Peak Demand

Renewable Energy Update – October 2017

Cleveland's COOPs

Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed a bill directing utilities to plan carbon-free alternatives to gas generation for meeting peak demand.

shutterstock_115580590

Electric utility company business model which took off in 1880s with the first power station in lower Manhattan providing electricity to 59 customers has not much changed since. This is indeed unique as very few other businesses have shown strong resistance to change. Over the last few years though, the electric industry is witnessing certain… Keep reading →

Power Outages Auckland Leave Thousands Without Power

Who would have thought even just a few years ago that one could use a smart phone to check the ‘status’ of electricity availability in the area in real-time. No worries, I am not talking about the US or Germany. Though it’s possible those countries could face power supply issues in certain regions if decommissioning… Keep reading →

wallett

Smart meters, which provide detailed electricity use data throughout the day, are a critical piece of a smarter, more resilient 21st century energy system. But they are not a cure-all for modernizing our antiquated power grid. In Matthew Wald’s recent New York Times article, entitled “Power Savings of Smart Meters Prove Slow to Materialize,” he… Keep reading →

AutoGrid

What if consumers were empowered with real-time data on the cost and efficiency of their energy use? During times of peak demand — such as on a hot summer afternoon when homes and businesses crank up their air conditioning — utilities could let cost-conscious consumers know how much they’re spending on energy or ask environmentally… Keep reading →

Climate Protection - Photo Illustrations

Coal consumption has been increasing in past months as natural gas prices pushed upwards and coal stocks dipped lower. With natural gas the peak-load fuel of choice for many utilities, base load summer cooling could be powered by lots of comparatively cheaper coal – with gas peaker plants firing up when demand surges and thus… Keep reading →

Source-CarbonCycle2.0

Energy storage devices that collect electricity at times of abundance and deliver when demand is greatest are essential to upgrading our outdated power grid to a smarter, more flexible electricity system. New Jersey took a positive step toward implementing more energy storage earlier this year when its Office of Clean Energy released a proposal to… Keep reading →

Chaos Computer Club 28th Congress

Big data isn’t much use if you don’t know what to do with it. Utilities are collecting unprecedented amounts of information from millions of smart meters installed in recent years, but the capacity to collect data seems largely to have overwhelmed companies and regulators. Processes designed for a world run on paper billing and planned… Keep reading →

Telsa CEO Elon Musk Speaks At Business Conference In New York

SolarCity has unveiled an energy storage system for businesses. The system includes software that determines when to charge and when to discharge so as to minimize the utility bill. They use batteries from sister company Tesla motors. Although SolarCity has previously teamed batteries with rooftop solar, the new DemandLogic systems are meant for peak shaving.… Keep reading →

East Coast Begins To Clean Up And Assess Damage From Hurricane Sandy

Post Hurricane Sandy, an influx of electricity workers from various parts of the country came to the New York/New Jersey area to help in the recovery process and to restore power in the region to nearly 10 million people left in the dark. Sandy caused massive flooding of power substations and corrosion of key electrical… Keep reading →