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Strategy & Planning

Time for 'Megawatts Without Borders'

Why can’t we fly in a portable power supply to aid a poor country in distress? Here may lie opportunity.

Zambia, the landlocked and poor country in Southern Africa, is suffering a crippling power shortage. Musing about this, I find it extraordinary that there are no reliable, affordable, and portable power supply units that could be brought in to help Zambia.
Byline: 

Llewellyn King

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Searching for Equilibrium

How to achieve it in the era of distributed energy

In the emerging era of distributed energy resources, we will find the distribution utility increasingly in the role of an integrator and enabler – more than their longstanding role as energy provider. Accordingly, the regulatory approach must go through its own structural shift to keep pace and restore the system to regulatory equilibrium.
Byline: 

David J. O’Brien

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Understanding New York's 'Vision'

A roadmap to ‘REV’ and its plan for restructuring.

New York's far-reaching reform plan, called the Renewable Energy Vision, or “REV,” seeks to decentralize power supply by encouraging distributed resources, and a new regulatory entity will be created called a “Distributed System Platform,” or DSP.
Byline: 

Merrill L. Kramer

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Is Nuclear Energy Still Viable?

Cheap natural gas is not just hurting coal. It’s doing the same to nuclear.

As the nation strives for cleaner air and less carbon emissions, nuclear – the most promising carbon-free power source – faces stiff competition from natural gas, which is cheap, abundant, and a lot easier to get permitted and built than a conventional reactor.
Byline: 

Ken Silverstein

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Piggybacking on the Grid

Why net energy metering is unfair and inefficient.

While customers may have reached a “net zero” threshold on energy, they are a large net negative on very expensive grid services.
Byline: 

Charles E. Bayless

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A Tale of Two Technologies

Uncle Sam didn’t frack this one up.

Technological progress can be function of productive public-private partnerships that help shoulder risks and raise capital.
Byline: 

Llewellyn King, Editor-at-Large

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Gas Pipelines for New England

A consumer model that compounds public benefits.

Natural gas used for electric generation is running headfirst into the lack of sufficient pipeline capacity. The magnitude of these changes demands a fresh look at business practices, especially in New England, which is suffering while neighboring regions benefit from the Marcellus Shale bonanza.
Byline: 

Ronald C. DeCurzio

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REV'ed and Ready

New York aims to Reform its Energy Vision. For technology companies, it’s a dream come true.

New York State is now rethinking its regulatory in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, and it expects to become an example to other states as it explores microgrids and energy storage.
Byline: 

Andrew O. Kaplan

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