Realizing the Clean Energy Economy Will Require a Case-by-Case Approach

The clean energy economy is imminent—that we know for sure. But the details of how we will transition our current energy landscape to one that successfully operates with net-zero emissions are murky.

This sentiment is reflected in the power industry. Of the nearly 500 industry sector stakeholders surveyed for Black & Veatch’s 2021 Electric Report, 75 percent are directing capital toward clean energy and renewables, although only 10 percent believe the clean generation model has been validated.

When asked what might be slowing decarbonization, those same industry leaders said high cost, technological shortfalls and limitations in transmission infrastructure are the top limiting factors to domestic renewable growth. In a recent article for Triple Pundit, Black & Veatch’s Dr. Ralph Romero explains the intertwined nature of these barriers and the necessity of implementing a range of technological solutions to overcome them.

What makes these barriers so hard to address is, in part, the inability to truly isolate any one of them; a solution cannot be achieved to one unless all are considered. Romero gives the intersection of cost and technological shortfalls as an example: energy storage is needed to supplement renewable intermittency, but many storage technologies are cost prohibitive.

Romero goes on to explain that in order to address these barriers to the clean energy transition, we must reject any “one-size-fits-all” methodology in favor of a case-by-case analysis.

“Each question posed by the transition to clean energy has a unique answer that often involves multiple technologies,” writes Romero in Triple Pundit. “Thus, successful approaches to clean energy solutions should be technology agnostic, and each situation will have its own unique response.”