When it comes to transmission and distribution grid improvements, headlines tend to use the word smart. However, following a range of natural disasters, from hurricanes to floods to wildfires, many utilities also are pursuing...
The California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 29, raising some immediate, and financially critical, questions for its customers, suppliers and investors. Answers to those...
Thanks to a climate that is growing both warmer and drier, California’s investor-owned utilities are facing an existential crisis. As the state sets new records for fire damage with each passing year, utility transmission...
The term “smart meter” has been used for a couple decades now. Such devices have been promised to boost grid responsiveness and enable customer participation in time-of-use rate plans that can reduce peak demand. However, as...
The little island of Isle au Haut lies about six miles off the coast of Maine, and a single power cable strung across the ocean floor is its electrical lifeline. With that cable already 15 years past its anticipated 20-year...
In their efforts to incorporate more wind and solar into their resource portfolios, one of the biggest challenges electric utilities face is meeting demand during a single three- to five-hour period every day, especially...
As commercial-scale marijuana cultivators gain popularity in states that have legalized medical and recreational use, there are fears they may begin to leave some of their neighbors in the dark. The high electricity demand of...
It’s not really surprising when a utility in California or Massachusetts announces plans to up its game in the renewable-energy marketplace—air pollution and greenhouse-gas concerns long have been at the forefront for utility...
In the fall of 2017, Nicaragua and Syria joined the Paris climate agreement, leaving the United States as the only U.N. member nation opting not to formally participate in the accord’s efforts to reduce the carbon emissions...
Another storm on the horizon and another image of electric utility trucks heading off to help with recovery efforts. That seemed to be an almost-nightly occurrence in late August through mid-September, as hurricanes Harvey...
With recent intrusions into corporate computer systems of companies that own nuclear facilities, the threat of cyber attacks against U.S. nuclear power plants is more urgent. Though hackers do not appear to have made their...
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. That seems to be the attitude of electric utilities these days, as growing numbers of large energy users negotiate agreements to buy electricity directly from new wind and solar developments....
While President Trump campaigned on a promise to boost opportunities for fossil fuels and revitalize the coal industry, market forces might already have limited his opportunities for fulfilling that pledge. A recent survey...
For proof that electric utilities have been hardening their systems, consider two recent weather events: Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016. While many New Jersey and New York homes and businesses remained...
Many promises have been made about the newest generation of smart meters and the potential for two-way communications between utilities and their customers (or, rather, their customers’ connected devices). Often overlooked,...
The latest electricity sales data and forecasts from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) are just the latest indicator that energy efficiency works. Even as the economy ticked up (albeit, moderately) over the...
Aging coal plants are closing across the nation, along with a growing number of nuclear units, and utility planners are increasingly concerned about how best to replace this shuttered generation capacity. While improving...
The press has had much to say about the death spirals on the way for the electric-utility industry, thanks to the rapid proliferation of rooftop solar panels and other distributed-energy resources. The thought is customer...
The state of Nevada’s rapidly growing residential solar-power industry ground to a halt in January 2016, as public utility commissioners approved a new rate structure that effectively erases state-level incentives for rooftop...
In January 2014, a weather front known as a “polar vortex” descended from Canada’s arctic north and brought frigid temperatures and heavy snow and ice as far south as Texas and eastward to the Mid-Atlantic and New England....
