Rooftop Solar 2.0
Hawaii and California grapple over net energy metering.
While the underlying questions in each state regarding net energy metering are much the same, the two PUC's will approach the issue from different perspectives.
High Stakes at the High Court
U.S. Supreme Court to decide demand response case.
Cost-conscious commercial and industrial customers may be oblivious to the legal issues surrounding their energy choices, but their demand response providers are not. The U.S. Supreme Court will now decide whether those services will be regulated by the federal government or state utility commissions.
Keeping Employees Engaged
To win hearts and minds, it takes more than a t-shirt and a coffee mug.
Employee engagement can become a company strength that supports utilities through challenging times. Consider employee engagement a strategic investment in coping with disruptive change.
People (June 2015)
Andrew L. Ott will be PJM Interconnection’s president and CEO later this year; American Transmission Co. named Mike Rowe the company’s future president and CEO; DTE Energy named Paula Silver as v.p. for corporate communications; Georgia Power named Craig Barrs executive v.p. of the company’s customer service and operations organization; ITC Holdings promoted Christine Mason Soneral to senior v.p.; E.ON Energy Services named Keith Day president; Gil C. Quiniones was elected chair of EPRI; Jane Palmieri was elected industry co-chair at the Alliance to Save Energy; Rich Meyer was named president of the nation’s Energy Bar Association; and others.
The Integrated Grid: How Do We Get There?
EPRI’s roadmap for distributed energy.
Rooftop solar is a bell weather technology. And now the goal is to integrate and other distributed resources into grid planning, operations and policy.
The Driving Ambition of Elon Musk
An electric car in every driveway, a battery in every garage.
Tesla’s Elon Musk is driving the electric car off the lot and onto the premises of America’s electric utilities, proposing to build and sell energy storage batteries on both a residential and grid-wide scale – ideas that the chief executive will fully flesh out at the Edison Electric Institute’s annual meeting in New Orleans this June.
Pattern Energy Completes Acquisition of Two Wind Power Facilities Totaling 351 MW from Wind Capital Group
Submitted by aburr on Fri, 2015-05-29 13:43Pattern Energy closed the previously announced acquisition of two operational wind power facilities totaling 351 MW from Wind Capital Group and its affiliates for a final purchase price of $242 million plus assumed net debt of $102 million. The acquisition includes ownership interests in the 201-MW Post Rock Wind facility in Kansas, and the 150-MW Lost Creek Wind facility in Missouri. The Post Rock Wind facility in Kansas has a long-term contract with Westar.
NRC Requires Additional Earthquake Risk Analysis for Two Western U.S. Reactors
Submitted by aburr on Fri, 2015-05-29 13:42The Nuclear Regulatory Commission set a June 2017 deadline for two of three Western U.S. operating nuclear power plants to conduct in-depth analyses of their updated earthquake risk. The NRC is requiring Columbia (Benton County, Wash.) and Diablo Canyon (Avila Beach, Calif.) to submit their detailed risk analysis by June 30, 2017. The NRC continues to examine information from Palo Verde (Wintersburg, Ariz.); if the agency concludes the plant needs the in-depth risk analysis it must complete the work by Dec. 31, 2020.
Southern Company Subsidiary Acquires 103-MW Georgia Solar Project
Submitted by aburr on Fri, 2015-05-29 13:41Southern Company subsidiary Southern Power acquired the 103-MW Butler solar facility from Community Energy. The facility, located on approximately 1,070 acres in Taylor County, Georgia, is expected to enter commercial operation in the fourth quarter of 2016. Construction is slated to begin in September 2015, with First Solar managing the building, operations and maintenance of the facility.