The Electric Enigma: Where Light Particles Dance with Philosophy in the Age Beyond Carbon
Key Insights
The planet bakes while three-quarters of it lies behind a curtain of undrinkable seas and unused sunlight. Yet 750 million people still sleep in the half-dark, even as our machines learn to laugh, love and drain the very power we deny ourselves. The real issue is no longer technical but moral: will the next kilowatt illuminate human homes or humming data halls? If we embrace wind, sun and storage—a water-sparing trinity—we postpone the epilogue and write a prologue of hope. Freedom now crackles in the wires; the door is ajar. Either we step through and flood the night with our own light, or leave the future to wonder why we vanished.
Not a Single Penny Has Found Its Way into Our Piggy Bank in 2025
“Quarter of a million eyes have now landed on our work at Energy Central—a milestone that still feels electric. I can still see Matt Chester’s message popping up: “Fancy sharing your piece on our platform?” One word—absolutely—set the spark. Today, that spark has become a blazing beacon. Cheers, Matt, for opening the door; here’s to the next 250 k…
Under the clear-eyed wisdom of Aristotle—who in Nicomachean Ethics celebrated generosity as the art of giving just the right amount, to the right cause, at the perfect moment—we declare with steadfast resolve: throughout all of 2025, not one penny of support has graced our coffers.
In a world swirling with restless shadows—where every headline quivers beneath veiled agendas—a steadfast beacon still shines: independent analysis. We do more than relay facts; we wrestle truth from the chaos, charting the hidden crossroads where geopolitics and energy entwine. Our pens are honed by passion; our screens blaze with relentless inquiry.
Yet even the fiercest flame flickers without fresh breath. Inflation’s chill creeps into every crevice. Platforms surge and crash like wild tides. Every article, every map, every piercing insight must battle through the noise to reach the minds that hunger for clarity. We wield licensed tools, striking visuals, and elite research—but even the mightiest arsenal can’t hold the line alone.
This is our rallying cry to you:
Hoist our banner—like, repost, share on X, LinkedIn, or Energy Central: it costs nothing but echoes through halls of influence.
Lend your strength—if you can, please fuel the mission that keeps democracy honest and our energy future bright:
PayPal: gjmtoroghio@germantoroghio.com
IBAN: SE18 3000 0000 0058 0511 2611
Swish: 076 423 90 79
Stripe: [Donation Link]
Every gift, no matter the size, fans the spark of independent thought into a roaring blaze. You’re not just donating—you’re empowering a truth-seeker in a world starved for clarity.
Remember, your donations are tax-deductible. Please check with your tax advisor for details.
Join us. Keep the flame burning. Light the way forward—in these darkening times, your support is the beacon guiding us all.
All rights are preserved to German & Co.
Germán & Co, Karlstad, Sweden | August 6, 2025________________________________________
1) Prologue — Thirst, Circuits and Other Upside-Down Dreams
(with literary license from Sartre, Cortázar, and a hearty “chucha la huevada” from Chile)
Here we stand on a planet slowly roasting under the sun, cast adrift without an instruction manual: three-quarters of it sheathed in undrinkable salt water, oceans of photons we barely tap. Yet, seven hundred and fifty million people still fall asleep each night in primitive half-darkness. The right to electricity and water glimmers before us like the sliver of light beneath a locked door: we know a gentle push would open it, yet we freeze, fearing what lies beyond.
Meanwhile our engineers are schooling machines that already write poems, swap smiley faces and—so we're told—manage to fall in love through binary protocols. Is the energy we squabble over destined for them rather than for us? When the last human lamp goes out, will servers continue crackling inside vast concrete citadels—cold, hydrated—wondering why laughter no longer echoes down their corridors?
Cortázar might have called it another “night face up”: we dream of soaring towards bright cities, only to wake among darkened trees while the gods—be they fossil lobbies, greed or mere indifference—sharpen their spears. In the modern version of the myth, the fortunate queue at Cape Canaveral, hoping that one Tuesday Musk’s arrow will fly to Mars with provisions… and a one-way ticket.
