The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is seen from the beach along San Onofre State Beach on March 15, 2012 south of San Clemente, California.
The head of the Nuclear Energy Institute yesterday said he was optimistic that California’s San Onofore nuclear plant would again start producing electricity and denied that the US industry was troubled by high costs and safety concerns after Fukushima. Keep reading →
There’s no question that the US power grid is in need of an overhaul. It’s 20th century infrastructure trying to meet 21st century needs. But how do we move forward? Modernizing the power grid may take decades-which is how long it took to originally build the grid – but how can we begin to see immediate improvements?
Many existing smart grid programs emphasize advanced meters. In fact, the emphasis on advanced meters has been so pronounced that this technology is often considered synonymous with a smart grid. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Although advanced meters are an important component of a smart grid, they are used to gather information rather than take action in response to changes in grid conditions. That’s where intelligent grid-based technologies come into play. Keep reading →
Smart meters are great, limits remain: An outage further up the delivery chain for power means no information for them to consolidate and analyze.
It is now well known that the US power grid has reached its twilight years and requires massive capital investment to overhaul. Sensor technology is a less expensive option than replacement that can help extend the useful life of elderly equipment. Keep reading →
A forum hosted by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to explore potential impacts of alternative fuel vehicles on critical infrastructure heard a good news, bad news scenario from the CEO of the PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator.
PJM CEO Terry Boston told the forum that with smart grid controls in place and re-charging properly synchronized between midnight and 7 a.m., the electric distribution system could accommodate 25 million EVs, according to coverage of the forum in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Keep reading →
The greatest roadblock to developing smart grids in the US is not high up-front investment, good news when 65 million electric vehicles could be on the road by 2025, according to the results of a recent annual electric utility industry survey. Infrastructure firm Black & Veatch queried over 500 qualified industry participants about some of the most prescient issues of the day and the results may surprise you.
The top issues the industry is concerned about in 2012 are aging infrastructure, reliability and the environment. Aging infrastructure steadily crept to the top of the list over the past three years – in the 2009/2010 survey the issue ranked sixth in a list of the top ten. The importance of security has also gained importance according to the survey participants. Keep reading →
Amid eye-popping estimates of the cost of needed US electric infrastructure upgrades, the evidence so far this year suggests that progress on transmission at least is slow.
New data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) show only 98.6 miles of transmission projects were completed between January and April, which at an annual rate is far short of the 1,985 miles completed for the whole of 2011. Keep reading →
As advanced information technology continues to permeate the power sector and the two-way data flow between utility and customer deepens, countless opportunities to streamline the delivery and consumption of electricity arise. Across the US, utilities are taking innovative approaches to fostering energy efficient behavior by working with customers to build sustainable practices, programs and business models.
The key is to use all available channels – including social networking – to engage customers with a simple message, you need to “keep [customers] informed and show [them] results,” Bill Andrew, President and CEO of the Delaware Electric Cooperative told audience members at last week’s DNV Kema Utility of the Future Leadership Forum in Washington DC. Keep reading →
Plans to build the first US undersea transmission system for offshore wind farms advanced on Monday when the federal government said there was no competition for the proposed project, which can now be subject to an environmental review without being delayed by an auction.
The US Department of the Interior issued a finding of no competitive interest on the plan by Atlantic Grid Holdings to build the $5 billion Atlantic Wind Connection, a 300-mile transmission line off five mid-Atlantic states to take as much as 7,000 megawatts of wind-turbine capacity from yet-to-be-built offshore wind farms. Keep reading →
On a continent with many of the world’s poorest countries, it seems perfectly normal that a smart grid would not be on the plate for those nations’ governments. But Africa, a collection of 48 mainland countries and six island nations, is a far different place from the smart grid hotbeds of the U.S., China and Europe.
A number of those countries are working to adopt several aspects of smart grid to bring their economies out of the muck of troubled histories and into an era of development and smart, sustainable energy futures, even though the odds appear terrible. Several countries on the African continent are taking a chance. Keep reading →
March 2012 shattered US temperature records. What about the summer?
Electricity market operators are not generally fond of hot summers, when consumers turn up their air conditioners to stay cool, while straining the network, sometimes to the brink of disaster. This summer is no exception, especially in a few places where supplies are likely to be tight. Keep reading →
