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Pepco Deploys Itron, ClipperCreek Electric Vehicle Smart Charging Solution

Submitted by aburr on Tue, 2014-11-11 12:43

Pepco will deploy Itron and ClipperCreek’s electric vehicle smart charging pilot solution. The technology, which combines ClipperCreek’s charging station with Itron embedded sensing technology, provides the foundation for Pepco’s Demand Management Pilot Program for plug-in vehicle charging. The pilot program is to validate electric vehicle smart charging stations to support consumer engagement, demand response, time-of-use rates and embedded revenue-grade metering.

Microsoft Taps Siemens as to Engineer Power Monitoring Solution for First Zero-Carbon Biogas Data Center

Submitted by aburr on Tue, 2014-11-11 12:43

Siemens Energy Management partnered with Microsoft and FuelCell Energy to design, engineer and install equipment and software, including a power monitoring solution, for the nation's first zero-carbon, waste-to-energy data center in Cheyenne, WY. The project uses biogas methane produced by common waste byproducts at the nearby Dry Creek wastewater facility to power the fuel cell system. The fuel cell system then converts the biogas into electricity to power the Microsoft datacenter.

Transmission Developer Holding Breath That Undersea Cable Will Meet Market Needs

Submitted by meacott on Mon, 2014-11-10 08:52
Independent transmission owners are known for buying well-established networks from utilities, until now. For the first time, a third party grid operator is purchasing the rights to build such a system on spec – and one would traverse from Canada into the United States.

Independent transmission owners are known for buying well-established networks from utilities, until now. For the first time, a third party grid operator is purchasing the rights to build such a system on spec – and one would traverse from Canada into the United States. 

Transactions (November 2014)

PPL Montana sold its hydroelectric facilities to NorthWestern Energy for $900 million; Chesapeake Utilities sold BravePoint; Echelon completed the sale of its grid operations to S&T AG; Plus a debt redemption from Virginia Electric & Power, a private placement offering from DPL, and an IPO for Dominion Midstream Partners.

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Digest (November 2014)

Siemens will provide the grid connection for an offshore wind farm off the coast of the U.K.; ABB will supply gas-insulated switchgear for substations in New Jersey; A team from the Microgrid Institute will design, simulate, and test microgrid control systems for two Maryland suburbs; Plus solar power developments by Xcel Energy, SunEdison, ReneSola, and Duke Energy; and others…

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Integrated Distribution Planning

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

The next frontier, and the logical extension of integrated resource planning. Self-generation, the connected home, the celebrated internet of things – they all suggest it’s time to focus on the local grid.
Byline: 

Paul Alvarez

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Utility Commissioners and Who They Trust

A survey sample of regulators on their dealings with peers, colleagues, staffers, and stakeholders.

How do regulators engage their staffs and colleagues? How do they view their peers in other states? The utilities they regulate? A unique view based on a sample survey of former state utility commissioners.
Byline: 

Douglas N. Jones

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2014 Utility Regulators' Forum

Diversifying Utility Regulation: State regulators voice opinions as mixed as the nation’s geography.

Interviews with public utility commissioners from key states – New York, California, Maryland, and Georgia – on coal carbon, climate, and the revolution in retail. What they’re thinking. What they’re planning.
Byline: 

Ken Silverstein

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Risk Holds Sway

Interest rates not always controlling for return on equity. 

(November 2014) Our annual survey of rates of return on common equity authorized by state public utility commissions in recent rate cases for electric and gas retail distribution utilities.
Byline: 

Phillip S. Cross

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Germany's Energiewende

Lessons learned for U.S. utilities – drawn from first-person fact-finding.

Policy experts travel to the continent to get a first-hand view on the lessons the U.S. utilities should take away from Germany’s rush to renewables.
Byline: 

John Pang, Chris Vlahoplus, John Sterling, and Bob Gibson

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