Blimey, what a mad world we live in, a Chilean might exclaim at the paradox: sprawling solar farms capable of powering desalination plants to quench desert thirst—yet stranded by politics, pettiness or plain bureaucracy. We risk delivering water and volts to robotic heads that, in our absence, will only pine for the hands that fashioned them.
The question, then, stops being technical and becomes ontological: for whom shall we light the future? Equipping grids with virtual inertia, batteries and millisecond markets is not merely a matter of cost; it is a declaration of love—or abandonment—towards the human condition. If we chose wind, sun and storage—an almost water-free triad—we would buy time, salvage hope, and turn the half-light into a prologue, not an epilogue.
Sartre’s radical freedom crackles here among cables and pipes, waiting for our choice. We can keep dreaming face-up while the gods close in, or open the door and let the light—our light, not the machines’—wash over the desert and the night.
________________________________________
2) When the lights went out: Spain's existential grid moment
28 April 2025 began like any other spring day on the Iberian Peninsula. Solar panels gleamed across Andalusian hillsides, generating 18,068 MW of clean electricity—53% of the peninsula's power. Then, at 12:33 PM, existence met absurdity in a cascade of electrons suddenly absent. Within five seconds, 15 GW of generation vanished, demand plummeted from nearly 27,000 MW to under 13,000 MW, and an entire energy system faced the brutal reality of physical laws.
Spain's blackout was not merely a technical failure but a philosophical awakening. The grid had become too clean, too fast, too divorced from the spinning turbines that once provided electrical inertia through sheer mechanical mass. Inverter-based solar systems, for all their elegance, lack the kinetic energy reserves that synchronous generators naturally provide. When disturbances hit, electrons change direction with digital precision but without the cushioning momentum of steel rotors spinning at 3,000 revolutions per minute.
This is the Rate of Change of Frequency (RoCoF) paradox—the cleaner our grid becomes, the more violently it responds to disruption. Modern power systems can experience frequency changes of 2-5 Hz per second, compared to 0.5 Hz per second in traditional grids. Protection systems, designed for gentler slopes, trigger cascading disconnections as they interpret rapid frequency changes as system threats.
The Spain incident represents a broader existential tension in grid management. Virtual inertia technologies can now replicate the stabilizing effects of spinning mass, with advanced battery systems demonstrating 49% improvements in frequency response and 36% reductions in RoCoF events. Yet deploying these solutions requires admitting that progress creates new vulnerabilities even as it solves old problems.
1: Grid Inertia Requirements vs. Available Resources (2025)
Region Min. Inertia Req. (GVA·s) | Current Synthetic (GVA·s) | Gap | Timeline
UK National Grid 140 → 102 | 36 | -66 | 2026
ERCOT Texas 100-120 | 45 | -55 | 2027
ENTSO-E 450-500 180 -270 2028 | PJM 200-250 | 85 | -115 | 2029
________________________________________
3) The great electrification: progress and its discontents
While engineers grapple with frequency response markets and synthetic inertia, nearly 750 million humans still inhabit pre-electric darkness. The International Energy Agency reports that 92% of humanity now enjoys electricity access—a remarkable achievement—yet the remaining 8% face a profound form of technological alienation. These are not merely statistics but lives unfolding without the electromagnetic foundation of modern existence.
Sub-Saharan Africa bears the heaviest burden, with 565-600 million people—85% of the global access deficit—living beyond the electric grid's embrace. Even more paradoxically, 447 million people don't use electricity despite official electrification status, revealing the gap between connection and genuine access. Rwanda offers hope with its transformation from 6% electricity access in 2009 to 75% in 2024, demonstrating that political will and smart policy can transcend geographical constraints.
The off-grid revolution presents its own philosophical puzzles. Solar home systems served 20 million additional people in 2024, bringing the cumulative total to 138 million who have bypassed centralized grids entirely. This distributed energy democracy challenges traditional utility monopolies while creating new forms of technological dependence. East Africa leads with 6.6 million new solar kit sales, yet West Africa saw a 33% decline due to currency pressures and inflation—proving that even photons remain subject to economic gravity.
Mini-grids require an estimated investment of $50 billion annually to achieve universal access by 2030, yet current funding barely reaches $3 billion. The irony is palpable: humanity possesses the technical knowledge to electrify the world while lacking the financial imagination to make it happen.
