In the brave new world of the smart grid, it won’t be enough for utilities to just provide their customers with the technology and hope they take advantage of it.
To reap the full benefits of a system that matches supply and demand, utilities will have to work a lot harder to deliver real-time information about pricing, energy use, and the status of smart appliances to desktop computers or mobile devices. Keep reading →
A new service that tracks wholesale electricity prices in real time is designed to build consumers’ understanding of how power is generated and how it gets to them.
The Electricity Price Ticker, launched on April 17 by the grid operator PJM Interconnection and the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Institute for Urban Research, provides pricing updates every five minutes for wholesale electricity in the southeastern Pennsylvania territory covered by PECO. Keep reading →
Is there a future in the US for renewables without federal incentives?
That is the question PA Consulting Group asked itself recently, and renewable energy expert Barbara Sands came up with a three-part answer that focuses on supply chain shifts. Producers need to act on multiple fronts to manage the impact of expiring federal cash grants at the same time that demand ahead of renewable portfolio standard 2020 requirements in the states begins to rise. Keep reading →
Fukushima Anniversary: The Road Ahead
By Peter GardettThere was no way for the nuclear industry to succeed at handling Fukushima. The disastrous and poorly-managed shutdown of a nuclear reactor built too close to shore, hit by an earthquake and an even-more-devestating tsunami, gave birth to a year’s worth of images and heartbreak no normal business could handle in normal ways.
In the days after the Fukushima disaster the US industry dialed up its responsiveness in ways that ranged from a North Carolina-based disaster response center handling technology questions, sending personnel to Japan, and handling a leap in internet traffic to relevant websites. Most of what the general public wanted was information that could reassure, and the US nuclear industry sought to supply that information. Keep reading →