Spotlight

Detailed look at a specific topic or area of interest

• Africa’s Transmission Sector: Private investments vital to drive growth [free access]

  July 7, 2017
  Energy policies have started to move to centre stage in Africa due to the increased focus on rapid economic growth. The governments of African countries are adopting ambitious targets for power generation, backed by far-reaching reforms of their energy sectors.

• Progress on Grid Integration of Central Asian Countries: Creating a regional grid

  June 9, 2017
  The Central Asian countries—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan—are endowed with vast energy resources, including the large oil and coal reserves of Kazakhstan, the sizeable gas reserves of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and the significant hydropower resources of Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan.

• Enhancing Grid Connectivity in North America: Expanding power trade [free access]

  May 10, 2017
  The three North American countries – USA, Canada and Mexico – are working together to integrate their electricity grid networks and enhance power trade opportunities.

• Cybersecurity in EU: EECSP Report suggests strategic framework

  April 10, 2017
  Digital technologies are playing an increasingly important role in energy infrastructure. A smarter energy system can control energy production, transmit information about consumption and monitor demand with better precision and faster response.

• Aerial Technologies:Gaining popularity in power transmission segment [free access]

  March 14, 2017
  According to Global Transmission Research estimates, the global high voltage transmission line network comprised around 4,112,200 km of 110 kV and above lines at the end of 2015.

• Testing and Maintenance of HV Equipment: Maintaining grid reliability

  February 17, 2017
  The performance of the electricity transmission grid depends heavily on the reliability of high voltage (HV) equipment in the system. While the reliability of HV equipment has increased over the last many decades, project developers refrain from connecting a finished product straight from the manufacturing site to the system.

• Transmission Developments in 2016: Round up of major events across the globe

  January 12, 2017
  The year 2016 presented a mixed bag for the global electricity transmission sector. While several policy and regulatory initiatives were undertaken across most continents to facilitate grid expansion and strengthening, mainly to connect new and renewable energies, transmission investments in several countries suffered due to the economic slowdown.

• Microgrids: Enabling access to energy and improved reliability

  December 11, 2016
  There is little doubt about the importance of electricity for the economic and social development of an economy.

• Phase Shifting Transformers: An effective solution to manage power flows

  November 7, 2016
  In the era of power market liberalisation, unscheduled power flows (also known as loop flows) are seen as a major problem by network operators in several regions across the globe.

• Grid-connected Energy Storage: Countries adopting energy storage solutions [free access]

  October 14, 2016
  Given the forecast growth in global renewable energy capacity, energy storage systems (ESS) are expected to play a crucial role in helping grid operators maintain system stability while facilitating the efficient integration of renewables into the networks.

• Smart Substations: A shift towards automation and digitisation

  September 9, 2016
  One of the key innovations in recent times in power system engineering and architecture has been the integration of smart technologies in order to manage the rapid load growth, improve operational efficiencies, reduce technical and commercial losses, and maintain reliability.

• Grid Integration of EVs: New DRSs to maintain grid stability

  August 10, 2016
  Globally, the electric vehicle (EVs) market is expanding significantly, with the increasing focus of countries on reducing their carbon footprints. As per International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates, more than 1 million EVs were on the road in 2015.

• Offshore Wind Farms and Transmission in Europe: Transition to sustainability

  July 14, 2016
  The European Union (EU) has been at the forefront of international efforts to achieve the targets set in the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) global climate deal.

• Integrating Renewables: IT applications for improving grid reliability [free access]

  June 10, 2016
  A renewable energy revolution is being witnessed across the world. In 2014, 28 per cent of Germany's total energy demand was RE-based while in 2013, 42 per cent of energy demand in Spain was renewable-based. As per International Energy Agency's Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report 2015, renewable energy will represent the largest single source of electricity growth over the next five years.

• US' Grid Development: FERC analyses impact of policy changes on investment

  May 10, 2016
  With over two decades of regulatory and structural changes, the United States (US) today has one of most diverse and liberalised electricity industries in the world. There are over 3,200 electric utilities operating in the generation and supply businesses.

• Changing Structure of US Power Market: Stable returns drive M&A deals

  April 6, 2016
  In recent years, the US power market has witnessed a significant rise in mega transactions to help companies reduce business risk and create stable returns.

• US' Clean Power Plan: Supreme Court stays the proposal for now [free access]

  March 10, 2016
  The much hyped and ambitious Clean Power Plan (CPP) announced by United States (US) President Barack Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in August 2015 has been put on hold by a Supreme Court ruling in February 2016.

• SEA Grid Integration Ambitions: Requires strong commitment from all states

  February 3, 2016
  The ASEAN region (constituting 10 Southeast Asian countries) accounts for around 5.7 per cent of the world's total energy production.

• Transmission Developments in 2015: Round up on regulatory and industry activities

  January 11, 2016
  In 2015, there has been some progress on the regulatory front in many countries in streamlining the processes for approval of the electricity transmission projects.

• ENTSO-E's Investment Plans: Focus on energy markets and RES integration

  December 8, 2015
  European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) recently released the six Regional Investment Plans (RegIP2015) along with a list of project candidates for the Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) 2016.