The intertwined history of the internet and electricity has been a tortured one, following a boom and bust cycle.
Internet giant Google and a pair of Midwestern electric utilities are betting that this time is different. Keep reading →
Corporate
Sign up and get Breaking Energy news in your inbox.
We will never sell or share your information without your consent. See our privacy policy.The announcement of the Google deal with Kansas City’s electric utilities made the timing of this Breaking Energy webcast particularly serendipitous. Correspondent Margaret Ryan and Managing Editor Peter Gardett discussed the range of technologies electricity firms will be using in their smart grid efforts, and the challenges they face.
We discussed the failed effort of electric utilities to go into broadband a little more than a decade ago, and also mentioned my favorite word of the week: synchrophasor. Keep reading →
Most veteran reality-TV watchers know the weight loss program “The Biggest Loser” but the Environmental Protection Agency has its own unique version, “Battle of the Buildings.” Keep reading →
“We will have information we simply don’t have now, and that will transform the way we think about energy. What will that look like? Like nothing we’re expecting. Before Facebook, I never knew I was missing it.” Keep reading →
NRG Energy is a massive and diverse power generation company with assets ranging from lignite coal-fired units in Germany to solar generation in California. Keep reading →
Exelon’s proposed $7.9 billion purchase of Constellation is either the end of an era in electricity trading, or the beginning of “power markets 3.0.” Keep reading →
The first high-profile spill at a natural gas hydraulic fracturing operation is proving to be no “Macondo” Gulf spill for the industry, which is pressing ahead on an sector-transforming drilling program.
Growing reliance by electricity generators on natural gas is unlikely to be weakened by reports of air and water contamination by the booming shale-gas industry, even after an April 20 gas well blowout in Pennsylvania renewed concerns that the hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) technology used to harvest shale gas is a threat to water quality, power-industry analysts said. Keep reading →
This video from the Alliance to Save Energy outlines a retrofit project that took place at the residence of the US Ambassador to Belgium. The savings outlined are impressive, including a cut of more than half in electricity usage for lighting. Among the speakers on the video are the Alliance’s president Kateri Callahan as well as representatives of a number of major energy and consumer goods firms.
But the more impressive part of the video is in the project’s broader applicability. The brands that the Alliance used in the residence are largely major global brands, not expensive niche products from inaccessible companies. The key takeaway is that the lessons on energy saving that come from this relatively high-end project can be used in a wide variety of settings to monitor and save electricity. Keep reading →
More than a decade after deregulation of the electricity sector began the process of creative destruction by ending the monopoly of power companies over customer service areas, utilities are doing their best to rebuild the full-service model for a new era.
Exelon, a Chicago-based company with a large generation portfolio but minimal exposure to the customer side of the electricity business, will pay $7.9 billion in an all-equity deal to take on floundering Constellation Energy of Baltimore. The two companies hope to close the deal in early 2012, and have written a daunting combined $1 billion worth of breakup fees into the agreement to guarantee only regulatory objections could halt their tie-up. Keep reading →
Increased operations and maintenance expenditures compounded declining revenue imposed by decreased overall demand for electricity in the Southeast, massive US utility Southern Company said in its first-quarter earnings released today.
The company reported $422 million in profit in the first quarter of 2011, down from $495 million in the same period a year ago. Keep reading →
