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.
Fortnightly Magazine - June 2010
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.