fuel

Toshiba to Participate in Large-scale Hydrogen Research Project in Scotland

Toshiba will participate in the Levenmouth Community Energy Project in Fife, Scotland, a 4-year project to investigate the potential of hydrogen as a future fuel. The project will run from 2015 to 2020 in a redevelopment area of the Methil Docks in Methil, Fife. Electricity generated by wind and solar power will be used to power a hydrogen producing water electrolysis system, and the hydrogen will be stored and used as a fuel source for hybrid commercial vehicles (HCV) powered by fuel cells and diesel engines.

From Coal to Gas

Regulatory and environmental challenges for power plant conversions under the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.

Converting a power plant from coal to natural gas triggers a host of environmental challenges and regulatory issues. Operators could be trading one set of regulatory obligations, liabilities, and costs for another, equally problematic, set of liabilities and costs.

Exelon Buys 21 MW of Fuel Cells from Bloom Energy

Exelon agreed to buy fuel-cell power plants with 21 MW of capacity that Bloom Energy plans to install at 75 corporate sites in four states. Commercial customers including AT&T will purchase the electricity for each plant’s ability to provide power locally with less pollution and more reliability than the grid. Fuel cell generators produce electricity where it’s consumed from natural gas through a chemical reaction that produces fewer carbon emissions than plants that burn fuel.

Curing the Death Spiral

Seeking a rate design that recovers costs fairly from customers with rooftop solar.

Load research data shows how utilities can levy a demand charge to recover costs fairly from residential customers with rooftop solar.

Wireless Sensor Technology

Equipment health monitoring for the modern utility.

Wireless sensors open new, novel applications for utilities, replacing expensive cabling network options to sense incipient equipment failures.

Waiting for the Next Polar Vortex

How recent events could prove a harbinger of winters to come.

The winter of 2013-14 offered up a perfect storm of natural gas price spikes and threats to electric reliability. Expect more of the same.

Unwinding the Death Spiral

Rooftop solar, net metering, and the perils of utilityspeak.

The Sierra Club accuses utilities of trying to snuff out rooftop solar. Attorney Donald Sipe recommends RTO/ISO markets for natural gas.

Next-Gen Nuclear

Tomorrow’s options for low-carbon baseload generation.

The nuclear renaissance might be postponed, but technologies continue advancing. The next generation of plants will apply innovation for safety, efficiency, and modularity.