Generation & Markets

Productivity Plateau

A mature industry faces a worrying round of hype.

Are we languishing, or working off a 20th-century legacy? Gartner’s hype cycle suggests the latter, as new technologies start producing value.

Digest

ABB energizes 500 MW HVDC line; MISO installs synchrophasors; Xcel plans transmission upgrades in Texas Panhandle; Panda orders power blocks from Siemens for Pennsylvania project; EdF starts operations at 110 MW solar project in Mojave Desert; plus contracts and announcements from Sensus, DTE, Calpine, PSNM, First Solar, NRG, and others.

Digest

ComEd selects GE for 4 million smart meters; Duquesne contracts Itron for 625,000 smart meters; Consumers Energy plans 700-MW combined-cycle plant; Phoenix Solar contracts for 39-MW PV plant; NRG starts operation at two 20-MW PV plants in California; Edison files suit against Mitsubishi for SONGS defects; FirstEnergy plans 2 GW of coal-plant shutdowns; FERC approves PacifiCorp tie-in with Cal ISO; PSEG commissions EV-charging facilities; plus announcements and contracts involving Toshiba, Direct Energy, Alstom, and others.

Reliability by the Barrel

New England turns to fuel oil for the coming winter.

Burning oil when gas supplies are tight increases costs for customers. Is it also discriminatory?

Digest

Williams completes Transco pipeline expansion and plans a new one; Hudson Transmission electrifies underwater line between New Jersey and Manhattan; Northern Power wind turbines installed at Hawaii microgrid project; GE boosts efficiency of diesels powering remote Alaskan cooperative; Siemens installs supercapacitor on Oregon rail line; plus contracts and announcements from Bonneville Power Administration, Primus Power, Ameren, ComEd, Silver Spring Networks, Toshiba, Babcock & Wilcox, and others.

Digest

NorthWestern Energy issues RFPs for 400 MW; FERC approves AEP's plan to spin off Ohio generation; NRG starts up 720-MW peaking plant in California; Dominion and FuelCell Energy break ground on largest North American fuel cell plant; U.S. Army and Lockheed Martin commission microgrid at Fort Bliss; Duke-American Transmission Co. acquires Path 15 transmission line from Atlantic Power; plus contracts and announcements involving ECOtality, TC Pipelines, S&C Electric, Black Hills Corp., and others.

Digest

Abengoa and BrightSource Energy agreed to jointly develop, build, and operate what the companies say will be the world’s two largest solar power towers. GE began operating a prototype of what it calls the world’s most efficient high-output wind turbine. Hawaiian Electric Co. dedicated the new 5-MW Kalaeloa solar farm in West Oahu, Hawaii. And more...

Old School Microgrid

Resilience depends more on determination than technology.

A brutal storm ripped through southwestern Minnesota in April and snapped 2,000 power poles. Worthington Public Utilities kept the lights on with a seat-of-the-pants microgrid.