Higher price of electric cars a concern for more than half of UK consumers

IEA Grid Expansion Warning highlights stalled investment in power lines and transmission infrastructure, risking renewable energy rollout for solar, wind, EVs, and heat pumps, and jeopardizing climate targets under the Paris Agreement amid connection bottlenecks.

Key Points

IEA alert urging grid investment to expand transmission, connect renewables, and keep 1.5 C climate goals on track.

✅ 80 million km of lines needed by 2040, per IEA

✅ Investment must double to $600B annually by 2030

✅ Permitting delays stall major cross-border projects

Stalled spending on electrical grids worldwide is slowing the rollout of renewable energy and could put efforts to limit climate change at risk if millions of miles of power lines are not added or refurbished in the next few years, the International Energy Agency said.

The Paris-based organization said in the report Tuesday that the capacity to connect to and transmit electricity is not keeping pace with the rapid growth of clean energy technologies such as solar and wind power, electric cars and heat pumps being deployed to move away from fossil fuels, a gap reflected in why the U.S. grid isn't 100% renewable today.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told The Associated Press in an interview that there is a long line of renewable projects waiting for the green light to connect to the grid, including UK renewable backlog worth billions. The stalled projects could generate 1,500 gigawatts of power, or five times the amount of solar and wind capacity that was added worldwide last year, he said.

“It’s like you are manufacturing a very efficient, very speedy, very handsome car — but you forget to build the roads for it,” Birol said.

If spending on grids stayed at current levels, the chance of holding the global increase in average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — the goal set by the 2015 Paris climate accords — “is going to be diminished substantially,” he said.

The IEA assessment of electricity grids around the globe found that achieving the climate goals set by the world’s governments would require adding or refurbishing 80 million kilometers (50 million miles) of power lines by 2040 — an amount equal to the existing global grid in less than two decades.

Annual investment has been stagnant but needs to double to more than $600 billion a year by 2030, the agency said, with U.S. grid overhaul efforts aiming to accelerate upgrades.

It’s not uncommon for a single high-voltage overhead power line to take five to 13 years to get approved through bureaucracy in advanced economies, while lead times are significantly shorter in China and India, according to the IEA, though a new federal rule seeks to boost transmission planning.

The report cited the South Link transmission project to carry wind power from northern to southern Germany. First planned in 2014, it was delayed after political opposition to an overhead line meant it was buried instead, while more pylons in Scotland are being urged to keep the lights on, industry says. Completion is expected in 2028 instead of 2022.

Other important projects that have been held up: the 400-kilometer (250-mile) Bay of Biscay connector between Spain and France, now expected for 2028 instead of 2025, and the SunZia high-voltage line to bring wind power from New Mexico to Arizona and California, while Pacific Northwest goals are hindered by grid limits. Construction started only last month after years of delays.

On the East Coast, the Avangrid line to bring hydropower from Canada to New England was interrupted in 2021 following a referendum in Maine, as New England's solar growth is also creating tension over who pays for grid upgrades. A court overturned the statewide vote rejecting the project in April.

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US Renewable Energy Transition is the shift from fossil fuels to wind, solar, and nuclear, targeting net-zero emissions via grid modernization, battery storage, and new transmission to replace legacy plants and meet rising electrification.

Key Points

The move to decarbonize electricity by scaling wind, solar, and nuclear with storage and transmission upgrades.

✅ Falling LCOE makes wind and solar competitive with gas and coal.

✅ 4-hour lithium-ion storage shifts solar to evening peak demand.

✅ New high-voltage transmission links resource-rich regions to load.

Generating electricity to power homes and businesses is a significant contributor to climate change. In the United States, one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions come from electricity production, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Solar panels and wind farms can generate electricity without releasing any greenhouse gas emissions, and recent research suggests wind and solar could meet about 80% of U.S. demand with supportive infrastructure. Nuclear power plants can too, although today’s plants generate long-lasting radioactive waste, which has no permanent storage repository.

