The much-hyped utility death spiral may be just that – much hyped. Still, the patient better make some changes to keep up good health. That’s the message in “The Future of the Utility Industry and the Role of Energy Efficiency,” Read more…
Tag: Distributed Generation
The future of rooftop solar in California was front and center this week at the California PUC’s first workshop on the design of the expanded net metering program. Following a strong recent decision keeping the rules stable for existing net metering Read more…
New York State regulators just approved a plan to extend Governor Cuomo’s successful NY-Sun Initiative solar program through 2023. This historic clean energy commitment will result in ten times more affordable solar up and down the state. In other words: Read more…
Here’s a good article that discusses a few different vicious cycles in which the investor-owned utilities (IOUs) find themselves. As more people install solar (or whatever) on their properties, the infrastructure by which power is generated, transmitted, and distributed must Read more…
I have to admit that tension really is brewing between the power utilities and the solar industry – at least the part of it that promotes distributed (e.g., rooftop) generation (DG). Yet it’s hard for me to understand all this Read more…
The Great Recession ended in 2009. The economic recovery from the recession has been anemic at best. Some have even argued that there has been no recovery. This is particularly true for electric utilities. Some 41 months later, electric sales Read more…
The solar PV growth curves illustrate the rapid expansion in the deployment of this form for distributed generation (DG). The only conclusion one can draw from looking at these graphs is that, after decades of customers’ putting their toes in Read more…
You know that experience, when you buy a new car, and suddenly you see the model everywhere? Since Superstorm Sandy I’ve had the equivalent experience with the term ‘microgrid.’ Policymakers and thought leaders in the US Northeast started talking microgrid Read more…
Advanced meters are the most visible component of recent smart grid deployments, dominating much public and media attention. However, industry members recognize even greater opportunities and imperatives for modernizing distribution infrastructure and operations further up the line. Distribution automation (DA) Read more…
On January 24, the California Public Utitlies Commission will vote on an important precedent for using renewables to enhance grid reliability. Grid reliability requires that there be a certain amount of local generation–known in wonkspeak as ‘local capacity requirements’, or Read more…
We’re thrilled to see that the LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP) adopted a Feed-In Tariff (FIT) program last week. We’d like to congratulate all the folks who, after three years of hard work testifying and developing the research Read more…
Those of us who maintain optimism for a future than includes sustainable practices in energy generation place a great deal of hope in “distributed generation” – the concept in which the model of buying electricity from huge utilities becomes increasingly Read more…
The temperature is 100 degrees and we have no air conditioning, no running water, no telephone and no Internet. It’s been 60 hours since our household lost electricity because of the super derecho, a rare surprise storm that swept ten Read more…