COVID-19

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 coronavirus pandemic has triggered a macroeconomic shock that is unprecedented in peacetime. By the end of the first quarter, its effects on global power demand were deep, the International Energy Agency (IEA) noted in a flagship report released on April 30. The international organization, which has collected daily data for more than 30 countries […]

Standard general arrangement drawings, and piping and instrumentation diagrams, serve a purpose, but they are not ideal records for as-built project documentation. 3D reality capture offers a better

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 […]

President Trump in a new executive order (EO) has directed federal agencies to rescind, modify, waive, or provide exemptions from regulatory requirements that may inhibit economic recovery.  The Executive Order on Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery, issued May 19, is sweeping and extends beyond the administration’s previous efforts to scale down regulatory mandates—including the […]

Four groups analyzing data from the U.S. Dept. of Labor said more than half-a-million jobs in the clean energy sector were lost in March and April due to shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The losses, representing about 18% of the industry’s total workforce, were detailed in a report released May 13. The groups said […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is planning a technical conference this summer that would look at long-term impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the energy industry. The discussion would look at how the industry should approach investments and infrastructure development should the trend of lessening demand for electricity, and oil and gas, continue. Industry […]

It’s spring outage season in the power industry. A time when plants of all types typically shut down and perform scheduled maintenance to ensure all essential equipment is as ready as possible to run reliably at full load for days on end during the peak summer season. This year, outages have been complicated by the […]

Oxnard, Calif. (May 7, 2020) – SimpliPhi Power, a U.S. manufacturer of safe, cobalt-free lithium ion energy storage systems, has partnered with non-profit Footprint Project to supply and deliver a clean energy microgrid field hospital for the Matamoros migrant camp in Mexico on the U.S. border to power the camp’s first mobile medical ICU to […]

The Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC) has released guidance on what the power sector should prioritize as it prepares to shift from remote operations to having employees return to the workplace.   In the seventh version of the “ESCC Resource Guide—Assessing and Mitigating the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19),” the power industry’s collaborative body identifies four strategic priorities […]