Energy Equity and Energy Justice in Power Systems

The development and operation of electric power systems have had an unequal impact on different populations. The current energy transition presents both opportunities and challenges for mitigating historical inequities and promoting both energy equity and energy justice. According to the US Department of Energy “Energy equity recognizes that disadvantaged communities have been historically marginalized and overburdened by pollution, underinvestment in clean energy infrastructure, and lack of access to energy efficient housing and transportation” ^[1] and, according to the Initiative for Energy Justice, “Energy justice refers to the goal of achieving equity in both the social and economic participation in the energy system, while also remediating social, economic, and health burdens on those disproportionately harmed by the energy system. Energy justice explicitly centers the concerns of communities at the frontline of pollution and climate change (“frontline communities”), working-class people, indigenous communities, and those historically disenfranchised by racial and social inequity. Energy justice aims to make energy accessible, affordable, clean, and democratically managed for all communities” ^[2].

Power systems engineers have a unique role to play in supporting and directly contributing to energy equity and justice through research, development, and practice on topics including, but not limited to, equitable electricity system planning, equitable electricity system operation and control, equitable distributed energy resource adoption and coordination, equitable electricity rate and demand-side management program design, recommender systems for electricity rates and demand-side management programs, and reducing bias in data-driven algorithms for power systems ^[3].

[1] https://www.energy.gov/eere/energy-equity-and-environmental-justice#:~:text=Energy%20equity%20recognizes%20that%20disadvantaged,energy%20efficient%20housing%20and%20transportation.

[2] https://iejusa.org/#:~:text=Energy%20justice%20aims%20to%20make,democratically%20managed%20for%20all%20communities.

[3] J.L. Mathieu. “Algorithms for Energy Justice”. In: Women in Power: Research and Development Advances in Electric Power Systems, Springer Women in Engineering and Science Series. Ed. by Jill S. Tietjen, Marija D. Ilic, Lina Bertling Tjernberg, and Noel N. Schulz. Springer Nature Switzerland AG, Cham, Switzerland. 2023.