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Splitting the Difference on Coal Ash

Industry wins exemption for ‘beneficial use’ but faces tighter rules on impoundments and landfills.

The EPA only has limited authority to implement and enforce a Subtitle D nonhazardous waste rule, like the coal combustion residuals rule. As a result, EPA had to promulgate the standards as “minimum federal criteria” that states are encouraged to adopt as part of their Subtitle D programs (but EPA cannot actually require states to adopt or implement these requirements.) Nonetheless, the new minimum criteria do indeed serve as legal standards that an owner or operator of a coal combustion residuals disposal unit must meet.
Byline: 

Kenneth Kastner

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Digest (March 2015)

Pacific Gas and Electric and automaker BMW are teaming up to test the ability of EV batteries to provide services to the electric grid; MidAmerican Energy completed work on four of five wind farms across Iowa that make up its Wind VIII project; GE received an order from the Tennessee Valley Authority to supply two high-efficiency 7HA.02 gas turbine generators for the new combined-cycle Allen plant; Appalachian Power plans to rebuild the existing South Bluefield-Wythe 69-kV transmission line; Bechtel partnered with Westinghouse Electric to provide decontamination and decommissioning services for nuclear power plants throughout the U.S.; SunEdison and Omnigrid Micropower signed a framework agreement to develop 5,000 rural projects, representing 250 MW of electricity, throughout India; The Tennessee Valley Authority and DuPont partnered to generate power and steam at TVA's Johnsonville site in Tennessee; and others.

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Reaching for the Cloud

Utilities house pools of data in the Internet ecosystem, striving for efficiencies.

Business decisions may be easier to come by at utilities now that new technologies are capturing their data from a multitude of sources and storing it in the “cloud” where it can be accessed by analysts and authorized personnel.
Byline: 

Ken Silverstein

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Electric Vehicle Charging: Tariffs and Tradeoffs

We examine various types of charging strategies and infrastructure available today and report on the experience gained from rate structures for electric vehicle charging now being offered at four different utilities. These findings lead us to provide recommendations to achieve more productive use of the electric grid.
Byline: 

Mindy Blank and Kevin B. Jones

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Energy Storage: The Utility's Best Friend

Perhaps the best way to think of energy storage is as an injection of much-needed intelligence for the grid. Energy storage will fine-tune the relationship between a bewilderingly complex asset base and a sprawling, diverse and demanding spectrum of customers in real time. Energy storage systems will act like energy grid computers and control systems, not just bulk repositories for electrons.
Byline: 

John Jung

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Rethinking Regulation

Not so Fast: Why the Electric Industry May be Heading in the Wrong Direction

Utility regulation will often display the power of special interests, which may only appeal to a narrow set of interests. Public officials need to step and serve the broader public.
Byline: 

Kenneth W. Costello

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The Case for Smart Grid

Funding a new infrastructure in an age of uncertainty.

The world’s electricity supply will need to triple by 2050 to keep up with demand. What follows is a look at where we are, and what may lie ahead, with a focus on the the scope of the problem, regulatory reform initiatives now underway, and how to go about rethinking the business models that might evolve.
Byline: 

Massoud Amin

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Radical Candor

Making ‘Clean Coal’ More than an Oxymoron.

Are clean coal efforts likely to fail? Yes. Does that mean investing is foolish? No. Here are eight ways I think the industry should change its clean coal messaging if it wants to win over the people who matter most.
Byline: 

Peter Sandman

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Commenting on Carbon

State PUCs take on EPA and its Clean Power Plan.

Everything about the Clean Power Plan seems surreal. States complain of unfair treatment. Regulators read the proposed rule and sound warnings of a coming apocalypse.
Byline: 

Bruce W. Radford

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Transactions (March 2015)

TerraForm acquired 21 U.S. distributed generation solar power plants from SunEdison; Emera closed the sale of its 49 percent interest in Northeast Wind Partners II to First Wind Holdings; Alterra Power completed its sale of its Fallon, Nevada geothermal facility to an affiliate of Cyrq Energy; Accenture agreed to acquire Structure, a provider of consulting, system integration and customized solutions and services to energy and utility clients; and others.

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