________________________________________
4) The economics of electrons: when markets meet molecules
Energy costs in 2025 tell a story of technological triumph shadowed by political paralysis. Solar photovoltaics now average $58 per MWh without subsidies, while onshore wind ranges from $37 to $86 per MWh. These represent the lowest costs in human history for harnessing renewable energy, making them cheaper than fossil alternatives in 91% of new installations globally.
Yet this cost revolution coexists with persistent market failures. Nuclear power costs $141-220 per MWh, with Small Modular Reactors proving even more expensive than anticipated. NuScale's pioneering SMR project collapsed after costs soared from $58 to $89 per MWh—a 53% increase that vaporized Utah's nuclear ambitions. The nuclear renaissance faces a cruel irony: as climate urgency intensifies, atomic energy becomes economically uncompetitive with renewables plus storage.
Battery storage costs plummeted to $104 per MWh in 2024, down 33% in a single year, with projections reaching $53 per MWh by 2035. This represents a 93% cost decline since 2010, enabling grid-scale deployments that would have seemed fantastical a decade ago. Global battery deployment reached 205 GWh in 2024—a 53% increase that signals the dawn of the storage age.
2) Levelized Cost Evolution 2020-2025 ($/MWh)
Technology 2020 2022 2024 2025 % Change
Utility Solar PV 58 52 60 58 ±0%
Onshore Wind 52 45 56 62 +19%
Gas Combined Cycle 45 42 52 79 +76%
Battery Storage 188 132 104 93 -51%
Nuclear 163 167 181 181 +11%
The numbers reveal a fundamental reshaping of energy economics. Gas plants face volatile fuel costs that have nearly doubled their lifetime expenses, while renewables enjoy virtually zero marginal costs once installed. This creates the negative pricing paradox—wholesale electricity prices went negative for 8% of hours in Finland and 15% in Southern California during 2024, signalling oversupply of clean energy that markets struggle to value properly.
________________________________________
5) Climate physics: when thermodynamics becomes theology
The year 2024 carved itself into climate history with existential precision. Global temperatures reached 1.54-1.60°C above pre-industrial levels—the first year to exceed the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C guardrail. On July 22, Earth's daily average temperature hit 17.16°C, a record that would have been unthinkable just decades ago. More ominously, atmospheric CO2 increased by 3.75 parts per million—the largest single-year jump ever recorded—reaching 422.8 ppm globally.
These numbers carry theological weight for the electricity sector. With only 130 billion tonnes of CO2 budget remaining for 1.5°C stabilization, humanity has roughly three to six years of current emissions before crossing into uncharted climate territory. The carbon budget functions like a cosmic credit limit, and we're rapidly approaching insolvency.
The water-energy nexus intensifies these pressures. Thermal power plants consume 1,900-4,540 liters per MWh for closed-cycle cooling, while once-through systems withdraw 75,710-189,270 liters per MWh. As droughts become more severe—Pacific Northwest hydropower fell 23% below average in 2024—the electricity sector confronts its fundamental dependence on water cycles increasingly disrupted by the very emissions it generates.
3) Climate Tipping Points and Energy System Implications
Tipping Element Current Status Energy Impact Timeline
- Atlantic Ocean Circulation: "On route" to collapse
- European cooling demand: +40% by 2030-2080
- Arctic Sea Ice: Record December 2024 low
- Shipping route changes: 2030-2050
- Amazon Rainforest: Approaching dieback
- Carbon sink to source: 2040-2070
- Greenland Ice Sheet: Accelerating melt
- Sea level rise affecting coastal plants: 2050-2200
Paradoxically, renewable energy itself approaches positive tipping points. Solar deployment now doubles every 1-2 years in many regions, with exponential growth curves that appear "unstoppable" according to the International Energy Agency. Electric vehicles captured 15% of global vehicle sales in 2024, with ranges tripling over the past decade. These positive feedbacks suggest technological lock-in toward clean energy systems, even as political resistance intensifies.
