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The objective of this paper is to explore how environmental protection expenditures (EPE) affect innovation and investigate the potential causal relationship between the two variables. The novelty and main contribution of our paper to the literature stems from the fact that we look at total environmental protection expenditures from both the public and private sectors, and distinguishing between corporations and households in the private sectors. We also consider both inputs and outputs of innovation and address potential endogeneity issues in this relationship, which are both lacking in the current literature. Using a panel of EU countries over the period 2006–2020, this study generally finds a positive impact of EPE on innovation after controlling for the effects of trade, credit, education and inflation on innovation, and using the System GMM estimator to treat endogeneity. Moreover, EPE from the government sector drives the bulk of this positive impact. The core results are robust to alternative measures of innovation, alternative estimation techniques that address endogeneity (i.e., the Lewbel 2SLS, Mundlak, and Hausman-Taylor estimators) and the moderation effects of Climate Change Performance (CCPI). This study also provides a useful guide to policy makers engaged in environmental planning. • We evaluate the impact of environmental protection expenditures (EPE) on innovation in mainly EU countries. • We use longitudinal dataset for the group of EU countries over the period 2006–2020. • We find a positive impact of EPE on innovation. • The results are robust for observable heterogeneity, alternative measures of innovation and estimation techniques. • This study provides a useful guide to policy makers engaged in environmental planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across recent years, there has been a growing prevalence of extreme weather events throughout the United States, posing significant challenges to the reliable and resilient operation of power systems. Specifically, summer droughts threaten to severely reduce available generation capacity to meet regional electricity demand, potentially leading to power outages. This underscores the importance of accurate resource adequacy (RA) assessment to ensure the reliable operation of the nation's energy infrastructure. Accurately evaluating the usable capacity of regional generation fleets is a challenging undertaking due to the intricate interactions between power systems and hydro-climatic systems. This paper proposes a systematic and analytical framework to evaluate the impacts of extreme summer drought events on the available capacity of various generating technologies, incorporating both meteorological and hydrologic factors. The framework provides detailed plant-level capacity derating models for hydroelectric, thermoelectric, and renewable power plants, facilitating evaluations with high temporal and spatial resolution. The application of the proposed impact assessment framework to the 2025 generation fleet of the real-world power system within the PJM and SERC regions of the United States yields insightful results. By analyzing the daily usable capacity of 6,055 at-risk generators across the study region, it shows that the summer capacity deration is most significant for hydroelectric and once-through thermal power plants, followed by recirculating thermal power plants and combustion turbines. In the event of the recurrence of the 2007 southeastern summer drought event in the near future, the generation fleet could experience a substantial reduction in available capacity, estimated at approximately 8.5 GW, compared to typical summer conditions. The sensitivity analysis reveals that the usable capacity of the generation fleet would suffer an even more significant decrease under conditions of increasingly severe summer droughts. The proposed approach and the findings of this study provide valuable methodologies and insights, empowering stakeholders to bolster the resilience of power systems against the potentially devastating effects of future extreme drought events. [Display omitted] • A systematic summer droughts generating capacity assessment framework is developed. • Capacity derating models for various generation technologies are presented. • The impacts of summer droughts on generating fleet in PJM and SERC are studied. • Impact of extreme summer drought on usable capacity of generators is significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the dependence on traditional energy sources and shifting towards the utilization of renewable energy sources (RES) of energy in the maritime sector is imperative for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Inherently, RES sources like solar and wind are intermittent and variable, resulting in inconsistent power availability and hence leading to energy supply fluctuations and potential shortages. In this respect, an efficient control strategy to maintain system stability and address intermittency effectively is essential. This work considers a hybrid marine microgrid with various energy sources like photovoltaics (PV), wind energy conversion system (WECS), marine biodiesel generator, Archimedes wave power generation, solid oxide fuel cell, and batteries. A 2-degree of freedom (2DOF) structure is designed and implemented with the tilt-integral-derivative filter (TIDN) to address frequency variations. Furthermore, an Archimedes optimization algorithm (AOA) is used to optimize the 2DOF-TIDN controller. The stability of the proposed microgrid system is assessed under various combinations of RES availabilities, including real-time data from WECS and PV. The AOA-based 2DOF-TIDN performance is compared to the following algorithms: genetic, Jaya, bat, grasshopper optimization, particle swarm optimization, and moth flame optimization. Simulation results obtained show that the AOA-based 2DOF-TIDN control strategy achieves shorter settling times in mitigating the changes of marine microgrid systems under different dynamic conditions as compared to the other algorithms. Finally, the controller being proposed in this paper was tested for robustness with parameter deviations of +25%, −20%, and − 40% from the nominal values, and proved to be the proposed 2DOF-TIDN controller parameters demonstrate significant robustness in effectively managing the uncertainties and parametric variations. • Maritime Microgrid system is designed for investigations with RE & storage units. • PV, Wind, MBG, AWPG, SOFC, and battery storage units are considered. • 2DOF-TIDN controller is developed to mitigate the changes in the system. • The AOA method is proposed for optimal gains of the 2DOF-TIDN under uncertainties. • Sensitivity analysis, Time delay analysis, and stability analysis are performed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensification of global climate change has led to a widespread consensus on carbon reduction, with the power industry being the principal contributor to carbon emissions necessitating an inevitable transition of its energy structure. Concomitantly, the escalating frequency of natural disasters caused by extreme weather presents formidable challenges to both secure power supply and the low-carbon transition of the power system. To fulfill the developmental requirements of a low-carbon power system and address the carbon emission risks imposed by natural disasters, this paper proposes a bi-level model for generation expansion planning (GEP) that incorporates constraints on the carbon emission trajectory and the influence of natural disasters. The planning-level model optimizes investment costs of various generation technologies and energy storage (ES), as well as the overall operational expenses over the planning period, with an objective to minimize them. It incorporates carbon emission trajectory constraints and policy constraints, such as carbon peaking, carbon neutrality and renewable energy (RE) penetration rates, in order to optimize the planning installed capacity of power sources. The operational-level model aims to minimize typical daily operating costs while also simulating power unit outputs in routine and disaster scenarios. A case study is conducted in a disaster-prone province in southern China to analyze the power generation expansion planning and the trajectory of carbon emissions from 2020 to 2060 under different scenarios. The simulation results show that compared to thermal power, the planning scheme mainly focused on RE with ES is better suited to achieve the goal of a low-carbon transition of the power grid. Moreover, after considering natural disasters, the cost and carbon emissions of power system planning are higher, and the risk of carbon emissions increases with the severity of disasters. • A multi-time scale bi-level low-carbon GEP model is proposed. • Natural disaster scenarios and low-carbon policy constraints are considered in the GEP model. • Carbon emission trajectory of the planned power system is estimated and introduced as a constraint into the GEP model. • Evaluation indicators that comprehensively consider low-carbon performance and economic feasibility are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]