Law & Lawyers

David Bowie, Nikola Tesla and The Iron Giant

It takes Hogarth to pull down a massive off-switch to disconnect and save Iron Giant and protect grid assets.

Tesla and Edison have been depicted in a number of films over the years. “The Secret of Nikola Tesla” was a 1980 biopic made in Yugoslavia. “The Prestige” was a 2006 thriller, and in the role of Nikola Tesla, David Bowie in his final picture.

Byline:

Steve Mitnick

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Illinois Approach to Regulating Distribution Utility of the Future

Annual formula rate is working to stabilize distribution ratemaking.

A lot has been said of alternative ratemaking approaches. The clearest, most direct path is what has been happening in Illinois, a success by any reasonable measure for a distribution utility.

Byline:

Ross Hemphill and Val Jensen

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FERC Chasing the Uncatchable

Trying to fix mandatory capacity markets like trying to win at Whack-A-Mole, Part II

The proposals do not mandate participation in mandatory auction markets, much less try to set artificial floors on seller bids.

Byline:

Delia Patterson and Harvey Reiter

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Chasing the Uncatchable

Why trying to fix mandatory capacity markets is like trying to win a game of Whack-A-Mole (Parts I & II)

FERC has little to show for more than a decade of tinkering with mandatory capacity markets.

Byline:

Delia D. Patterson and Harvey L. Reiter

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Tax Implications of NEM Successor Policies

Federal income tax treatment has nothing to do with pricing sale of electricity to utility or customer.

Advocates for net metering argue that if the electricity delivered by the customer to the utility is credited at the full retail rate, the amount is not taxable, but if credited at less than the full retail rate, such as under a feed-in tariff or a value of solar tariff, the IRS might count the credited amount as taxable income. A tax expert fills us in on the other side of the story.

Byline:

Alex Zakupowsky

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Community Solar: States Are Testing Designs While Driving Forward

Minnesota, Oregon, New York case studies

Minnesota, Oregon and New York are certainly not alone in testing shared solar models. But the developments in each state in spring 2016 should shed light on the ability to deliver on the promise of community solar.

Byline:

Andrew Moratzka and Sara Bergan

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High Performance Transmission Conductors Are Improving Grid Efficiency

And why it matters.

Leveraging high performance conductors has become particularly important today. They not only serve to improve efficiency and reliability, they also allow us to increase the capacity of existing transmission lines so we can access cleaner sources of generation.

Byline:

Dave Bryant

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EPRI Explores Augmented Reality to Improve Grid Reliability

Innovating Like Edison: Utility workers with superpowers?

Smart meters are a reality but are smart poles and smart helmets right behind them? Often in the form of wearable computers or “wearables,” devices are potentially able to communicate from an endless variety of devices in the form of visual cues and data, sound, and even information based on touch.

Byline:

John Simmins

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Getting Berned

What’s the price tag of banning fracking?

Ironically, a ban on fracking would increase coal generation, which emits carbon dioxide at twice the rate of gas generation.

Byline:

Steve Huntoon

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It's a Five-Minute World

New rule would align price settlements with real-time dispatch.

A misalignment of scheduling and price settlement opens the door to mischief.

Byline:

Bruce Radford

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