The future of renewable energy
Software will be increasingly important to manage renewable power into energy systems
A decade ago, coal and nuclear were the main sources of power, supplemented by gas when grids required extra capacity. Today, all three of these industries remain manual. In many cases, a human presses a physical button for the factory to start. It is a slow process. Since then, renewable energy has increasingly taken market share. While renewables are more technologically advanced forms of power generation, they are ones which could not be controlled to the same extent as coal, nuclear and gas. Now we have an issue; grids are at capacity during peak times. In August 2019, the UK experienced one of its worst ever blackouts and the grid is set to come under greater stress. The country that ha
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The March 2026 issue of Petroleum Economist is out now!
