Commentary

Late last week, to manage a potential large-scale power outage driven by triple-digit temperatures, the California Independent Service Operator (CAISO) called on utilities to implement rolling outages across the California grid. The shutdown of three natural gas power plants and a significant decline in available wind power were cited as the primary reasons behind the […]

In the absence of a comprehensive federal renewable energy policy, many states have established regulatory frameworks that incentivize or require utilities to purchase or develop a percentage of renewable

While the nation is rightfully consumed with responding to the COVID-19 crisis, other battles are being fought that also will have decades-long consequences. One of those involves states seeking to override

In 2012, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were drafted at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, which was held in Brazil. The goals were adopted by all the United Nations member countries in 2015. They replaced the Millennium Development Goals, which started in 2000 to tackle the challenge of extreme poverty across the world. […]

Hybrid power plants, also known as solar plus storage or wind plus storage projects, have gained significant traction in recent years. These projects combine solar energy or wind energy with battery energy storage. The result is a somewhat dispatchable renewable energy power plant, which can provide smoother (less-volatile) energy, and can shift time of delivery […]

Dear utility managers and workers, We’ve met some of you over the years, and as our employees have been sheltering in place with lights, internet, televisions, and many other modern comforts, we wanted to say thank you. Too often, energy providers only receive attention when something goes wrong. Because utilities in the U.S. are 99% […]

After Superstorm Sandy pummeled the great State of New Jersey in 2012, more than two million households were without power, many for close to two weeks. A silver lining is that this disaster occurred in the fall, after the heat of summer and before the onset of freezing conditions. With Sandy, New Jersey and the […]

It is human nature to avoid spending money on preparations for an event that may never happen. However, as we all continue to adapt to a COVID-19 world, there is a new awareness of low probability, high impact events. If the consequences of a statistically unlikely event are devastating to the economy, the survival of […]

The regulatory landscape for the energy industry has changed significantly in the past few decades, but a century-old Supreme Court canon—the filed rate doctrine—continues to be a valuable tool for

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic is not the type of thing enterprise technologists could see in our magic crystal ball. Before the onset of the virus and its effects, I set out three predictions for the energy, utilities, and resources sector for the coming year—but of course, a global shutdown of business, transport, and […]