But the U.S. electrical sector is still dependent on fossil fuels. In 2021, 61 percent of electricity generation came from burning coal, natural gas, or petroleum. Only 20 percent of the electricity in the U.S. came from renewables, mostly wind energy, hydropower and solar energy, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and in 2022 renewable electricity surpassed coal nationwide as portfolios shifted. Another 19 percent came from nuclear power.

The contribution from renewables has been increasing steadily since the 1990s, and the rate of increase has accelerated, with renewables projected to reach one-fourth of U.S. generation in the near term. For example, wind power provided only 2.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 1990, doubling to 5.6 billion in 2000. But from there, it skyrocketed, growing to 94.6 billion in 2010 and 379.8 billion in 2021.

That’s progress, as the U.S. moves toward 30% electricity from wind and solar this decade, but it’s not happening fast enough to eliminate the worst effects of climate change for our descendants.

“We need to eliminate global emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050,” philanthropist and technologist Bill Gates wrote in his 2023 annual letter. “Extreme weather is already causing more suffering, and if we don’t get to net-zero emissions, our grandchildren will grow up in a world that is dramatically worse off.”

And the problem is actually bigger than it looks, even as pathways to zero-emissions electricity by 2035 are being developed.

“We need not just to create as much electricity as we have now, but three times as much,” says Saul Griffith, an entrepreneur who’s sold companies to Google and Autodesk and has written books on mass electrification. To get to zero emissions, all the cars and heating systems and stoves will have to be powered with electricity, said Griffith. Electricity is not necessarily clean, but at least it it can be, unlike gas-powered stoves or gasoline-powered cars.

The technology to generate electricity with wind and solar has existed for decades. So why isn’t the electric grid already 100% powered by renewables? And what will it take to get there?

First of all, renewables have only recently become cost-competitive with fossil fuels for generating electricity. Even then, prices depend on the location, Paul Denholm of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory told CNBC.

In California and Arizona, where there is a lot of sun, solar energy is often the cheapest option, whereas in places like Maine, solar is just on the edge of being the cheapest energy source, Denholm said. In places with lots of wind like North Dakota, wind power is cost-competitive with fossil fuels, but in the Southeast, it’s still a close call.

Then there’s the cost of transitioning the current power generation infrastructure, which was built around burning fossil fuels, and policymakers are weighing ways to meet U.S. decarbonization goals as they plan grid investments.

“You’ve got an existing power plant, it’s paid off. Now you need renewables to be cheaper than running that plant to actually retire an old plant,” Denholm explained. “You need new renewables to be cheaper just in the variable costs, or the operating cost of that power plant.”

There are some places where that is true, but it’s not universally so.

“Primarily, it just takes a long time to turn over the capital stock of a multitrillion-dollar industry,” Denholm said. “We just have a huge amount of legacy equipment out there. And it just takes awhile for that all to be turned over.”

Intermittency and transmission
One of the biggest barriers to a 100% renewable grid is the intermittency of many renewable power sources, the dirty secret of clean energy that planners must manage. The wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine — and the windiest and sunniest places are not close to all the country’s major population centers.

Wind resources in the United States, according to the the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Wind resources in the United States, according to the the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy.
The solution is a combination of batteries to store excess power for times when generation is low, and transmission lines to take the power where it is needed.

Long-duration batteries are under development, but Denholm said a lot of progress can be made simply with utility-scale batteries that store energy for a few hours.

“One of the biggest problems right now is shifting a little bit of solar energy, for instance, from say, 11 a.m. and noon to the peak demand at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. So you really only need a few hours of batteries,” Denholm told CNBC. “You can actually meet that with conventional lithium ion batteries. This is very close to the type of batteries that are being put in cars today. You can go really far with that.”

So far, battery usage has been low because wind and solar are primarily used to buffer the grid when energy sources are low, rather than as a primary source. For the first 20% to 40% of the electricity in a region to come from wind and solar, battery storage is not needed, Denholm said. When renewable penetration starts reaching closer to 50%, then battery storage becomes necessary. And building and deploying all those batteries will take time and money.
 