________________________________________
6) Markets in motion: when capital discovers consciousness
The year 2024 witnessed an extraordinary awakening of financial consciousness around electricity systems. Utility stocks delivered 27% returns—their best performance since 2000—as investors discovered that artificial intelligence and data centers would drive electricity demand growth from historical 1-2% annually to 6-8% over the next decade. Vistra Corporation surged 252% as markets finally grasped that grid-scale battery storage represents the new electricity infrastructure.
Global energy investment exceeded $3 trillion for the first time in human history, with $2.1 trillion flowing to clean energy technologies. This represents humanity's largest coordinated investment in any technology transformation, yet it's still only 37% of the $5.6 trillion annually required for net-zero by 2050. The gap between what's needed and what's happening reveals the tragic disconnect between financial capability and collective will.
Pension funds increasingly recognize electricity infrastructure as essential portfolio elements. Nearly 97% of UK institutional investors increased renewable energy allocations, while major funds like CalPERS and CPP now dedicate specific allocations to climate infrastructure. The transition from fossil fuel assets to renewable infrastructure represents the largest wealth transfer in human history—from extractive industries to generative technologies.
Carbon pricing revenues exceeded $100 billion globally in 2024, with 80 active carbon pricing instruments covering 28% of global emissions. The European Union's Emissions Trading System generated €43.6 billion, while California's carbon prices averaged $42 per metric ton. Yet less than 1% of global emissions face prices high enough to drive rapid decarbonization, revealing the political economy's failure to price existential risk appropriately.
________________________________________
7) Policy paradoxes: when technocracy meets democracy
The electricity sector's policy landscape in 2025 resembles a Kafkaesque bureaucracy—simultaneously rational and absurd. Fast frequency response markets successfully incentivized battery deployment, with storage systems capturing 87% of ancillary service revenues in Texas. Yet interconnection queues contain 2,600 GW of proposed projects—eight times more capacity than exists today—waiting an average of four years for grid connection approvals.
FERC Order 2023 attempted to address interconnection delays through deposit requirements and withdrawal penalties, yet regional grid operators like PJM suspended new request reviews until 2025. The result is a policy paralysis where regulatory solutions create new bottlenecks faster than they resolve existing ones.
Demand response programs offer similar contradictions. The International Energy Agency's Net Zero Scenario requires 500 GW of demand response capacity by 2030—a tenfold increase from current levels—yet deployment lags dramatically behind requirements. FERC Order 2222 enables distributed energy aggregation but won't achieve full implementation until 2026-2030 across various grid regions.
The European Union's electricity market reforms represent the most ambitious attempt at systemic change. The Market Design Directive maintains marginal pricing while introducing two-way contracts for difference and mandatory long-term contracting for publicly funded renewable projects. Yet implementation depends on national transposition by January 2025, creating regulatory fragmentation across member states.
4) Policy Implementation Scorecard (2024-2025)
Policy Area Success Scores and Key Achievements:
- Carbon Pricing: 7/10, over €100B revenue, coverage under 30% of emissions.
- Interconnection: 3/10, FERC Order 2023, 2,600 GW queue backlog.
- Storage Markets: 8/10, 205 GWh deployed.
- Rural deployment lag.
- Frequency Response: 9/10, battery dominance.
- Limited geographic scope.
- Demand Response: 4/10, progress with Order 2222, 10x gap compared to NZ scenario.
________________________________________
8) Cultural currents: when electrons meet emotions
Beneath technical specifications and policy frameworks flows a deeper cultural current that shapes electricity futures more powerfully than engineering analysis. Republican support for solar panels declined from 84% to 64% between 2020 and 2024, while wind support dropped from 75% to 56%. These numbers reveal how partisan polarization increasingly defines energy technology acceptance, transcending rational cost-benefit calculations.
The populist backlash against technocratic energy policy reflects deeper tensions about democratic participation versus expert authority. Anti-net zero populism combines legitimate grievances about top-down policy imposition with alternative technical expertise that challenges mainstream climate science. Right-wing populists exploit the reality that carbon pricing often impacts working-class communities most directly, while clean energy benefits accrue disproportionately to affluent early adopters.
