Conflicts around fundamental issues of energy aren’t new; they just underline how difficult a transition can be.

With this statement, Power Ledger’s Co-Founder and Executive Chairman Dr Jemma Green begins a multi-part analysis of the global energy system.

In a thought-provoking series, Dr Green takes an in-depth look at the first energy revolution, the present-day debate over renewables and new concepts, and the path towards a new, distributed grid.

Read the blogs here:

Part I: From muscle power to steam power

Part II: From dispatchable to renewable

Part III: The new grid is surprisingly different from the old grid, so how does it work?

Part IV: Whichever country you are in and however sunny or dark it is, the duck curve is a recurrent problem.

Part V: RECs seemed like the perfect solution for stimulating renewables and transposing ‘greenness,’ but do they create another problem?

Part VI: Consumers are the main beneficiaries when electricity systems work. But how do electricity operators and retailers maintain that stability? And what happens when things start to go wrong?

Part VII: How electricity depends on swaps, caps, collars and futures.

Part VIII: Power Purchase Agreements are now a vital component of a company’s eco-armory. Why PPAs are now necessary to justify green credentials.

Part IX: We know that renewables stress the grid. But a new approach can harness renewables while solving the very problems they’ve created.

Part X: Trouble, trouble oil and bubble, reactor meltdown and price hikes double.

Part XI: How gas and privatization transformed the energy world.

Part XII: How to keep the grid stable as more and more energy from unpredictable renewable sources enters the electricity market.

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