IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - July/August 2018 - 20

guest editorial

Mackay Miller

electrification
its role in deeply decarbonized energy systems

"ElEctrify EvErything" has
become a common slogan, an easy-tounderstand pathway promising a cleaner and more efficient energy system.
indeed, consensus is emerging that dramatic growth in electrification across
transportation, buildings, and even
some industrial uses will be a key strategy for achieving deep decarbonization.
yet while the concept of electrification
is easy to understand, many of the key
power system issues remain underappreciated and unresolved. the full
electrification of transportation, for example, would require massive changes
to grid design and operation, and full
electrification of heat networks in cold
climates would place dramatic new
pressures on wintertime supply and delivery. in a highly electric economy with
significant shares of variable wind and
solar electricity, systemic mismatches
between supply and demand would necessitate vast amounts of storage as well
as entirely new paradigms for capital investment and cost recovery.
the goal of this issue of IEEE Power
& Energy Magazine is to provide a snapshot of state-of-the-art research focused on the role of electricity in deeply
decarbonized energy systems. four of
the articles take a geographic approach
and describe how national or regional
electric sectors might evolve in highly
decarbonized futures. two of the articles explore topics that cut across many
regions: electrification of heat and market design. the final article summarizes
a wide range of recent electrification
simulations and proposes principles for
advancing the quality of analysis.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2018.2824099
Date of publication: 18 June 2018

ieee power & energy magazine

in the first article, researchers from
the fraunhofer institute for solar Energy systems describe pathways to a
nearly carbon dioxide (cO2)-free german
energy system by 2050. the authors
lay out a rigorous simulation approach to evaluate the technical and
economic feasibility of
achieving three possible cO 2 em issions
reductions targets by
2050: 80, 90, and 95%.
in all three futures, the
transformation of nearly
all economic sectors is
required. But large and
sometimes counterintuitive differences also
emerge in meeting these
three decarbonization
targets. By describing
and contrasting these
differences, the authors
help us understand how
a seemingly small difference in emissions targets can have a large
system impact.
in the second article, researchers
from the national renewable Energy
laboratory (nrEl) describe an almost
fully electrified U.s. energy system. summarizing a recently published study, the
authors detail scenarios for high electrification in the United states, with
and without accelerated investment
in energy efficiency and zero-carbon
electricity. the authors explore how
each scenario would impact electricity load shapes, generation capacity
expansion, and cO 2 emissions. the
article also quantifies how much cO2
reduction can be expected from enduse electrification on its own, as well

as when electrification is paired with
energy efficiency, zero-carbon electricity, or both. in this way, the authors
illuminate issues that can help decision
makers identify priorities for costeffective cO2 abatement.
in the third article,
researchers from national grid in the United Kingdom describe
h o w ele ct r i f icat ion
contributes to achieving a deeply decarbonized U.K. economy by
midcentury. Drawing
on their most recent
"future Energy scenarios" report, which has
been published annually since 2011, they lay
out what would need
to happen in three key
energy sectors (heat,
transport, and power)
to achieve the stated
national target of 80%
cO2 reduction by 2050. across heat
and transport, they find rapid growth in
end-use electrification and identify customer adoption as a key barrier to the
pace needed for achieving the targets.
the fourth article compares and contrasts 2030 decarbonization pathways
in two distinct regions of the United
states with similar carbon reduction
goals: california and the seven-state
northeast region. researchers from Energy and Environmental Economics, inc.
(E3), national grid U.s., and siemens
Power technologies international describe what would need to happen in
the two regions to achieve a 40% reduction by 2030. not surprisingly, given the
different climates, renewable resource

While the
concept of
electrification
is easy to
understand,
many of the
key power
system issues
remain underappreciated and
unresolved.

july/august 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - July/August 2018