U.S. stocks were down on Monday following concerns from investors about Greek debt negotiations and unsatisfactory Chinese economic data on top of uncertainty about U.S. interest rates. “After the market’s strong week last week, nine out of ten S&P sectors finished down Monday, with healthcare and utilities the worst performers. Only energy finished up slightly,… Keep reading →
If vandals can do so much harm, what can determined terrorists accomplish Ever since The Wall Street Journal published an article on the threat that a few vandals with assault rifles inflicted on a critical substation, there has been heightened concern about grid security. The 18 Feb 2014 article titled Assault on California power station… Keep reading →
But a former Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector disagrees. An advanced seismic study conducted by utility PG&E to determine the safety of California’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant has found that the facility is “designed to withstand and perform [its] safety functions during and after a major seismic event.” The Central Coastal California Seismic Imaging Projectreport was submitted to the Nuclear… Keep reading →
With the recent EPA proposal concerning strict carbon levels from existing power plants, owners with facilities out of compliance generally have three options – retrofit to meet emissions standards, convert to an alternative fuel or close the plant. While natural gas conversion is a strong option for some plants, another alternative is either biomass cofiring or making… Keep reading →
We could all learn to get along without cell phones. And many of us are already learning to get along without cable TV. But civilization as we know it could not get along without electricity, which makes the electric industry – the generation, transmission and delivery of power – one of our most vital,… Keep reading →
As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to a strong and secure power grid, the Energy Department today announced more than $10 million for projects that will improve the reliability and resiliency of the U.S. electric grid and facilitate quick and effective response to grid conditions. This investment which includes six projects across five states-… Keep reading →
Japan’s Tohoku Electric Power Company has agreed to buy 0.9 million tons per annum of LNG for 20 years from the 8.9 mtpa, Chevron-operated Wheatstone LNG project in Australia. Other committed buyers for Wheatstone production include TEPCO, Kyushu Electric Power Company and Chubu Electric Power Company. First LNG is scheduled for 2016. US independent Apache completed… Keep reading →
Fuel cells’ prospects of becoming a significant energy source are growing as costs decline and technology advances, helping the two leading players in the US industry, FuelCell Energy, and Bloom Energy.
In a signal of growing confidence in the full cell business, Bloom Energy is the subject of speculation that it will go public this year, said Sam Jaffe, research manager at IDC Energy Insights. Keep reading →
A Silicon Valley smart grid startup is gunning to lower the cost of demand response by 90% while increasing efficiency 30%.
Palo Alto, CA-based AutoGrid was founded by Stanford University professor Amit Narayan. Its most recent hire is smart grid pioneer Chris Knudsen. Knudsen, who formerly ran PG&E’s Technology Innovation Center, joins as chief technology officer. AutoGrid has already attracted marquee investors including Foundation Capital, Voyager Capital and Stanford University. What’s more, it is leading a $4-million grant project funded by DOE and the California Energy Commission to investigate “highly dispatchable and distributed demand response for the integration of distributed generation.” Keep reading →
With the exception of a few teams (Red Sox, Phillies and Cubs come to mind) most baseball fans are fairly mild mannered. In my house, we spend many summer nights falling asleep to the drone of the announcers’ voices as the seventh, eighth, ninth innings come and go. Football fans, on the other hand, seem to be more physically passionate. Maybe it’s the roughness of the sport. Or perhaps it’s the speed and action. Or the inherent excitement in each play. All I know is, if the lights were to go out for a few seconds in a baseball game, most fans would simply wave up the row for the beer guy. The millions of 49ers and Steelers fans in San Francisco and around their TV sets when two outages occurred during Monday night football reacted a little differently.
PG&E doesn’t have any more eyes left to blacken by consumers given their track record on smart grid implementation; the fact that they were unable to give a definitive reason for the outage did not help their cause. Whoever is to blame, one thing is certain. If the PG&E system and large facilities like sports complexes had energy storage technologies in place, the back-up power would come on in the blink of an eye and football fans would be none the wiser. Keep reading →