Energy justice movements respond by advocating for community ownership and democratic control over electricity infrastructure. Community choice aggregation programs now serve millions of Americans, while municipal utilities offer alternatives to investor-owned monopolies. These efforts recognize that electricity systems embody power relationships—both literal and metaphorical—that require democratic legitimacy to sustain long-term transitions.
The narrative dimension proves crucial for public acceptance. Stories about energy independence resonate more powerfully than technical arguments about grid stability. Local job creation narratives overcome abstract climate benefits. Cultural meanings attributed to energy technologies—from solar panels as symbols of self-reliance to wind turbines as landscape intrusions—shape policy outcomes more decisively than economic analysis.
Research reveals that 54% of Americans qualify as energy-burdened, spending excessive portions of income on electricity. Fixed charges disproportionately impact low-income households, while disadvantaged communities face pollution burdens from legacy energy infrastructure. These inequities fuel resistance to transitions perceived as benefiting affluent environmentalists while imposing costs on vulnerable populations.
________________________________________
9) Philosophical foundations: authenticity in the age of algorithms
The electricity sector's transformation raises profound questions about human agency in technological systems. Are we freely choosing renewable energy futures, or does technological determinism drive transitions according to cost curves and physical laws? Sartre's analysis of authentic existence becomes relevant: we remain condemned to be free even within technological constraints, bearing full responsibility for collective energy choices.
The paradox of progress permeates every aspect of electricity modernization. Smart grids enable efficiency and renewable integration while creating new cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Battery storage provides grid flexibility while generating mining impacts for lithium and cobalt. Nuclear power offers carbon-free baseload electricity while producing radioactive waste lasting millennia.
Virtual inertia technologies exemplify this paradox perfectly. Engineers create software algorithms that mimic the stabilizing effects of spinning generators, substituting digital precision for mechanical momentum. These systems work effectively—battery storage systems now provide synthetic inertia equivalent to traditional power plants—yet they represent a fundamental abstraction from physical reality. Electrons follow electromagnetic laws, but their flow increasingly depends on computational algorithms subject to coding errors, cyberattacks, and system failures.
The existential weight of electricity choices becomes apparent through climate statistics. Each kilowatt-hour generated from fossil fuels contributes incrementally to atmospheric CO2 concentrations that will persist for centuries. Individual consumption decisions aggregate into collective outcomes that determine planetary habitability for future generations. The abstract nature of electricity—invisible, instantaneous, seemingly unlimited—obscures these profound consequences.
Technological alienation manifests through increasing dependence on systems beyond individual understanding or control. How many electricity users comprehend the complex coordination required to maintain 60 Hz frequency across continental grids? The growing sophistication of electricity infrastructure—from advanced inverters to machine learning algorithms—creates capabilities that exceed human cognitive capacity while requiring human judgment for ethical deployment.
________________________________________
10) Epilogue — Between Gloom and Authentic Lightning
After pages of figures and dilemmas, everything boils down to a single instant: the click of a switch. That tiny gesture decides whether humankind endures or yields the stage to chilled servers no one will ever hug.
The year 2025 leaves us a double lesson. On the one hand, the plunge in solar‑wind LCOE and the maturation of storage prove that energy abundance is technically feasible. On the other, Spain’s blackout and the race against the carbon‑budget clock expose our institutional fragility. Having the tool without the wisdom is like holding lightning captive in a paper cage.
This calls for what we might term electric authenticity: acknowledging the climatic, social and existential consequences of every kilowatt. It means pricing carbon and water at their real cost, guaranteeing universal access as a human right, and designing grids that strengthen democratic participation. Lucidity, not altruism: it is always cheaper to light than to rebuild after collapse.
If the kilowatt‑hour continues to subsidise the drying of rivers and the gigawatt‑hour to feed machines that send empty hearts, we shall be the first civilisation to dig its digital cave only to crawl back inside it. Another storyline is possible: paying for every millisecond of flexibility, letting sun, wind and batteries sustain the polis without devouring it, and turning the half‑light into a prologue rather than a finale.
There are no spectators left. Every project, every vote, every article is a cog in the machinery of tomorrow. We can bargain with the shadows… or seize the lightning before the thermometer sets the world ablaze.
Open the door. Let the lightning in. And this time, may humanity arrive on time at its feast of light.
