Fortnightly Magazine - June 2010

Proving Smart-Grid Savings

Real-world projects show tangible returns.

Much is riding on successful smart-grid deployments. Experiences at several utilities demonstrate the costs and benefits of today’s automation technologies.

The Body Electric

The smart grid and its biomorphic destiny.

Smart grid technology is bringing inanimate objects to life. In connecting nodes and equipping the system with distributed intelligence, the network is developing toward an environment that becomes quasi-biological over time. Such an organic system might defy deterministic ideas of planning and control.

FIT in the USA

Constitutional questions about state-mandated renewable tariffs.

Despite state efforts to follow the European model of state-mandated feed-in tariffs to promote renewable power, these actions won’t pass Constitutional muster. The Supremacy Clause makes a formidable legal barrier.

Recharging Employees

How to make sustainable performance improvements at any utility.

Sustained performance improvement is often a difficult objective to achieve in a large company. Many such attempts involve various cross-functional initiatives that leave companies with unfinished projects, lower morale and disappointing results. Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) has found that the key to sustained performance improvement is the establishment of a cadre of high-potential managers to address company-wide initiatives full-time.

Hybrid Storage

Ultracapacitors and batteries work together to solve power quality problems.

Ultracapacitors and batteries work together to solve power quality problems.

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