Digest (June 2015)

Duke Energy completed the sale of its non-regulated Midwest Commercial Generation Business to Dynegy for $2.8 billion; Sempra U.S. Gas & Power acquired the Black Oak Getty wind project in Minnesota from Geronimo Energy; Toshiba received an order to supply two sets of 175-MW steam turbine and generators in Chihuahua, Mexico; Alstom Grid was awarded a $23 million contract to supply the first 500 kV substation a substation near Bogota, Colombia; SunEdison agreed to construct and install three solar power plants in southern Utah with a total capacity of 262 MW; Mississippi Power plans to build utility-scale solar farms with a combined capacity represent the largest solar installation in the state; Phoenix Energy's joint venture, North Fork Community Power's project was awarded a $4.9 million grant to construct one of the first forest-sourced biomass gasification plants; Westinghouse Electric will increase the capacity of the cooling system at the Central Interim Storage Facility for Spent Nuclear Fuel (Clab) located in Sweden.

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Estimating the Longevity of Commercial Nuclear Reactors

A demographic analysis of plants in the U.S.

The question of the life span of these resources is highly pertinent, given efforts to subsidize nuclear units in New York and Illinois. Are these subsidies for five years or 30 years? There is little research on the life expectancy of the average commercial reactor.
Byline: 

Robert McCullough

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Grid Reform to Date

How the feds opened the supply side.

The sheer scale of growth put a ‘stake through the heart’ of the old view.
Byline: 

Sonia Aggarwal and Robbie Orvis

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Distribution Optimization: Ready for Takeoff

Part 1: How markets today are out of sync.

The time has come to consider options for optimizing distributed energy resources, with the intent of supporting a least-cost, reliable, and clean system that delivers more choice and control for customers.
Byline: 

Sonia Aggarwal and Robbie Orvis

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CEOs are Charged Up

But guiding their companies in times of change is a challenging task.

It’s a new era for utilities and their consumers. Today’s leaders are atop those economic, political and technological happenings.
Byline: 

Ken Silverstein and Herman Trabish

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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.
Byline: 

Bruce W. Radford

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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.
Byline: 

Ken Silverstein and Bruce W. Radford

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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.
Byline: 

John Egan

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