________________________________________
Sources and References
Grid Stability and Technical Analysis
Analysis of Spain's April 2025 Blackout: Causes, Low-Inertia Grid Risks, and Protection Solutions. SMC International. https://smcint.com/electrical-testing/analysis-of-spains-april-2025-blackout-causes-low-inertia-grid-risks-and-protection-solutions/
Grid frequency volatility in future low inertia scenarios: Challenges and mitigation options. ScienceDirect.
A new enhanced synthetic inertia system for stability improvement of hybrid AC/DC grids using MMC integrated with batteries. ScienceDirect.
Stability Pathfinders: what they mean for battery energy storage. Modo Energy Research.
Batteries are making the grid more reliable: NERC. Utility Dive.
ERCOT's Ancillary Services: a beginner's guide. Modo Energy Research.
Climate Data and Global Warming
State of the climate: 2024 sets a new record as the first year above 1.5C. Carbon Brief. https://www.carbonbrief.org/state-of-the-climate-2024-sets-a-new-record-as-the-first-year-above-1-5c/
Copernicus: 2024 is the first year to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial level. Copernicus Climate Change Service. https://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-2024-first-year-exceed-15degc-above-pre-industrial-level
Guest post: Why 2024's global temperatures were unprecedented, but not surprising. Carbon Brief.
Global Climate Highlights 2024. Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Climate change: atmospheric carbon dioxide. NOAA Climate.gov.
6 Years Before Carbon Budget to Limit Warming to 1.5C Runs Out. Earth.Org.
Fossil fuel CO2 emissions increase again in 2024. Global Carbon Budget.
Energy Costs and Technology
Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2024. International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). https://www.irena.org/Publications/2025/Jun/Renewable-Power-Generation-Costs-in-2024
Global Cost of Renewables to Continue Falling in 2025 as China Extends Manufacturing Lead. BloombergNEF.
Clean power tech costs to fall to record lows in 2025. Power Engineering International.
Eye-popping new cost estimates released for NuScale small modular reactor. IEEFA.
Small Modular Reactors: Still too expensive, too slow and too risky. IEEFA.
Utility-Scale Battery Storage. Annual Technology Baseline 2024, NREL.
A 2025 Update on Utility-Scale Energy Storage Procurements. Morgan Lewis.
Energy Access and Development
Tracking SDG 7 – The Energy Progress Report 2025. World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/energy/publication/tracking-sdg-7-the-energy-progress-report-2025
2025 Tracking SDG7 Report. World Health Organization.
Electricity access continues to improve in 2024 – after first global setback in decades. International Energy Agency.
Beyond access: 1.18 billion in energy poverty. UNDP Data Futures Exchange.
GOGLA: Off-grid solar delivers energy access to 20 million people in 2024. PV Tech.
East Africa drove 71% of global off-grid solar kit sales in 2024. Ecofin Agency.
Electricity Prices Drop Steadily Across Africa. News Central TV.
Energy Storage and Battery Markets
Global BESS deployments soared 53% in 2024. Energy-Storage.News.
Grid-scale Battery Market Share, Size and Industry Growth Analysis 2024-2030. IndustryARC.
Energy Storage Rides a Wave of Growth but Uncertainty Looms: A Global Opportunity and Regulatory Roadmap for 2025. Morgan Lewis.
U.S. battery capacity increased 66% in 2024. U.S. Energy Information Administration.
US energy storage deployments jumped 86% year over year to 10.5 GWh in Q2. Utility Dive.
Water-Energy Nexus
Water for Power Plant Cooling. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/resources/water-power-plant-cooling
Reducing water consumption for cooling of thermal generation plants. European Environment Agency.
Exploring the Water-Energy Nexus on World Energy Efficiency Day 2024. Smart Water Magazine.
Drought conditions reduce hydropower generation, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. U.S. Energy Information Administration.
U.S. hydropower generation expected to increase by 6% in 2024 following last year's lows. U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Market Analysis and Investment
Utility Outlook - First Quarter 2025 Insights. Gabelli.
Utility Stocks 2025 Outlook: Back to Normal? Morningstar.
3 Utility Stocks Leading the Surge in 2024 - Keep These on Your Radar. Investing.com.
Energy Transition Investment Trends. BloombergNEF.
