New York Takes the Lead
No proposal is as radical – or as well thought out – as REV.
If the New York Rev is fully implemented, utility earnings would depend more on creating value for customers and achieving policy objectives.
People (July 2015)
OGE Energy chairman and CEO Pete Delaney stepped down from the CEO position to become the interim CEO of Enable Midstream Partners. In response, OGE named current president Sean Trauschke, as CEO. PJM Interconnection elected Terry Blackwell to the PJM board. Chesapeake Utilities appointed John R. Schimkaitis to serve as chairman of the board. Paul D. Koonce adds the role of president-Dominion Virginia Power to his responsibilities. And others...
Utilities Cutting Cord to Coal
It’s not personal. It’s just business.
With coal’s troubles piling up, so too are stories about the industry’s “bleak” future in the United States – a casualty of cheap natural gas, thinning coal seams, and the pursuit of lower-carbon alternatives. Just as conspicuous: utilities, which have long allied themselves with the coal developers, are retiring their older coal units in droves.
National Summit on Smart Grid and Climate Change
Submitted by jcole on Tue, 2015-07-07 16:03Nuclear Fusion is Ideal. But How Real?
If scientists are ultimately able to achieve success with nuclear fusion demonstrations, the result would be the production of 10 million times more power than a typical chemical reaction, such as the burning of fossil fuels. Lockheed Martin and others are hard at work trying to do just that.
Can nuclear fusion become a reality within a decade, at least for small-scale projects? That’s the aim of Lockheed Martin, which says that its truck-sized reactor has the potential to develop safe and abundant power that could solve the issue of climate change.
Westinghouse Wins Safety Upgrade Contract at Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station
Submitted by aburr on Wed, 2015-07-01 13:38Westinghouse Electric Company was contracted by Arizona Public Service to provide the first Mobius system, a continuous mobile boration system designed for use at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station. Work already is underway on the project. Delivery of the Mobius system to Palo Verde is scheduled for late 2015. At Palo Verde, the Mobius system will be used at the start of outages to borate the plant to refueling boron concentrations much faster than current methods, resulting in reduced outage duration.
AEP Taps Siemens to Modernize HVDC System Welsh in Texas
Submitted by aburr on Wed, 2015-07-01 13:37American Electric Power (AEP) chose Siemens to modernize its HVDC back-to-back link at its 600-MW Welsh HVDC station in Titus County, Texas. Siemens will upgrade its 20-year-old system by installing new control and protection technologies, replacing the cooling, heating and ventilation, and incorporating new harmonic filters and shunt reactors. This will be the first Siemens mid-life control and protection HVDC modernization in the United States.
Wisconsin Energy Completes Acquisition of Integrys to Form WEC Energy Group
Submitted by aburr on Wed, 2015-07-01 13:36Wisconsin Energy completed the acquisition of Integrys Energy - forming the WEC Energy Group. The new company will provide electricity and natural gas to 4.4 million customers across four states through its customer facing brands - We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service, Peoples Gas, North Shore Gas, Michigan Gas Utilities, and Minnesota Energy Resources.
Consumers Energy Debuts New Technology to Help Monitor Power Lines, Equipment, Wind Turbines
Submitted by aburr on Wed, 2015-07-01 13:34Consumers Energy launched an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) near a Jackson County electric substation to help determine whether the emerging technology can improve how the company serves Michigan residents. Consumers Energy is the fourth energy company in the U.S. and the first in Michigan, to receive approval for UAV use from the Federal Aviation Administration. The UAV is being evaluated on its performance at inspecting wind turbines and above-ground utility equipment such as poles and transformers.