Florida Power & Light Company partners with PetroQuest Energy to develop natural gas production wells in southeastern Oklahoma; First Solar receives financing approval to build a 141-MW solar power plant in Chile; DTE Energy will deploy Tollgrade’s LightHouse MV smart grid sensors and predictive grid analytics platform within its distribution network in Detroit; US DOE chooses Abengoa, together with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Colorado School of Mines, to develop a new solar storage technology for thermoelectric plants.

Coal-fired power plants subject to EPA’s MATS rule can try a biological treatment option to remove mercury emissions from the environment.

Weather and GIS are being combined in new ways to provide better storm threat assessments - helping utilities create increasingly effective battle plans to defend against approaching storms.

Utility distribution lines increasingly are going underground, but costs are still prohibitive for replacing existing overhead lines.

An independent system operator for the distribution network could allow utilities to invest in rooftop solar behind the meter and within territory.

Default enrollment for time-varying rates, with an opt-out, will reduce peak demand and far more than a default flat rate with a TVR opt-in.

An independent system operator for the distribution network could open more opportunities for distributed energy resources, including rooftop solar.

Load research data shows how utilities can levy a demand charge to recover costs fairly from residential customers with rooftop solar.

Thomas Piketty’s best-selling book, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” shows why utility transmission owners should not enjoy excessive returns.