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RT @sustainableSAP: Int'l #SAP #Utilities Conference: The New Energy Revolution April 12-14 http://bit.ly/fDcXTe /I'm speaking

via:packrati.us Utilities SAP

To reduce emissions of greenhouse gases 10 percent below 1990 levels, Oregon’s PGE (Portland General Electric) plans to replace coal plants with 2,362 MW of wind energy and 557 MW of simple-cycle combustion turbines burning natural gas

To pay for the new investment in building renewable energy, utility rates will likely rise 13% in 2019, and 25% in 2020, the utility calculates.
But the other utilities in the state that utilize the regions plentiful hydro can make a gentler transition, as they currently have surplus generation from clean sources in the spring and winter.

greennumbers oregon utilities co2 emissions greenhouse gas emissions

Last week the Maryland Public Service Commission rejected Baltimore Gas & Electric’s proposed project to install over 2 million digital electric or gas meters, change the retail electricity rate structure to incorporate time-of-use pricing and peak-time rebates, and recover the meter capital costs through a surcharge on residential retail bills. BG&E’s ambitious and thoughtful project had undergone extensive pilot project testing and had generated economic and physical results similar to those seen in other such projects (customer savings, reduction in peak energy use and in peak strain on system infrastructure, reduction in peak wholesale prices due to the transmission of retail price signals). Their recommended technology and rate designs are not unusual relative to evolving practice in other states (although they are much, much less than I personally would like to see). Despite those promising results, the Maryland PSC rejected BG&E’s business case for structuring their cost recovery from the project as they did.

Although I am pretty familiar with the BG&E pilot, I am not sufficiently informed or expert in rate case matters to have an intelligent opinion on whether the PSC took the correct position. Their position, though, reveals some of the most important and pressing reasons why traditional economic regulation is incompatible with economic dynamism, with technological change, with innovation, and ultimately incompatible with widespread consumer well-being.

Maryland Public Service Commission Baltimore Gas & Electric bg&e smart meter regulation utilities

It's 2020. You drive your plug-in hybrid electric car home at 6 p.m., plug it in, let it charge via the solar panels on your roof or the wind power coming from the grid, and you leave it charging until the morning. Sounds simple enough, right? It's not. Utilities have a long way to go before they're prepared for the impending onslaught of energy-sucking vehicles--and they might not all be ready in time.

smart grid electric vehicle electric vehicles utilities

"Utilities have learned a lot about how smart meters can compel consumers to save electricity. Unfortunately, too often they aren't putting the knowledge to good use. "

utilities smart grid consumers demand response wsj

When Juanita Goggins became the first black woman elected to the South Carolina Legislature in 1974, she was hailed as a trailblazer and twice visited the president at the White House.

Three decades later, she froze to death at age 75, a solitary figure living in a rented house four miles from the gleaming Statehouse dome

Juanita Goggins utilities disconnection south carolina

"A Department of Energy report states: “The ultimate success of the Smart Grid depends on the effectiveness of these devices in attracting and motivating large numbers of consumers.” Yet the way Smart Grid is described, implemented, and envisioned as it rolls out to the public may be the very things holding it back. Are the government and utilities creating the very resistance they need to overcome? "

Department of Energy doe smart grid utilities resistance

While a lot of the attention has been focused on gadgets, software and services that will convince the consumer to engage with home energy management, an untapped area for opportunity for startups and incumbent players alike will be utility applications.

smart grid utilities utility applications

Rick Nicholson and H. Christine Richards of IDC Energy Insights published an article in the July/August edition of Intelligent Utility detailing their assessment of which utilities are leading the pack towards a Smart Grid.

Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), Austin Energy, Edison International (NYSE: EIX), Oncor, PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) and CenterPoint Energy (NYSE: CNP), all of whom are based in either California or Texas, top the list of utilitites leading the way. I personally thinked they missed Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative who aren’t just at the forefront of grid transformation but also leading the charge in consumer education.

smart grid national grid utilities idc energy insights

Trilliant, provider of communications infrastructure used to beam energy consumption data between so-called smart meters, utilities and their customers, announced today that it is partnering with automation company ABB to make sure their technologies can talk to one another. This type of interoperability is one of the major issues impacting how and how fast the Smart Grid — a cleaner, more efficient electrical grid — takes hold in the U.S.

trilliant abb utilities smart meters smart grid

Oil companies, electric utilities and the coal industry have poured more than $250,000 this year into the coffers of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the party’s House fundraising arm that has played a lead role in attacking Democrats who supported climate legislation.

gop republican party oil coal utilities fundraising bribery greenmonktv

The energy companies in NZ are coming under fire because they have installed meters without the microchip that enables the meters to communicate with other devices, helping to reduce the amount of energy used in the home. However, as the meters do not have this microchip, there are no benefits to householders’ and only ‘benefits to retailers’.

smart grid consumer utilities greenmonktv

Nice one - Dell's worldwide renewable energy power sourcing now at 26%, a 20% increase for the firm compared to 2008

dell renewable energy sourcing utilities green energy greenmonktv

The Energy and Commerce Committee finally released a summary (here) of the American Clean Energy and Security Act as reported by the Committee on May 21 by a vote of 33 to 25. Here are the key provisions:

American Clean Energy and Security Act Waxman Markey energy utilities clean energy greenmonktv

Faced with new evidence that utilities across the country are dumping toxic sludge into waterways, the Environmental Protection Agency is moving to impose new restrictions on the level of contaminants power plants can discharge.

Plants in Florida, Pennsylvania and several other states have flushed wastewater with levels of selenium and other toxins that far exceed the EPA's freshwater and saltwater standards aimed at protecting aquatic life, according to data the agency has collected over the past few years

epa utilities selenium freshwater fish birds people greenmonktv

An unexpected drop in U.S. electricity consumption has utility companies worried that the trend isn’t a byproduct of the economic downturn, and could reflect a permanent shift in consumption that will require sweeping change in their industry.

etsd utilities electricity consumption

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