Accentuate the Positive
A practical guide to explaining the value of the smart grid.
Despite challenges, grid modernization is paying off for customers. Smart grid progress depends on clarifying the vision and communicating value.
Reliability
Benchmarking Storm Restoration
Submitted by mburr on Tue, 2013-06-25 15:45There's no such thing as an average superstorm, and every situation requires a unique strategy. But data on utilities' performance in response to major storms helps identify best practices -- and lessons learned.
There's no such thing as an average superstorm, and every situation requires a unique strategy. But data on utilities' performance in response to major storms helps identify best practices -- and lessons learned.
In the Situation Room
Presidential attention raises the priority level for cybersecurity.
Have industry leaders and regulators turned a corner on efforts to make the grid more secure?
Transmission Policy in Flux
More planning, fewer incentives, and a black swan on the horizon.
The transmission superhighway still needs major investments. Rate incentives were working -- until FERC started backing away from them. FERC should assert its authority more aggressively to promote the vision of a robust interstate grid.
Rethinking Capacity Markets
A pragmatic new approach to assuring reliability.
The latest dispute over PJM’s bidding rules has raised the level of uncertainty in organized electricity markets. Efforts at reform have created a market structure so jumbled that it can’t produce just and reasonable rates -- or assure adequate supply resources. It’s time for FERC to consider alternative approaches to market design.
Economy of Small
How DG and microgrids change the game for utilities.
Energy microgrids have emerged as more than just a curiosity. The technology is improving, costs are falling, and developers are lining up to build projects. How will microgrids overcome the substantial challenges that stand in their way?
Smaller, Cheaper, and More Resilient
The rationale for microgrids.
Despite an array of challenges, microgrids are becoming a force in the market. Innovative projects bring greater efficiency and resilience.
Peaceful Coexistence
Independent microgrids are coming. Will franchised utilities fight them or foster them?
Despite offering a range of benefits, microgrids are proving to be controversial—especially when non-utility owned microgrids seek to serve multiple customers. The biggest battles are taking place in the realm of public policy. But utilities that pursue collaboration rather than confrontation are finding interesting opportunities for profitable investment.
'Resilience'
A new watchword for the industry and its regulators.
If the concept of resilience—including cyber and physical security—had been baked into the industry’s culture from the beginning, the energy grid might look a lot different from what it does today.
Islands in the Storm
Microgrids begin to make economic sense.
With microgrids in place, doomsday preppers wouldn't need to worry so much about a zombie plague.