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Grid-eMotion Fleet Smart Charging enables BVG Berlin to electrify bus depots with compact grid-to-plug DC infrastructure, smart charging software, and high reliability, accelerating zero-emission electric buses, lower noise, and space-efficient e-mobility.

Key Points

Grid-to-plug DC charging for bus depots, with smart software to reliably power zero-emission electric bus fleets.

✅ Up to 60% less space and 40% less cabling than alternatives

✅ DC charging with smart scheduling for depot operations

✅ Scalable, grid-code compliant, low-noise, high reliability

Grid-eMotion Fleet smart charging solution to help the City of Berlin reach its goal of a zero-emission bus fleet by 2030

Dubai, UAE: Hitachi Energy has won an order from Berliner Verkehrsbe-triebe (BVG), Germany’s biggest municipal public transportation company, to supply its Grid-eMotionTM Fleet smart charging infrastructure to help BVG transition to sustainable mobility in Berlin, the country’s capital, where an electric flying ferry initiative underscores the city’s e-mobility momentum.

Hitachi Energy will provide a complete Grid-eMotion Fleet grid-to-plug charging infrastructure solution for the next two bus depots to be converted in the bus electrification program. Hitachi Energy’s solution offers the smallest footprint for both the connection, as well as low noise emissions and high reliability that support grid stability across operations – three key requirements for bus depots in a densely populated urban environment, where space is limited and flawless charging is vital to ensure buses run on time.

The solution comprises a connection to the distribution grid, where effective grid coordination streamlines integration, power distribution and DC charging infrastructure with charging points and smart charging systems. Hitachi Energy will perform the engineering and integrate, install and service the entire solution. The solution has a compact and robust design that requires less equipment than competing infrastructure, which results in a small footprint, lower operating and maintenance costs, and higher reliability. Typically, Grid-eMotion Fleet requires 60 percent less space and 40 percent less cabling than alternative charging systems; it also provides superior overall system reliability.

“We are delighted to help the City of Berlin in its transition to quiet and emission-free transportation and a sustainable energy future for the people of this iconic capital,” said Niklas Persson, Managing Director of Hitachi Energy’s Grid Integration business. “We feel the urgency and have the pioneering technology and commitment to advance sustainable mobility, thus improving the quality of life of millions of people.”

BVG operates Germany’s biggest city bus fleet of around 1,500 vehicles, which it aims to make completely electric and emission-free by 2030, and could benefit from vehicle-to-grid pilots to enhance flexibility. This requires the installation of charging infra-structure in its large network of bus depots.

About Grid-eMotion:

Grid-eMotion comprises two unique, innovative solutions – Fleet and Flash. Grid-eMotion Fleet is a grid-code compliant and space-saving grid-to-plug charging solution that can be in-stalled in new and existing bus depots. The charging solution can be scaled flexibly as the fleet gets bigger and greener. It includes a robust and compact grid connection and charging points, and is also available for commercial vehicle fleets, including last-mile delivery and heavy-duty trucks, as electric truck fleets scale up, requiring high power charging of several megawatts. Grid-eMotionTM Flash enables operators to flash-charge buses within seconds at passenger stops and fully recharge within minutes at the route terminus, without interrupting the bus schedule.

Both solutions are equipped with configurable smart charging digital platforms that can be em-bedded with larger fleet and energy management systems, enabling vehicle-to-grid capabilities for bidirectional charging. Additional offerings from Hitachi Energy for EV charging systems consist of e-meshTM energy management and optimization solutions and Lumada APM, EAM and FSM solutions, to help transportation operators make informed decisions that maximize their uptime and improve efficiency.

In the past few months alone, Hitachi Energy has won orders from customers and partners all over the world for its smart charging portfolio – a sign that Grid-eMotion is changing the e-mobility landscape for electric buses and commercial vehicles, as advances in energy storage and mobile charging bolster resilience. Grid-eMotion solutions are al-ready operating or under development in Australia, Canada, China, India, the Middle East, the United States and several countries in Europe.

