With leadership in the global economy and in the energy industry increasingly up for grabs among new players and established giants, demonstrating leadership and innovation has become an essential tool for attracting investors and placating regulators.
Oil giant Chevron has staked out its territory in the leadership race today with the announcement of a “groundbreaking” strategic partnership with the Washington, DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Keep reading →
In Canada we are resource rich but vision poor.
We have the World’s second largest oil reserves and large storage hydro systems that provide amongst the cheapest electricity in the World. Keep reading →
The sun shines strong on hot summer days and soon the US may be capturing much of its power for electricity.
Solar markets have picked up in activity in recent days, both on the production and consumption side, aided by strategic boosts from the US government. Keep reading →
On April 12, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a new renewables portfolio standard (RPS) that set a goal of 33% power from renewables by 2020.
This move has paved the way for developers to construct wind and solar project like never before. More megawatts of renewables are currently under construction in California than have been constructed in the past decade. Keep reading →
With the publication of Power Hungry, Robert Bryce continues in his established tradition of in-depth research and bluntly presented findings. He’s not known around the Internet, or in policy circles, as weak-kneed, or easily swayed. On the policy front, Bryce doesn’t tend to mince words. He is an equal opportunity critic, pointing out the mistakes of concepts and practices on all sides of the political spectrum.
Review of: Power Hungry: The Myths of “Green” Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future
By: Robert Bryce, Managing Editor, Energy Tribune
Public Affairs, 2010, 394 pages Keep reading →
FT, Wash Post editorials: #Germany’s #nuclear shutdown no policy to emulate http://on.ft.com/inv5pC http://wapo.st/m3Okzl #energy @INL
The country’s electrical transmission system is slowly being integrated in an effort to attain maximum efficiency at minimum cost.
Agreements signed this week underline the urgency behind efforts to bolster infrastructure and integrate electrical lines across the country. Keep reading →
I hear a lot of talk about a great desire to include renewable energy into the national energy mix, if it weren’t for the issue of intermittency. Sure, we can control the costs to build a wind farm or a solar plant, but the fuel supply is truly in the hands of Mother Nature whenever she decides to make the wind blow or the sun shine.
As the CEO of a renewable energy company with more than 500 MW of wind and solar installed in North America, I know we only build renewable energy projects in areas with the best wind or solar capabilities within a given market. But still, it is not possible to know exactly when Mother Nature will smile on us. Unfortunately, this challenging characteristic of renewable energy has become the foremost excuse for utilities to restrict or block the addition of renewable energy resources to our energy mix. I would argue that intermittency itself is not the immediate issue for utilities, but rather how they are looking at the larger energy pool in total. Instead of focusing on intermittency roadblocks, utilities need to consolidate into more modern and broader markets that diversify management of the intermittency issue and ensure competitive access to the power grid. Keep reading →
The industry of substation automation, involving a multitude of devices, technologies, and business models requiring skilled product selection, implementation, interoperability, and engineering, is burgeoning. Committed Smart Grid nations are prioritizing their efforts to revitalize their decaying electric infrastructure by investing in critical upgrades to their substations and ensuring these structures can be seamlessly connected to the Smart Grid.
SBI Energy report “Global Smart Substation Products Market” examines the avid worldwide interest in smart substation development, including the market size, scope of the products and the uneven pace at which nations are adopting the different substation automation architectures. Keep reading →
Coal, once the unchallenged king of Pennsylvania power generation, is set for further erosion in its market share as environmental regulations tighten and abundant natural gas becomes an increasingly attractive alternative for utilities.
The black gold now accounts for less than half the power generated in Pennsylvania, down from 92% in 1969, and the industry likely won’t be able to stop the slide despite growing demand from steelmakers in Europe and Asia. Keep reading →
