Elon Musk’s decision last week to invite other car manufacturers to use Tesla Motors’ technology was bold. But the Tesla CEO, putting on his SolarCity chairman’s hat and working with company leadership partners Lyndon and Peter Rive, might have surpassed that move on Tuesday. The trio announced that SolarCity – heretofore a solar power financier/installer… Keep reading →
The Netherlands is a world leader with regard to engineering water-management solutions on an industrial scale. The country was created in the delta of three large rivers that flow into the North Sea and roughly two thirds of the nation’s GDP are earned below sea level. One of the world’s largest airports – Amsterdam Airport… Keep reading →
That may be an understatement There has been a flurry of reports coming from all directions leading to similar conclusions, namely the demise of the traditional utility business model. The latest is a March 2014 report from an unlikely source, Morgan Stanley, concluding that “improvements in batteries and distributed generation could partly or completely eliminate… Keep reading →
Peak solar & wind power production in Germany are considerably lower than installed capacity The EU Commission recently unveiled new regulations for the period 2014 to 2020 to gradually phase out support for renewable energy technologies. In a press release the commission stated the guidelines are intended to “promote a gradual move to market-based support… Keep reading →
As Americans brace for warmer weather – and the tornadoes, droughts and hurricanes that come with it – the question remains: are utilities prepared to handle the stress of ever increasing inclement weather? Like weather patterns, every utility requires unique ingredients to successfully navigate storm-related outage prevention and restoration strategy. However, at the foundation of… Keep reading →
A little over two years ago we reported that utility-scale energy storage could be “around the corner” thanks to flow-battery technology that relies on a rare earth mineral called vanadium. That vision leapt closer to reality last week. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced it will partner with energy storage… Keep reading →
A post-Hurricane Sandy storm has been brewing in New Jersey since PSE&G filed an infrastructure-hardening project with the Board of Public Utilities last year. The utility is seeking $3.9 billion to fortify power grid infrastructure flooded during the hurricane. The BPU is balking at the price and questioning the extent to which customers will benefit… Keep reading →
Cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly important issue for utilities and other energy companies as more business tasks are connected to online environments in various ways. To better address these risks, President Obama issued Executive Order 13636, “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity,” which called for the development of a voluntary risk-based Cybersecurity to enhance the security and resilience… Keep reading →
Quick Take: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) conducted a worldwide survey of CIOs from many different industries. They recently released a comparison that shows how utility CIOs think of themselves, and how that differs from other CIOs. It’s interesting stuff. In many ways, utility CIOs are doing a bit better than average. Yet many of them rate their own… Keep reading →
Sunverge sees a future in building and managing customer energy-storage systems as utility assets. Ken Munson, CEO of Stockton, Calif.-based startup Sunverge Energy, doesn’t want you to think of his company’s product as a “battery in a box,” backing up a roof full of solar panels — even if that’s one very accurate way to describe… Keep reading →
