Just Ducky
If you provide free storage and distribution services, too much will be used, and costs for everyone else will go through the roof(top).
The neck of the Duck Curve gets longer every year due to California’s energy policies.
Southern California
Improving Performance in Publicly Owned Utilities
Consistently setting, measuring, and updating quantitative performance metrics should be a central feature of any program.
Modern performance-management practices can – and should – be applied to public and private utilities alike.
E.ON Solar Completes the Maricopa West Facility Located in Southern California
Submitted by aburr on Tue, 2015-11-10 12:42E.ON Solar, a subsidiary of E.ON SE, completed the construction phase of Maricopa West, a 20-MW solar project located in Southern California. The complex has obtained a conditional use permit from Kern County, an incidental take permit from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and a habitat conservation plan under Section 10 of the Endangered Species Act from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Maricopa West solar project will utilize single-axis tracking and consist of 89,000 photovoltaic panels.
People (November 2015)
Steven D. Davis was elected to succeed Jessie J. Knight, Jr. as executive v.p. of external affairs and corporate strategy for Sempra Energy. Georgia Power named Dr. Mark Berry as v.p. of environmental affairs. FirstEnergy made management changes in customer service and utility operations areas of the company. GE appointed Stephan Reimelt as president and CEO of GE's power conversion business. Atlantic Power named Joseph E. Cofelice as executive v.p. of commercial development. The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) named Bradley C. Jones as president and CEO. Entergy elected Philip L. Frederickson to its board of directors. And others...
Is Nuclear Energy Still Viable?
Cheap natural gas is not just hurting coal. It’s doing the same to nuclear.
As the nation strives for cleaner air and less carbon emissions, nuclear – the most promising carbon-free power source – faces stiff competition from natural gas, which is cheap, abundant, and a lot easier to get permitted and built than a conventional reactor.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.