Distributed Energy

Although many observers consider Elon Musk—the visionary entrepreneur who leads Tesla Motors and SpaceX—to be a disruptive force threatening the conventional power industry, he believes power companies have a bright future, if his goal to expand the use of electric cars and install vast numbers of rooftop solar systems is achieved. Speaking during a presentation […]

Europe’s first megawatt-size fuel cell went online in September. The 1.4-MW power plant put online by E.ON and FuelCell Energy Solutions in Mannheim, Germany, will provide power over the next 10 years, at least, for production processes of materials specialist FRIATEC. The plant was installed in only nine months as a joint project by E.ON […]

As installed capacity in the U.S. continues its breakneck growth, the solar photovoltaic sector is poised for another leap forward with a variety of new technologies—if increasingly ill-suited regulations and rate designs can be updated to keep pace. The global solar market has moved beyond its early, uncertain days. The luxury of behaving like start-ups […]

Nuclear power’s future—and its much-needed contribution to U.S. decarbonization efforts—may be hampered if eight pressing issues aren’t addressed within the next five years, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said at a recent event held at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The issues Moniz outlined in his keynote speech at a six-hour event titled […]

Big or small? Centralized or distributed? The answer, at least for energy storage, may be both, but what that future may be is unclear, if early discussions at the Energy Storage North America (ESNA) conference in San Diego October 4–6 are anything to go by. Speaking on the first night’s opening keynote panel, Colin Cushnie, […]

Panelists debating the pros and cons of a regionalized western power grid seemed to agree that the development of such a system is inevitable, but they disagreed on how fast the evolution should occur. The panel discussion took place during the California Independent System Operator (ISO) Stakeholder Symposium held on September 7 in Sacramento. At […]

Prices for solar energy systems fell to record lows across all sectors in 2015, according to two new reports from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The LBNL reports, released on August 24, are Tracking the Sun IX, which focuses on installed pricing trends in the distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) market, and Utility-Scale Solar 2015, […]

Reliability and cybersecurity ranked as the two most important issues currently confronting the electric industry, according to surveys completed by 672 qualified utility, municipal, commercial, and community stakeholders for Black & Veatch’s “2016 Strategic Directions: Electric Industry Report.” It’s not particularly surprising to see reliability rank at the top of the list. “Reliability has always […]

After years of planning and sluggish development, 2016 may be the year that offshore wind power development takes off in China. Once it does, the market will be large. Offshore wind power has a very important role to play in easing power shortages in coastal areas of China and in responding to climate change effectively. […]

The U.S. nuclear power business is in trouble, and Exelon has six units totaling more than 5,300 MW of dependable capacity on the chopping block. How will the Chicago electricity giant respond? Perhaps by acquiring more merchant nuclear capacity?

  Pairing solar with energy storage will be integral to cement the future of both emerging sectors, said experts at the Intersolar North America’s annual event held this week in San Francisco. The three-day event and exhibition was co-located with ees North America, a stand-alone event focused on energy storage technologies and services. But experts […]

The “polar vortex” storm of January 2014 blew in big changes to PJM Interconnection’s operations. But these changes are now the subject of a lawsuit filed by environmental groups, alleging they discriminate against clean energy sources. The sub-zero temperatures froze coal piles and gearboxes. Natural gas plants, lacking firm contracts for fuel delivery, were unable […]

Although it’s not widely publicized, a majority of the energy used to generate electricity is wasted in the form of heat discharged to the environment. For better or worse, that’s just the way a typical thermal power plant works. Fuel, such as coal, biomass, natural gas, or uranium (in the case of nuclear plants), is […]

Enrico Viale, head of global thermal generation for the Italian energy company Enel, kicked off an international power industry event yesterday with a keynote presentation describing the “needs” of utilities in the future.

Panels at the 2016 Edison Electric Institute convention focused on technologies and policies at what’s often called the “grid edge.”

  Even though it may dominate forecasts, natural gas–fired generation faces a troubled expansion in the U.S., according to experts from a variety of stake-holding entities—including an industry group, a utility, a generator, and a pipeline company. Challenges that have few solutions—from price volatility, to gas transport concerns, to rule uncertainty—may upend the nation’s dependence […]

The annual panel discussion by high-level leaders from diverse power companies is a cornerstone of the ELECTRIC POWER Conference & Exhibition, and it has been consistently emblematic of the state of the

Fuel cells powered by natural gas, biogas, and hydrogen are a rapidly expanding option for distributed generation, with fuel cell­­–based power plants being deployed in capacities into tens of megawatts. But as the technology improves and costs begin to scale, opportunities for other applications are being explored. One such application may even go beyond power […]

Hands down, 2015 was a record year for global investment in renewable energy. Excluding large hydroelectric projects, the amount of money committed to renewables rose 5%, to $285.9 billion, exceeding the previous record of $278.5 billion reached in 2011.

It’s not being overly dramatic to say that the power industry is at its biggest inflection point to date. Even ignoring the effects of environmental regulations and (in North America, at least) cheap natural

States across the U.S. have begun to commit themselves to expanding the reach of distributed energy resources (DERs), primarily rooftop solar photovoltaics (PV), throughout their communities. In particular

What are distributed energy resources (DERs)? For many people, rooftop solar is the first thing that comes to mind, but when you ask that question of an independent system operator (ISO)—the folks who

Executives from power companies operating in different markets revealed how their firms are being affected by low natural gas prices, pressures to achieve fuel diversity, distributed energy generation, and lax demand growth, among a number of topics. The annual executive roundtable panel at the ELECTRIC POWER Conference and Exhibition on April 19 was moderated by […]

By an 85-12 vote, the U.S. Senate passed the first comprehensive energy bill in nearly a decade, bringing a successful conclusion to months of legislative effort and overcoming a series of roadblocks in the full Senate related to the water quality crisis in Flint, Mich. The product of more than a year of bipartisan work […]

Two senior power sector executives opened the 2016 ELECTRIC POWER Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans April 19 with a message that generators need to “think big” and embrace possibilities of disruptive technologies—or risk being run over on the road to the future. Leo Denault, chairman and CEO of Entergy Corp., delivered the opening keynote […]

In a joint report issued April 5, a group of California agencies and utilities said that if the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility north of Los Angeles cannot be returned to service after a major leak this past winter, repeated gas curtailments could occur this summer, leading to significant loss of generating capacity in Southern […]

Distributed generation (DG) is receiving much attention as a resource that can facilitate the development of a smarter, more resilient, and more sustainable electric grid. Several jurisdictions, including New

Edison International, parent company of Southern California Edison (SCE), announced on March 29 that it’s launching a new business unit called Edison Energy that will provide energy consulting services to large energy consumers across the country to help them in identifying and exploiting opportunities to lower energy costs, reduce complexity of energy management, and meet […]

The Edison Electric Institute has come under fire for a new communications plan that was intended to depict utilities as more community-minded.

Whether utilities, technology providers, or independent third-party upstarts are best suited to create a reliable recipe for microgrid development remains an open question.