Archive for December, 2011
Blackouts at Candlestick Park: Smart metering could help
This week, Monday Night Football fans got an unwelcome surprise. At 5:20 pm Pacific time, tens of thousands of fans were at a sold-out game in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park to watch the San Francisco 49ers play against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That’s when the lights went out — and stayed out for nearly half an hour. A second brief outage struck at 6:43 pm.
What happened — and how might smart metering and energy analytics help avoid such high-profile power problems?…
Full post by Larsh Johnson: Blackouts at Candlestick Park: How smart metering could help
Renewable energy: disruptive technology
I’m sitting in a café on the Champs d’Elysees amid the electric atmosphere of streetlights, neon signs, cars, trucks, shoppers, gawkers, storekeepers, and restaurateurs — an abundance of energy.
Energy has driven the development of modern civilization and conveniences. And renewable energy supplies are growing fast. But like any disruptive technology, the growing flocks of wind turbines and expanding acres of solar-equipped rooftops around the world are causing temporary growing pains for the energy industry.
Fortunately, these “problems” are really opportunities. And utilities like TXU Energy in Texas are pioneering solutions…
UK making progress on electricity market reform
Recently SmartGridWatch noted that U.K. smart metering plans are moving full speed ahead for 2012. A key part of realizing these plans involves creating a new regulatory and commercial framework for the smart grid.
Toward that end, last week the U.K. Dept. of Energy and Climate Change announced new progress on electricity market reform…
Full post by Alicia Carrasco: UK: New progress on electricity market reform
Alabama: Smart meters save 40 million pounds of carbon emissions
Although it’s been up and running just one year, Alabama Power’s smart meter network is already reaping huge financial and environmental dividends.
In its newsletter last week, Alabama Power reported avoiding over 10 million miles of truck rolls since deploying advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) last December…
Full post: Smart meters save 40 million pounds of carbon emissions in Alabama
Texas: hotbed of consumer energy innovation
In a steering committee meeting last week, the Texas Advanced Meter Implementation Team (AMIT, coordinated by the Texas PUC) took new steps to enable consumers to forward their energy data to third parties who can help them manage their energy use and participate in demand response programs…
California utilities to allow energy data downloads by end of 2011
Back in August, when I met with White House CTO Aneesh Chopra, he discussed his vision for liberating energy data. The next month he met with three major California utilities to advance that vision via the Green Button Initiative: a challenge to the smart grid ecosystem to provide customers with electronic access to their energy usage information.
Yesterday, during a technical workshop at the California Public Utilities Commission Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric announced that they would not only implement this concept — they plan to have it up and running by the end of 2011.
That’s less than three weeks from today — and just four months after accepting Chopra’s challenge. What does it mean?…
Full post: California utilities make huge progress on White House Green Button initiative
How the smart grid can help us stop wasting precious renewable energy
Today the journal Electricity Policy is reporting a regulatory victory for wind power owners: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has decided that the Bonneville Power Administration cannot force wind producers to curtail production in favor of hydroelectric plants.
The new FERC order emphasizes that BPA, which operates in the Pacific Northwest, cannot discriminate against wind energy.
As SmartGridWatch reported earlier, the sad thing is that is that every day, precious renewable energy resources are discarded. Wind turbines get shut down, or water gets spilled over dams without turning turbines — while gas- and coal-fired plants in BPA’s Northwest region continue to run.
Part of the solution is to build more transmission lines to deliver wind power — which is usually in remote locations — to cities where electricity is consumed.
But there’s another, easier part of the solution: Smart meters and the smart grid can enable demand response and energy storage. This can give the grid more flexibility to manage fluctuating generation capacity, thus reducing waste of renewables…
Full story: Stop wasting precious renewable energy! The smart grid can help
Home energy management networks: how should they be controlled?
Realizing full benefits from a smart grid ultimately means controlling devices in customers’ homes, businesses, and other facilities. But who should exercise that control, and how?
My esteemed colleague, Harvey Michaels, stays young by examining the questions raised by how technology is transforming the energy industry. He teaches an energy efficiency course to eager students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
A recent paper he co-authored with Kat Donnelly considers these questions:
- Should utilities provide dynamic pricing or control customer systems directly?
- Should utilities be required to give customers access to their detailed energy usage data?
- Should consumers be allowed the option of sending their energy data to web applications, third parties, or community initiatives?
Full post: How should home energy management networks be controlled?
U.K. 2012 smart meter plans moving ahead full throttle
In a speech at the recent Smart Metering Forum in London, Charles Hendry (head of the U.K. Department of Energy & Climate Change) said consumers are the heart of Great Britain’s smart metering initiative — and he explained how that initiative is gaining steam.
DECC forecasts that smart metering will provide the U.K. with up to €6 billion in benefits to consumers, suppliers and network operators. But in order to realize those benefits, consumers must understand their energy use. Also, a new business model is needed. This means the U.K. government must create an enduring regulatory and commercial framework for the smart grid.
Toward these ends, here’s what DECC plans for 2012…
Full post by Alicia Carrasco: U.K. smart meters: 2012 plans moving ahead full throttle
Surveys indicate U.S. consumers interest in prepaid electricity service
U.S. utility customers are accustomed to paying for energy after the fact. This is rather like driving your car for a month, then getting hit with a gasoline bill.
So far, most customers have preferred post-paid energy service because utilities and regulators have favored that approach. But the few U.S. utilities which offer prepayment options are finding that at least some customers realize tremendous benefits from this service…
Full post: Prepaid energy service? Surveys demonstrate U.S. consumer interest