ESG Investing Market Size to Surpass USD 167.49 Trillion by 2034. Precedence Research.
Pension schemes increasing allocations to renewable energy. Pensions Age Magazine.
Policy and Regulation
Explainer on the Interconnection Final Rule. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. https://www.ferc.gov/explainer-interconnection-final-rule
Key findings – State of Energy Policy 2024. International Energy Agency.
Carbon pricing revenues exceeded $100 billion in 2024. World Bank.
2024 Carbon Market Report: a stable and well-functioning market. European Commission.
Electricity Market Design: Deadline for transposing new rules into national law. European Commission.
FERC Order No. 2222 Explainer: Facilitating Participation in Electricity Markets by Distributed Energy Resources. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Energy System Analysis
Executive summary – Electricity 2025. International Energy Agency. https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2025/executive-summary
Global trends – Global Energy Review 2025. International Energy Agency.
Prices – Electricity 2025. International Energy Agency.
Global Energy Outlook 2025: Headwinds and Tailwinds in the Energy Transition. Resources for the Future.
World Energy Investment 2024. International Energy Agency.
Social and Political Dimensions
How Americans View National, Local and Personal Energy Choices. Pew Research Center.
The Rise of Anti-Net Zero Populism in the UK: Comparing Rhetorical Strategies for Climate Policy Dismantling. Taylor & Francis Online.
The Populist Revolt Against Climate Policy. Foreign Affairs.
The politics of populism and climate action. E3G.
Energy Accessibility. U.S. Department of Energy.
Electricity Regulation with Equity and Justice for All. Berkeley Lab News Center.
Interconnection and Grid Development
Grid connection backlog grows by 30% in 2023, dominated by requests for solar, wind, and energy storage. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Queued Up: 2024 Edition, Characteristics of Power Plants Seeking Transmission Interconnection. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Demand response. International Energy Agency.
Access to electricity – SDG7: Data and Projections. International Energy Agency.
Philosophical and Conceptual Frameworks
Existentialism. Wikipedia.
What Is Existentialism? An Ethics Explainer. The Ethics Centre.
Climate crisis: How 'positive tipping points' could save the planet. World Economic Forum.
When it comes to solar power, we may have already reached a climate transition tipping point. World Economic Forum.
________________________________________
Join us to support independent geopolitical and energy analysis.
In a world overflowing with information, we stand as your trusted source for clarity and truth in geopolitics and energy. Your support powers our mission, and together, we can illuminate the complex forces shaping our global landscape.
We can't do it without you. As inflation rises and platforms evolve, our content battles to be seen and heard. We're committed to delivering top-notch analysis with the best tools and insights, but we need your help to keep our voice strong and independent.
Here's how you can make a difference:
Engage with Us: Like, share, and repost our content on X, LinkedIn, or Energy Central. It's a simple click that amplifies our reach and impact.
Be Part of the Conversation: Comment on our posts, share your thoughts, and let us know what topics matter most to you. Your input shapes our content and keeps our community vibrant.
Support Our Mission: If you can, consider contributing to help us continue our work. Every bit helps us keep the flame of independent analysis burning bright.
Ways to Contribute:
PayPal: gjmtoroghio@germantoroghio.com
IBAN: SE18 3000 0000 0058 0511 2611
Swish: 076 423 90 79
Your support, whether through engagement or contributions, fuels the insights and knowledge we all rely on. Together, we can navigate these turbulent times and shed light on the path forward. Thank you for standing with us. Let's continue to explore, analyze, and understand our world together.
In December 2023, Energy Central recognized outstanding contributors within the Energy & Sustainability Network during the 'Top Voices' event. The recipients of this honor were highlighted in six articles, showcasing the acknowledgment from the community. The platform facilitates professionals in disseminating their work, engaging with peers, and collaborating with industry influencers. Congratulations are extended to the 2023 Top Voices: David Hunt, Germán Toro Ghio, Schalk Cloete, and Dan Yurman for their exemplary demonstration of expertise. - Matt Chester, Energy Central
You can't possibly deny me...
Have a wonderful day filled with good health, happiness, and love…