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Shanghai Electric PEM Hydrogen R&D Center advances green hydrogen via PEM electrolysis, modular megawatt electrolyzers, zero carbon production, and full-chain industrial applications, accelerating decarbonization, clean energy integration, and hydrogen economy scale-up across China.

Key Points

A joint R&D hub advancing PEM electrolysis, modular megawatt systems, and green hydrogen industrialization.

✅ Megawatt modular PEM electrolyzer design and system integration

✅ Zero-carbon hydrogen targeting mobility, chemicals, and power

✅ Full-chain collaboration from R&D to EPC and demonstration projects

Shanghai Electric has reached an agreement with the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (the "Dalian Institute") to inaugurate the Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Hydrogen Production Technology R&D Center on March 4. The two parties signed a project cooperation agreement on Megawatt Modular and High-Efficiency PEM Hydrogen Production Equipment and System Development, marking an important step forward for Shanghai Electric in the field of hydrogen energy.

As one of China's largest energy equipment manufacturers, Shanghai Electric is at the forefront in the development of green hydrogen as part of China's clean energy drive. During this year's Two Sessions, the 14th Five-Year Plan was actively discussed, in which green hydrogen features prominently, and Shell's 2060 electricity forecast underscores the scale of electrification. With strong government support and widespread industry interest, 2021 is emerging as Year Zero for the hydrogen energy industry.

Currently, Shanghai Electric and the Dalian Institute have reached a preliminary agreement on the industrial development path for new energy power generation and electrolyzed water hydrogen production. As part of the cooperation, both will also continue to enhance the transformational potential of PEM electrolyzed water hydrogen production, accelerate the development of competitive PEM electrolyzed hydrogen products, and promote industrial applications and scenarios, drawing on projects like Japan's large H2 energy system to inform deployment. Moreover, they will continue to carry out in-depth cooperation across the entire hydrogen energy industry chain to accelerate overall industrialization.

Hydrogen energy boasts the biggest potential of all the current forms of clean energy, and the key to its development lies in its production. At present, hydrogen production primarily stems from fossil fuels, industrial by-product hydrogen recovery and purification, and production by water electrolysis. These processes result in significant carbon emissions. The rapid development of PEM water electrolysis equipment worldwide in recent years has enabled current technologies to achieve zero carbon emissions, effectively realizing green, clean hydrogen. This breakthrough will be instrumental in helping China achieve its carbon peak and carbon-neutrality goals.

The market potential for hydrogen production from electrolyzed water is therefore massive. Forecasts indicate that, by 2050, hydrogen energy will account for approximately 10% of China's energy market, with demand reaching 60 million tons and annual output value exceeding RMB 10 trillion. The Hydrogen: Tracking Energy Integration report released by the International Energy Agency in June 2020 notes that the number of global electrolysis hydrogen production projects and installed capacity have both increased significantly, with output skyrocketing from 1 MW in 2010 to more than 25 MW in 2019. Much of the excitement comes from hydrogen's potential to join the ranks of natural gas as an energy resource that plays a pivotal role in international trade, as seen in Germany's call for hydrogen-ready power plants shaping future power systems, with the possibility of even replacing it one day. In PwC's 2020 The Dawn of Green Hydrogen report, the advisory predicts that experimental hydrogen will reach 530 million tons by mid-century.

Shanghai Electric set its focus on hydrogen energy years ago, given its major potential for growth as one of the new energy technologies of the future and, in particular, its ability to power new energy vehicles. In 2016, the Central Research Institute of Shanghai Electric began to invest in R&D for key fuel cell systems and stack technologies. In 2020, Shanghai Electric's independently-developed fuel cell engine, which boasts a power capacity of 66 kW and can start in cold temperature environments of as low as -30°C, passed the inspection test of the National Motor Vehicle Product Quality Inspection Center. It adopts Shanghai Electric's proprietary hydrogen circulation system, which delivers strong power and impressive endurance, with the potential to replace gasoline and diesel engines in commercial vehicles.

