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Asian Smart Grid Deployment: Distinct Situations, Common Solutions

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Roughly 220,000 smart meters every single day; that’s the installation rate some smart grid players are anticipating in the rapidly-expanding Asian market over the next four years.

Rising populations and limited access to electricity in much of Asia is heightening local pressure to do more with less when it comes to power supply, and utilities are eyeing connecting 300 million more smart meters by 2016 in the region, Trilliant Managing Director for the Asia Region Bryan Spear told Breaking Energy in a recent call. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 6, 2012 at 1:00 PM

Coal Versus Gas Power Generation Dynamics: Who’s Buying and Who’s Selling?

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With natural gas competing more strongly than ever with coal for power generation due to near commodity price parity, the mergers and acquisitions market for utilities has entered rarely charted territory.

Of the coal or natural gas utility merger and acquisition deals done in the last 18 months, there were probably 10 times that amount worked on but not closed, John Dingle, Partner at management consulting firm Thorndike Landing told the Platts Utility M&A Conference held June 25th – 26th in New York. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 5, 2012 at 11:15 AM

Coalition Urges Clean Energy Goals for New Administration

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As presidential candidates prepare positions on energy policy, a coalition of U.S. citizen groups is calling for the phase-out of natural gas, coal and nuclear power in favor of a more aggressive adoption of renewable-energy sources.

Thirty-six local organizations who say they represent 1.1 million members reject President Obama’s “all of the above” approach to energy policy, saying it perpetuates the dominance of fossil fuels while avoiding what they call the “real solutions” of clean energy. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 5, 2012 at 8:30 AM

Optimistic Realism in Commercializing Biofuels

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The theme of this year’s recent Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference was “Go Big, Stay Strong,” an allusion to the move of biofuels out of the lab and into commercialization.

But the theme emerging from the remarks of the more than 100 biofuel executives who spoke at the conference was that biofuel companies should execute this “go big” strategy in carefully considered steps rather than in giant leaps and that the key to staying strong is to hedge their bets at every opportunity, including by increasing the range of feedstock, product and financing options. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 3, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Nuclear Concerns, Policy Fuel California Energy Storage Boom

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California energy regulators believe energy storage capacity could reach up to 8,000 MW by 2020, and could be further accelerated by renewables targets and the ongoing closure of one of two of the state’s nuclear power plants.

Michael Gravely, deputy chief of R&D at the California Energy Commission said he anticipated “fairly substantial amount of increase in services” in energy storage to balance the grid and integrate renewables over the next decade. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 3, 2012 at 8:30 AM

Offshore Wind Energy Developers Focus on Northeast US Shores

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Offshore wind power has become a significant component of several European countries’ electricity generation portfolios and now the US is looking to expand the power generating capacity of wind beyond its coastline.

The economics can be complex – particularly if the production tax credit expires at the end of 2012 – but offshore wind has the potential to become an affordable source of electricity for some of the largest US markets. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 2, 2012 at 1:30 PM

‘The American Economy Does Not Have an Oil Addiction’

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It’s the 1 million barrel per day question.

By 2035, US petroleum imports could drop as low as one in every four barrels consumed, but achieving that much import reduction depends heavily on raising vehicle mileage standards. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 2, 2012 at 11:00 AM

Energy Storage Pioneer: An Exclusive Look into the Fall and Rise of Beacon Power

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The political climate generated by the collapse of Solyndra last year had a “profound impact” on the US pioneer in energy storage, the former chief executive said yesterday.

In exclusive comments to Breaking Energy at the Energy Storage Week Summit in San Jose, California, Bill Capp, the former CEO of Beacon Power, which filed for bankruptcy last October, said: Keep reading →

 /  Published July 2, 2012 at 8:30 AM

Energy Savings: Leveraging the Supply Chain at Walmart

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When it comes to saving energy and pursuing sustainability, corporate peer pressure can be a wonderful thing.

That’s the experience of Walmart, which since 2010 has been using its own environmental policies, along with its considerable corporate muscle, to persuade suppliers to join its ongoing campaign to reduce carbon emissions. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 29, 2012 at 1:15 PM

Walmart Sees an Affordable Renewable Energy Future

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Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, will leverage its scale to bring affordable renewable power to consumers using its experience from the retail industry.

Rahul Raj, director of sustainability and merchandising innovation at Walmart.com, said that the retail giant aspires to 100% renewable power. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 29, 2012 at 8:30 AM
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