We talked with John Hargrove, CEO of the Association of Energy Services Professionals.
Customer-sited solar makes it increasingly difficult for utilities to integrate excess generation and ensure all ratepayers benefit
Portland General Electric Company (PGE) and the California Independent System Operator (ISO) filed an implementation agreement with FERC, paving the way for the Portland, Ore.-based utility to participate in the western energy imbalance market (EIM) starting in October 2017. The western EIM is a real-time energy wholesale market that automatically dispatches the lowest-cost electricity resources available to meet utility customer needs while optimizing use of renewable energy over a large geographic area.
PG&E asked state regulators for permission to build ~ 25,000 EV chargers across its service area in Northern and Central California - if approved, it would mark the largest deployment of EV charging stations in the country; Lockheed Martin and Dominion Resources have co-developed a new smart grid technology called VirtuGrid to enable remote detection of power outages for faster mapping and response; Panda Power Funds and Sunbury Generation LP will develop, finance, construct and operate a 1,000-MW gas-fired, combined-cycle power project in Pennsylvania; Siemens secured an order of 157 wind turbines in South Africa from Mainstream Renewable Power; PSE&G recently put two new landfill solar farms in service as part of its Solar 4 All program; Exelon Generation will add 195-MW of electric generation capacity at the Medway (Mass.) facility; ABB won a $35 million order for gas-insulated switchgear and shunt reactors from Belgian electricity transmission system operator Elia; Iberdrola USA agreed to acquire UIL Holdings and create a newly listed publicly traded company; Chesapeake Utilities agreed to merge Gatherco into Aspire Energy of Ohio, a wholly-owned subsidiary; and others...
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.
Ormat Technologies’ second phase of its McGinness Hills geothermal power plant located in Lander County, Nevada has begun commercial operation. Since February 1, 2015, the complex sells electricity under the amended PPA with NV Energy through December 2032. The second phase broke ground on March 2014 following resource confirmation and excellent performance of the first phase of McGinness Hills, which had been operational since June 2012.
Alstom recently released its latest demand response management system (DRMS) to NV Energy to provide new, advanced functions for the utility's demand response (DR) programs. The latest version of e-terraDRBizNet provides advanced functions to interface with both proprietary and industry standards-based customer devices; this includes the likes of Cooper Power Systems, Carrier/United Technologies, and Corporate Systems Engineering for existing operational load management systems, and Building
Portfolio theory points to energy efficiency as invaluable in resource planning.
The California Independent System Operator (ISO) and PacifiCorp announced that tariff amendments to expand the ISO's real-time energy scheduling market across multiple states in the West was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The new market, known as the energy imbalance market (EIM), is expected to increase resource efficiency, reduce costs and more effectively use renewable and conventional resources.