Law & Lawyers

Energy Storage: Out of the Lab and Onto the Grid

As deployments take hold, real-world challenges abound.

Energy storage has advanced rapidly, leaving the lab and entering a phase of deployment on the grid. Storage's advancements are a result of its promise as well as the tireless support of industry stakeholders who modeled, tested, evaluated and demonstrated the technology.

The Paradox of Inclining Block Rates

What goes up doesn’t always come down.

Two California-based utilities are studied to determined if inclining block rates can be used to promote energy efficiency.

Electrifying Your Customer

Customer Connection: Five steps to better relations with your most important client.

Utility customers are hungry for more information and to interact with their providers. But, first, utilities need to know what problems their customers want to solve.

Digest (April 2015)

PG&E asked state regulators for permission to build ~ 25,000 EV chargers across its service area in Northern and Central California - if approved, it would mark the largest deployment of EV charging stations in the country; Lockheed Martin and Dominion Resources have co-developed a new smart grid technology called VirtuGrid to enable remote detection of power outages for faster mapping and response; Panda Power Funds and Sunbury Generation LP will develop, finance, construct and operate a 1,000-MW gas-fired, combined-cycle power project in Pennsylvania; Siemens secured an order of 157 wind turbines in South Africa from Mainstream Renewable Power; PSE&G recently put two new landfill solar farms in service as part of its Solar 4 All program; Exelon Generation will add 195-MW of electric generation capacity at the Medway (Mass.) facility; ABB won a $35 million order for gas-insulated switchgear and shunt reactors from Belgian electricity transmission system operator Elia; Iberdrola USA agreed to acquire UIL Holdings and create a newly listed publicly traded company; Chesapeake Utilities agreed to merge Gatherco into Aspire Energy of Ohio, a wholly-owned subsidiary; and others...

Creative Disruption

Today’s technologies are causing utilities to rethink their business models.

Fifteen years into the 21st Century, the utility industry is being asked to think forward, beyond 2050. To some, that's a bit of a stretch for a mostly regulated enterprise that has been producing power and sending the electrons reliably for the last 150 years or so. To many others, though, it's past time for an evolution.

People (April 2015)

FirstEnergy elected Samuel L. Belcher as president and chief nuclear officer; Dayton Power and Light named Tom Raga president and CEO; PSEG announced the retirement of Thomas P. Joyce, president and chief nuclear officer; Turkish economist Dr. Fatih Birol to be executive director of the International Energy Agency; Plus board of directors appointments at Next­Era Energy, Ameren, IDACORP, PG&E and Entergy, and changes at Southern Company, Avista, PSEG Power, The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and California Public Utilities Commission.

Shale Gas Showering Economy

The U.S. steel and chemical industries are among those benefiting from natural gas production.

The shale gas boom isn’t just for drillers and power generators. It’s also for manufacturers and chemical makers, which now have access to an inexpensive and abundant fuel to use as both power and a feedstock.

Fueling an Economic Comeback

The shale gas boom is creating jobs and saving money for U.S. manufacturers.

We hear a lot about dry natural gas used to fuel electric generators. But we hear less about wet natural gas, or so-called natural gas liquids that are the underpinnings of everyday consumer products. Both are building a new American economy.

Show Them the Money

Customer Connection: How to win over customers on energy efficiency.

New Research into energy efficiency, smart grid technologies and renewables will have utilities and regulators pleasantly surprised.

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.