Distributed Energy

Anyone who follows either the energy industry or the military knows that all branches of the U.S. military have aggressive goals for renewable energy and for improving energy security and independence. Microgrids are a key part of that plan. When I wrote about military microgrids in “The Military Gets Smart Grid” back in January 2012, […]

Aside from places where microgrids have a track record—educational, industrial, and commercial campuses—commercial and community microgrids are still the domain of early adopters, but the number of people wanting to travel the trail they are blazing is increasing. A microgrid is any collection of interconnected loads and distributed energy resources within clearly defined electrical boundaries […]

If you’re looking for the easiest place to deploy microgrid technology, look at islands. That was the general consensus of presenters at the 4th Military & Commercial Microgrids Summit in Washington, D.C., held June 17-19. In addition to a presentation about a microgrid being developed for Necker Island—owned by Sir Richard Branson, founder of the […]

If, as Navigant Research suggests, the global microgrid market will exceed $40 billion annually by 2020, where is all the capacity going, and what’s fueling it (literally and figuratively)? Peter Asmus, a long-time researcher of smart grid technologies at Navigant, shared that market projection and others at the 4th Military & Commercial Microgrids Summit in […]

In a major setback for efforts to support demand response, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 745, finding that the rule overstepped state authority to regulate retail electricity markets. FERC Order 745, issued in 2011, required the nation’s Independent System Operators (ISOs) […]

Several years ago, Jean and Bob Galey of Catoctin Creek Farm in rural western Maryland installed solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the south-facing roof of one of their outbuildings. Since then, they’ve

Oklahoma’s Gov. Mary Fallin (R) on Monday signed into law a measure that would allow regulated electric utilities to recover revenues needed to pay for transmission infrastructure as the number of distributed generation users increases.  Senate Bill 1456, which drew strong opposition from environmental and distributed generation groups, reversed a 1977 law that prohibited public […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to make an additional $4 billion in loan guarantees available to help commercialize U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies that avoid, reduce, or sequester greenhouse gases. The DOE on Wednesday issued a draft loan guarantee solicitation under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (through Section […]

Ten witnesses from federal and state regulatory agencies, a public power entity, environmental groups, and power companies today outlined a number of threats to the bulk power system’s reliability in a Senate hearing to assess whether enough was being done to keep the lights on. General measures to address day-to-day issues affecting reliability—such as tree […]

By 2029, renewable sources in Arizona’s energy mix will double and natural gas’s share will surpass coal’s and nuclear’s, the state’s largest utility, Arizona Public Service (APS) projects in its newly released “Integrated Resource Plan.”  The report, which foresees that the state’s energy needs will grow 52% while peak demand will surge 60% compared to […]

Florida Power and Light (FPL) on Wednesday asked the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) to approve a unique pilot program through which the company will build new solar facilities and participating customers will fund them via voluntary contributions.  During the next three years, depending on customer participation, FPL projects that the program could support the […]

Source: POWER During IHS CERAWeek in Houston in early March, POWER Editor Gail Reitenbach sat down with Heiner Markhoff, president and CEO of GE Power & Water’s Water & Process Technologies, to ask him about several issues of concern to power plants.  Though the “water/energy nexus” theme has gained prominence recently, Heiner Markhoff’s comments underscored […]

New technologies and consumer demand for cleaner energy are rapidly transforming the power sector. This transformation is most evident in the advent of distributed energy resources (DER)—a marriage of

If you read the environmental press, clean tech media, or even the New York Times, you might conclude that America is on the cusp of a distributed generation (DG) revolution. “Solar power and other

The business environment for generating companies worldwide continues to become increasingly complex, and not just as a result of regulations. Even in the U.S., the concerns and constraints faced by generators

Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc. (MISO), the regional transmission organization (RTO) for a large portion of the Midwestern U.S., completed the integration of a four-state region of the electric grid across the South into its existing footprint in the Midwest at midnight, Dec. 18. The change in control, or cutover, was two years in the making, with […]

SustainX in September completed construction of what it says is the world’s first megawatt-scale isothermal compressed air energy storage (ICAES) system. The system at the company’s headquarters in

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today unanimously established an energy storage target of 1,325 MW that California’s largest investor-owned utilities, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric, must meet by 2020. The decision will help California optimize the grid with measure such as peak reduction, contribute to […]

President Obama’s highly anticipated Climate Action Plan (CAP) released today outlines a wide variety of executive actions founded on three pillars: slashing U.S. carbon pollution through stringent rules for new and existing power plants while doubling renewables deployment and promoting fuel switching from coal to natural gas; preparing the U.S. for impacts of climate change; and leading international efforts to combat global climate change.

Several power companies, state commissions, and trade groups have filed briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging parts of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) Order 1000, a rule they argue will lead to high costs for consumers and diminish the authority of state and regional regulators. Meanwhile last week, the White House issued a memo directing federal agencies to improve siting and permitting process to help modernize the nation’s grid.

A new bill introduced in the Senate seeks to encourage the development of renewable power and lower consumer costs through the deployment of energy storage technologies.

Germany has chosen to transform its energy system within a few decades—an ambition that has evoked equal admiration and confusion. Has Europe’s largest economy embarked on a rational path to an energy future that will make it the bellwether for global acceptance of renewables, or will the complex array of current challenges encumber its grand transformation?

Achieving a balance between affordable and sustainable electricity while improving reliability is a challenge unlike any the electricity sector has faced since its inception. Technology innovations in key areas such as energy efficiency, smart grid, renewable energy resources, hardened transmission systems, and long-term operation of the existing nuclear and fossil fleets are essential to shaping the future of electricity supplies.

Once you synthesize all the elements of the Golden State’s clean energy strategy and extrapolate current trends, it’s easy to see that an impending break with the traditional power generation paradigm is coming, intended or not.

Long the redheaded stepchild of North American power generation, combined heat and power (CHP) may finally be poised for a big leap forward.

Already in the midst of a drive to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, the University of British Columbia didn’t just look to clean energy for its new combined heat and power system. Instead, it decided to combine research with cutting-edge green power.

Though subsidies and incentives for wind and other renewables have grabbed the headlines, federal and state initiatives are quietly building some momentum behind combined heat and power.

On Monday, as First Wind announced its 69-MW Kawailoa Wind Project had gone into commercial operations on Oahu, other news underscored the difficulty the island state faces in trying to substitute renewables for expensive, imported fossil fuels.