While we are told about the need for a “smart grid,” we don’t hear as much about what’s actually being done to make it smarter. Advanced distribution management systems (ADMSs), a leading technology being explored at the...
Every work day on U.S. construction sites, there are more than 1,100 incidents that damage underground utilities, according to Common Ground Alliance’s (CGA) 2019 Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT), released in October...
If cost is an indicator, energy efficiency is on the road to success. Since they first emerged in the 1970s, efficiency technologies and programs have helped the country meet its tremendous appetite for energy while...
To protect and meet the energy needs of its 16 million customers, and also enhance its own energy systems, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is proposing a series of safety, resiliency and clean energy investments in...
Bushhogging, seeding and herbicides are all methods to control undesirable vegetation and ensure safe, reliable electricity transmission. Vegetation along high-voltage transmission corridors and local distribution systems...
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M., released a software tool designed to help utilities and utility customers (and the electrical contractors they hire) “assess the economic value of installing an energy storage...
U.S. electricity use is expected to increase by 2.1% this year, over last year’s pandemic-related 3.8% drop in demand, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This rise, however, will mostly reflect a return...
According to a report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Washington, D.C., the growing shift toward electrically powered heating is set to raise wintertime energy demand. In sum, the report...
In 2009, the Obama administration’s $8 billion Smart Grid Investment Grant program helped spawn a wave of smart meter deployments by utilities. An estimated 98 million units were installed by the end of 2019, with the...
While utilities are working hard to make sure their employees receive their COVID-19 vaccinations, since their work is critical to the running of the nation, many of these utilities are going above and beyond by offering to...
Each year since 2000, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, Colo., has compiled and reported data on electric utilities that offer “green pricing” programs to their customers. These programs allow homes and...
Efficiency has become one of the primary instruments of change in the energy field. Despite growing awareness and adoption, government support is still essential. In Arizona, regulators gave energy efficiency a ten-year boost...
On July 23, the U.S. government issued a cybersecurity alert to operators of critical infrastructure, including electric utilities, outlining “immediate actions” that they should take during what it defines as a “time of...
The New England Ratepayers Association has lost its bid to have the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) mandate utilities to pay wholesale prices to homeowners who practice net metering using solar panels and other...
As more sophisticated devices in the home generate their own data streams, a unique market is also emerging for that information. According to a recent report from the research firm Guidehouse Insights, revenue for that data...
Recently, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which provides electricity for local power companies and business customers while serving almost 10 million people in parts of seven southeastern states, gave the green light to...
While utility customers have been on the renewables bandwagon for about a decade and continue aggressively on that path, utilities themselves have also been keeping pace by finding that renewables are not only environmentally...
A new report, “Determining Utility System Value of Demand Flexibility from Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings,” provides information for utilities on how to interact with these facilities to provide power in the most...
A new report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration found in 2018 (the most recent data available), U.S. electric utility power interruptions totaled an average of 5.8 hours per customer. The EIA came to this figure...
Know the tools for finding underground utilities Much of the nation’s underground contains a maze of pipes, cables and cables inside buried conduits. This network is at risk anytime new utilities are buried or when new...