As the technology matures, hydrogen has entered a stage of accelerated industrialization, with international moves such as Egypt's hydrogen MoU with Eni signaling broader momentum. Shanghai Electric is leveraging the opportunities to propel its development and the green energy transformation. As part of these efforts, Shanghai Electric established a Hydrogen Energy Division in 2020 to further accelerate the development and bring about a new era of green, clean energy.

As one of the largest energy equipment manufacturing companies in China, Shanghai Electric, with its capability for project development, marketing, investment and financing and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), continues to accelerate the development and innovation of new energy. The Company has a synergistic foundation and resource advantages across the industrial chain from upstream power generation, including China's nuclear energy development efforts, to downstream chemical metallurgy. The combined elements will accelerate the pace of Shanghai Electric's entry into the field of hydrogen production.

Currently, Shanghai Electric has deployed a number of leading green hydrogen integrated energy industry demonstration projects in Ningdong Base, one of China's four modern coal chemical industry demonstration zones. Among them, the Ningdong Energy Base "source-grid-load-storage-hydrogen" project integrates renewable energy generation, energy storage, hydrogen production from electrolysis, and the entire industrial chain of green chemical/metallurgy, where applications like green steel production in Germany illustrate heavy-industry decarbonization.

In December 2020, Shanghai Electric inked a cooperation agreement to develop a "source-grid-load-storage-hydrogen" energy project in Otog Front Banner, Inner Mongolia. Equipped with large-scale electrochemical energy storage and technologies such as compressed air energy storage options, the project will build a massive new energy power generation base and help the region to achieve efficient cold, heat, electricity, steam and hydrogen energy supply.

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Inflation Reduction Act Clean Energy drives EV adoption and renewable power, but grid interconnection, permitting, and supply chain bottlenecks slow wind, solar, and offshore projects, risking emissions targets despite domestic manufacturing growth and tax incentives.

Key Points

An IRA push to scale EVs and renewables, meeting EV goals but lagging wind and solar amid grid and permitting delays.

✅ EV sales up 50%, 9.2% of 2023 new cars; growth may moderate.

✅ 32.3 GW added, below 46-79 GW/year needed for climate targets.

✅ Grid, permitting, and supply chain delays bottleneck wind and solar.

A year and a half following President Biden's enactment of an ambitious climate change bill, the landscape of the United States' clean energy transition, shaped by 2021 electricity lessons, presents a mix of successes and challenges. A recent study by a consortium of research organizations highlights that while electric vehicle (EV) sales have surged, aligning with the law's projections, the expansion of renewable energy sources like wind and solar has encountered significant hurdles.

The legislation, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, aimed for a dual thrust in America's climate strategy: boosting EV adoption, alongside EPA emission limits, and significantly increasing the generation of electricity from renewable resources. The Act, passed in 2022, was anticipated to propel the United States toward reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 40 percent from 2005 levels by the end of this decade, backed by extensive financial incentives for clean energy advancements.

Electric vehicle sales have indeed seen a remarkable uptick, with a more than 50 percent increase over the past year, as EV sales surge into 2024 across the market, culminating in EVs comprising 9.2 percent of all new car sales in the United States in 2023. This growth trajectory met the upper range of analysts' predictions post-law enactment, signaling a strong start toward achieving the Act's emission reduction targets.

However, the EV market faces uncertainties regarding the sustainability of this rapid growth. The initial surge in sales was largely driven by early adopters, and the market now confronts challenges such as high prices and limited charging infrastructure, while EVs still trail gas cars in overall market share. Despite these concerns, projections suggest that even a slowdown to 30-40 percent growth in EV sales for 2024 would align with the law's emission goals.

The renewable energy sector's progress is less straightforward. Despite achieving a record addition of 32.3 gigawatts of clean electricity capacity in the past year, the pace falls short of the projected 46 to 79 gigawatts needed annually to meet the United States' climate objectives. While there is potential for about 60 gigawatts of projects in the pipeline for this year, not all are expected to materialize on schedule, indicating a lag in the deployment of new renewable energy sources.

