Rapidly Transforming Energy Sector: Risks, Opportunities in U.S., China, Europe

摘要

Even as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is under way in Paris, the energy sector is undergoing a rapid transformation toward a lower carbon future due to a historic shift in the supply and demand of electricity. The worldwide energy sector is changing from an "old" paradigm characterized by centralized, utility-controlled, large power plants running nearly full time with major transmission lines connecting remote demand areas (where demand was well-correlated to population and economic growth, but difficult to control) to an evolving, more decentralized and dynamic "new" paradigm characterized by flat or declining demand, local power sources, an increasing ability to manipulate demand, reliability challenges from intermittent renewables, and myriad new technologies empowering the customer.