Transmission

FERC Order 1000 Draws More Complaints

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Opponents of the latest federal rule on transmission planning have re-emerged to lodge complaints as the regulation awaits implementation.

A group representing seven utilities, the Coalition for Fair Transmission Policy filed a request for a rehearing of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Order 1000 on Tuesday, calling the regulation “inconsistent with its stated objectives.” Though it has long been policy for all the utilities of a geographic region to pay together for new transmission lines, new renewable energy projects that require extensive new infrastructure are straining the model. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 24, 2011 at 6:00 AM

PJM: Grid stable, no load lost.

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Grid stable, no load lost. Outages local, not grid-related. 2700 MW gen lost in Va. PJM assessing situation with members #earthquake pjminterconnect

 /  Published August 23, 2011 at 3:40 PM

Kansas: The Poster Child For Transmission Development

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Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz had it right about Kansas when she said, “There’s no place like home.”

As we saw during the Heartland Transmission Conference in Hutchinson recently, there’s no place like Kansas for high-voltage transmission. That’s because Kansas realized early on the benefits of developing its wind energy potential; it understood that new transmission will be critical to moving wind energy to market; and it figured out how to get it done. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 23, 2011 at 11:45 AM

Dear Consumers: Thank You!

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The worst of the summer heat may have passed.

On August 16, CEO and President of Texas’ major ISO, ERCOT, H.B. “Trip” Doggett, wrote a letter to consumers thanking them for cooperating with ERCOT during the peak energy demands of summer and helping out with load control. The grid operator asked consumers to cut back on electricity use multiple times during this summer. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 21, 2011 at 2:00 PM

Siemens’ Eye For The Future

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Ever wonder what the future holds?

This Siemens video, narrated by a robotic android-like voice, illustrates one vision for the future: a smart grid that feeds electric vehicles and enables electricity from renewable generation to be stored. The video focuses particularly on the potential that electric vehicles (EV’s) could unlock and the positive implications they could have for the grid. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 15, 2011 at 9:45 AM

A Sunny Outlook On Transmission

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Doom and gloom are the default settings for the electricity sector, especially when it comes to challenging transmission projects, but Jay Caspary is having none of it.

“We’re just starting to see the benefits of a robust grid,” Caspary says. As Director of Transmission Development at the Southwest Power Pool, Caspary is tasked with working on strategic and emerging transmission issues at the regional transmission organization, much of which includes working with a host of partners and neighbors. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 12, 2011 at 11:35 AM

Duke Gets The Jump On Smart Grid

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A sprawling five-state utility in the Southeast United States and founded in 1900, Duke Energy is perhaps more familiar than most power companies with the stagnant nature of the electrical transmission grid.

In its August 8 White Paper, titled “Developing the communications platform to enable a more intelligent electric grid,” Duke Energy’s Manager of Technology Development David Masters outlines the company’s smart grid vision and how it hopes to see the electric grid modernized, and transformed, in the coming decades. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 10, 2011 at 10:00 AM

Smart Grid Sparks Pricing Debate In Illinois

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An increasingly energetic debate is emerging over who should pay for smart grid technology in Illinois.

If approved, the Energy Infrastructure Modernization bill will authorize a multi-billion dollar investment in the modernization of the state’s electric grid. But disagreement over who should foot the bill and whether customers will actually see financial benefits could lead to a veto by Governor Pat Quinn. The bill was proposed into the Senate at the end of May and has not come up for a vote yet. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 9, 2011 at 2:35 PM

Smart Grid Privacy And Security Risks Loom For Agencies

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The effort to modernize America’s electric grid is well underway, with nearly $8 billion in federal funding since 2009 and states across the country hastening to deploy everything from electronic smart meters for homes to regional sensors capable of detecting and responding to power outages.

But major privacy and security problems for the smart grid effort could be on the horizon and present a host of challenges to federal agencies, according to multiple smart grid technology and policy experts.


The issue of smart grid privacy is already being addressed on the west coast as the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently issued a bill that will standardize privacy measures and price and usage data security for all major California electrical utilities. Read the full story: Customers Claim Top Priority In California Smart Grid. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 5, 2011 at 11:00 AM

An Attempt at Clarity in the Who-Should-Pay-for-Transmission Debate

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Last week I wrote about the planning reforms contained in Order 1000, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s landmark rule on transmission planning and cost allocation. Today’s blog looks at Order 1000’s cost allocation implications – basically, how to figure out who pays for new transmission development.

Clements’ previous blog, as well as this one, both appeared originally on the NRDC staff blog, Switchboard. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 5, 2011 at 6:00 AM
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