydropower production. Together, those will drive up the costs to decarbonize electric grids for the region.
What's happening?
While there has been good news recently about transforming our country's power grid to wean the nation off dirty energy sources that release heat-trapping gases into our atmosphere, many challenges remain.
According to a study in Nature Communications, the electric sector faces a dual challenge: decarbonization to remediate climate change and adaptation to handle its repercussions.
Our overheating planet has created shifts in water availability that could mean a drop as high as 23% in hydropower production by the middle of this century. This might coincide with an annual 2% uptick in the electricity demand. The study's researchers say the increases in power capacity needed to account for these factors would be equivalent to nearly three times California's peak demand, which would incur costs of around $150 billion.
"Grid planning that ignores climate projections and water linkages underestimates the capacity and investment needed to achieve decarbonization and maintain grid reliability," according to the study's authors, per The Hill. "Failing to account for these changes in energy supply and demand via the water sector may overlook cascading vulnerabilities."
Why is the decarbonization of energy grids important?
Making decarbonization happen is a tall, complicated task. The global population is projected to climb to 10 billion by 2060, which means rising demand for electricity. Decarbonizing power grids will mean replacing dirty energy sources with renewable options. Globally, 30% of carbon dioxide emissions come from power generation, including electricity and heat production.
"To achieve decarbonization, all aspects of the economy must change — from how energy is generated, and how we produce and deliver goods and services, to how lands are managed," according to a report published by the Columbia Climate School. "The carbon dioxide and methane emissions that are warming the planet come largely from the power generation, industry, transport, buildings, and agriculture and land use sectors of the global economy, so these sectors must all be transformed."
What's being done about transforming power grids?
The Energy Storage Systems Act, which was signed into law this summer in Rhode Island, aims to enable an affordable, renewable energy grid through more energy storage capacity.
In a significant breakthrough for the future adoption of clean energy sources, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission passed a rule designed to accelerate the connection of energy projects to the grid, paving the way for quicker access to renewable energy.
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We can all help cool our planet and lessen the demand for electricity by switching to solar energy options and unplugging "energy vampires" in our homes that can lead to carbon pollution.
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