Logistical challenges are a significant barrier to scaling up renewable energy, especially as EV-driven electricity demand rises in the coming years. Lengthy grid connection processes, permitting delays, and local opposition hinder wind and solar project developments. Moreover, ambitious plans for offshore wind farms are hampered by supply chain issues and regulatory constraints.

To achieve the Inflation Reduction Act's ambitious targets, the United States needs to add 70 to 126 gigawatts of renewable capacity annually from 2025 to 2030—a formidable task given the current logistical and regulatory bottlenecks. The analysis underscores the urgency of addressing these non-cost barriers to unlock the full potential of the law's clean energy and emissions reduction ambitions.

In addition to promoting clean energy generation and EV adoption, the Inflation Reduction Act has spurred domestic manufacturing of clean energy technologies. With $44 billion invested in U.S. clean-energy manufacturing last year, this aspect of the law has seen considerable success, and permanent clean energy tax credits are being debated to sustain momentum, demonstrating the Act's capacity to drive economic and industrial transformation.

The law's impact extends to emerging clean energy technologies, offering tax incentives for advanced nuclear reactors, renewable hydrogen production, and carbon capture and storage projects. While these initiatives hold promise for further emissions reductions, their development and deployment are still in the early stages, with tangible outcomes expected in the longer term.

While the Inflation Reduction Act has catalyzed significant strides in certain areas of the United States' clean energy transition, including an EV inflection point in adoption trends, it faces substantial hurdles in fully realizing its objectives. Overcoming logistical, regulatory, and market challenges will be crucial for the nation to stay on course toward its ambitious climate goals, underscoring the need for continued innovation, investment, and policy refinement in the journey toward a sustainable energy future.

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GM Canada-Unifor EV Deal outlines a $1B plan to transform the CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, building BrightDrop EV600 delivery vans, boosting EV manufacturing, creating jobs, and securing future production with government-backed investment.

Key Points

A tentative $1B deal to retool CAMI for BrightDrop EV600 production, creating jobs and securing Canada's EV manufacturing.

✅ $1B to transform CAMI, Ingersoll, for BrightDrop EV600 vans

✅ Ratification vote set; Unifor Local 88 to review details

✅ Supports EV manufacturing, delivery logistics, and new jobs

GM Canada says it has reached a tentative deal with Unifor that if ratified will see it invest $1 billion to transform its CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ont., to make commercial electric vehicles, aligning with GM's EV hiring plans across North America.

Unifor National President Jerry Dias says along with the significant investment the agreement will mean new products, new jobs amid Ontario's EV jobs boom and job security for workers.

Dias says in a statement that more details of the tentative deal will be presented to Unifor Local 88 members at an online ratification meeting scheduled for Sunday.

He says the results of the ratification vote are scheduled to be released on Monday.

Details of the agreement were not released Friday night.

A GM spokeswoman says in a statement that the plan is to build BrightDrop EV 600s -- an all-new GM business announced this week at the Consumer Electronics Show and part of EV assembly deals that put Canada in the race -- that will offer a cleaner way for delivery and logistics companies to move goods more efficiently.

Unifor said the contract, if ratified, will bring total investment negotiated by the union to nearly $6 billion after new agreements were ratified with General Motors, Ford, including Ford EV production plans, and Fiat Chrysler in 2020 that included support from the federal and Ontario governments, and parallel investments such as a Niagara Region battery plant bolstering the supply chain.

It said the Ford deal reached in September included $1.95 billion to bring battery electric vehicle production to Oakville via the Oakville EV deal and a new engine derivative to Windsor and the Fiat Chrysler agreement included more than $1.5 billion to build plug-in hybrid vehicles and battery electric vehicles.

Unifor said in November, General Motors agreed to a $1.3 billion dollar investment to bring 1,700 jobs to Oshawa, as Honda's Ontario battery investment signals wider sector momentum, plus more than $109 million to in-source new transmission work for the Corvette and support continued V8 engine production in St. Catharines.

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