Page 20 - PEN eBook May 2022

ENERGY Energy

21st century energy networks

Although this energy and transportation infrastructure served its purpose and industrialized most
of today’s developed world, it had a tremendously detrimental impact on the global environment
through the increase in greenhouse-gas emissions, resulting in a rise in global temperatures and
Addressing extreme weather patterns. As emerging and frontier economies move into the industrialization

phase, this centralized fossil-fuel–based electricity and transportation network is not sustainable,
Electrification Needs and a next-generation energy network of the future is required.

21ST CENTURY ENERGY NETWORKS
for the 21st Century to Next-generation energy infrastructure to industrialize emerging and frontier economies and to

maintain standards of living in developed economies must be extremely benign on the global
Achieve a Net-Zero Future environment. There is consensus among global scientists that we must reduce our greenhouse-
gas–emission footprint to 2000 levels to limit the global rise in temperature to below 1.5˚C to have

a sustainable future. To achieve a sustainable energy network of the future, onsemi believes that
By Asif Jakwani, senior vice president and general manager of the Advance 21st century energy networks will be mainly based upon renewable energy sources such as solar
Power Division at onsemi and wind, combined with the ability to store energy, and that consumption of energy must migrate

to highly efficient and zero-emission loads like electric vehicles to achieve viable and sustainable
20TH CENTURY ENERGY NETWORKS energy networks.

In the 20th century, electricity was generated centrally at large power-generating stations primarily
by burning fossil fuels such as coal. The electricity was then transported over long-distance The 21st century energy network — both in terms of renewable energy sources like solar, wind,

transmission networks and supplied to users via local distribution networks. Similar energy and storage and efficient loads like EVs and inverterized motors — will be enabled by power
infrastructure emerged for transportation networks due to the proliferation of internal combustion semiconductors. In the case of solar, wind, and energy storage, insulated-gate bipolar transistors
engines, with fossil fuel as the primary source of energy transported over long distances across (IGBTs) and silicon carbide are primarily used to convert variable and intermittent energy sources
unstable and tenuous geographies. to a consistent, sustainable energy network, providing a zero-emission renewable energy source.
For emerging EVs and charging infrastructure, both IGBTs and SiC will be the workhorse of the

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