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Law & Lawyers

Envisioning the Energy Future

EPRI Podcast: Key Is Integrated Resource Planning

Flexibility, electrification, distributed solar, and smart inverters are familiar terms in today's utility environment, but they are of particular relevance to integrated resource planners. EPRI's Mark McGranaghan, Vice President of Distribution and Energy Utilization, touched on these topics, and a few more, in our latest EPRI Unplugged conversation.
Byline: 

Aimee Mills with Mark McGranaghan

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Rebuilding the European Electric Grid

USEA Assistance Followed Breakdown of Soviet Union

In 1991, Eastern European countries and the former Soviet republics responded to a completely different set of incentives and policy drivers for the development of their utilities. USEA, together with other implementing partners of the agency, was tasked to help change the mentality of folks that worked in these utilities.
Byline: 

Dipka Bhambhani

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Looming Risks of Regulated Assets

History May Not Predict Future

Maximizing exposure to regulated assets may not be an optimal long-term investment strategy, despite its present popularity. The factors considered here include lower allowed returns on equity, the law of diminishing returns, declining demand for the product, price increases, and a possible death spiral.
Byline: 

Mark Beyer

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Surprising Energy Requirements of the Cannabis Industry

Part II: Problems and Potential Solutions

U.S. cannabis industry is experiencing explosive growth. The industry is extremely energy-intensive and is already placing strains on some individual utilities and local grids. Here we discuss the implications for utilities and PUCs and explore potential solutions.
Byline: 

Roger Bezdek, Mike Harshfield, Sean Tegart, Ujjval Vyas

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What Keeps You Awake at Night?

Energy and Telecom Oases and Deserts

I want to encourage the research and deployment of technologies that enhance human capabilities and quality of life. But our primary concern is to protect the most vulnerable customers from being excluded.
Byline: 

Kansas Representative Tom Sloan

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Building Innovation Momentum

Breaking Down Barriers

Executives outwardly struggle with the notion that they now need to focus on becoming more visibly innovative. After all, hasn't this been their mission for decades? But it is also why the needed focus of tomorrow's innovation is so different and why a real challenge exists to remove barriers to success.
Byline: 

Tom Flaherty

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Storage and Distributed Resources in Wholesale Markets

Preserve Local Authority

Many public power utilities are taking a closer look at how DER, including electric storage facilities, might benefit their communities. The American Public Power Association has asked that new FERC wholesale market rules not frustrate local use of these evolving resources.
Byline: 

Sue Kelly

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Toshiba Exit Transforms Nuclear Market

Maybe a U.S. Nuclear Revival

Toshiba recently announced that financial write-offs related to its troubled nuclear division, Westinghouse Electric, would total about $6.2 billion dollars. Since the write-off announcements, Toshiba's stock price has been cut in half. Toshiba's financial collapse changes the face of the nuclear industry.
Byline: 

Leonard Hyman and Bill Tilles

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Blockchain is Coming!

A Future of Distributed Ledgers

Blockchain is a distributed system of electronic ledgers that provide automatic, instant cross-verification of transactions. With it, bitcoin offered an unsurpassed degree of reliability. Perhaps you think utilities can just wait and adopt bitcoin or cyber-whatever later. But anticipation and precautionary actions are the best course in the face of uncertainty.
Byline: 

Roger Woodworth

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