http://ecomergence.com smart grid and distributed energy resources information and consulting services from the consumer perspective Wed, 09 May 2012 07:43:51 +0000 http://snappages.com en http://ecomergence.com/blog/2012/05/09/marketing-101 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2012/05/09/marketing-101 Wed, 09 May 2012 07:43:51 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2012/05/09/marketing-101
]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2012/04/30/two-world-views http://ecomergence.com/blog/2012/04/30/two-world-views Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:14:09 +0000 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2012/04/30/two-world-views
]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/12/31/happy-electric-new-year http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/12/31/happy-electric-new-year Sat, 31 Dec 2011 09:09:00 +0000 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/12/31/happy-electric-new-year The Writer's Almanac covers it well.

Edison didn't invent the light bulb — incandescent lights had been around for almost 40 years — but he was the first come up with a practical, long-burning design. He realized he was on the right track by the end of October, when he tested a carbonized filament inside a glass vacuum bulb, which produced a light that burned for more than 13 hours. He kept fiddling with it and modifying it, and each version burned a little bit longer than the one before it; by the time he was ready to reveal it to the public, his bulb was burning for 40 hours.

After 14 months of testing, 1,200 experiments, and $40,000, he was finally ready for his first public demonstration. He hung strings of lights inside his lab in Menlo Park, New Jersey, and switched them on and off repeatedly, to the awe and delight of his 3,000 spectators. He said, "We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles."

While we should give Edison all due credit for his work on the light bulb (and so much more), I have to point out that he was less accurate in forecasting the cost of electricity / price of candles... we still have a long way to go in making electricity universally available and affordable to the world - note the dark areas on the attached graphic. Let us resolve to carry on Edison's tradition and employ our collective creativity to banish the darkness for all mankind.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/11/29/fierce-15-power-players-of-2011 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/11/29/fierce-15-power-players-of-2011 Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:25:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/11/29/fierce-15-power-players-of-2011 its list of the 15 most influential players in the energy industry in 2011. Flattered to say that I made the list, which gives us a great platform to further promote the innovative ideas you read about on this blog, in my books and [...]]]> its list of the 15 most influential players in the energy industry in 2011. Flattered to say that I made the list, which gives us a great platform to further promote the innovative ideas you read about on this blog, in my books and other publications, and on this website. 2012 holds great potential, and more news to follow. Stay tuned!

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/11/18/municipalization-lite http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/11/18/municipalization-lite Fri, 18 Nov 2011 08:53:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/11/18/municipalization-lite Outages drive smart grid, and muni legislation: Storms + outage anger = muni movement, Phil Carlson of IntelligentUtility [...]]]> Outages drive smart grid, and muni legislation: Storms + outage anger = muni movement, Phil Carlson of IntelligentUtility connects seemingly disparate events: Boulder's recent election rejecting its IOU, Xcel Energy, moving forward with municipalization, and local outrage over slow restoration of electric service after outages associated with bizarre early winter storms in New England. Rather than arguing between continued IOU ownership and municipalization, whereby a city buys the IOU assets and takes over control, I suggested a middle path in my comment, restated below, under the title, "Municpalization Lite."

The path to municipalization, as Boulder will no doubt discover as it proceeds down that path, will be expensive and complex. Unwinding the investment by IOU in assets required to operate the municipal distribution grid could take years of haggling and in the end, cities and citizens will be stuck with a large debt. The price of independence will be high in that scenario, but no doubt, some communities, like Boulder, will consider it a bargain at any price.

Consider instead a more gradual path to energy independence, whereby city leadership begins to invest in distributed energy resources such as combined heat and power gensets in its office buildings, solar PV panels on its rooftops, EV charging stations in its parking garages, energy efficiency retrofits of its building envelopes and electrical appliances, including spray foam insulation, high efficiency lighting, and high tech HVAC systems. By working with its constiuencies, including economic development agencies, chambers of commerce, neighborhood associations, and school districts, city leadership can expand its influence and reduce local reliance on grid power piecemeal as technology matures, gradually taking more control over their collective energy destiny, while allowing the IOU to do what it does best, operate an efficient distribution grid. And reducing grid consumption - including reducing peak consumption - may do more to get an IOU's attention than anything else.

Rather than look at this as a black and white debate between investor-owned grid and city-owned grid, perhaps we should expand the discussion into a future scenario involving a smart consumer, one that envisions grid-delivered kWhs, on-site kWhs, and negawatts, blended in harmony via a smart grid?

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/09/29/east-west-north-south http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/09/29/east-west-north-south Thu, 29 Sep 2011 09:08:00 +0000 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/09/29/east-west-north-south Along with the development of the atomic bomb, the digging of the Panama Canal, and landing the first men on the moon, the construction of a transcontinental railroad was one of the United States' greatest technological achievements. Railroad track had to be laid over 2,000 miles of rugged terrain, including mountains of solid granite. [...]]]>
Along with the development of the atomic bomb, the digging of the Panama Canal, and landing the first men on the moon, the construction of a transcontinental railroad was one of the United States' greatest technological achievements. Railroad track had to be laid over 2,000 miles of rugged terrain, including mountains of solid granite.

The first spikes were driven in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War. Two companies competed to lay as much track as possible. The Central Pacific built east from Sacramento, Calif., while the Union Pacific built west from Omaha, Neb....On May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah, a golden spike was hammered into the final tie. Building the Transcontinental Railroad

Connecting the country with rail lines was the critical network infrastructure task of the 19th Century, and the impacts were dramatic. Costs plummeted as goods moved to population centers in the East and people moved to wide open spaces in the West. The creation of the electric grid played a similar role in the 20th century, transforming the economy and lifestyles of Americans, indeed of modern economies throughout the world.

Yesterday, we highlighted the complexities inherent in today's electric grid, the great engineering achievement of the 20th Century. The grid started off as disparate local grids that served population centers, with large investor-owned utilities snatching up the prime territories where dense populations drove solid economic projections. Cities left out of that equation built their own distribution grids, creating municipal departments. In time, the rural areas electrified with help from the federal government in the form of cheap loans, and the electric cooperative created the third leg of the stool.

For reliability purposes, we began connecting these disparate systems to create the grid we have today, divided into three major grids - the Eastern grid, the Western grid, and the Texas grid. Regional Transmission Operators (RTOs) bring together transmission systems for econmomic efficiency and reliability purposes. A principal task of an RTO is to balance generation with loads to provide economic dispatch of generation assets and to ensure system harmony.

Unlike the railroads which stretched to connect the East with the West, the grid benefits when the North is connected to the South. Weather is a key driver in electricity consumption, conferring an advantage on a grid that is oriented north-south. By connecting generation assets in the south with loads in the north, and vice versa, northern generation with southern load, a well designed RTO can take advantage of climate differences to more economically operate capital-intensive generation plant.

Clearly, the paragraph above simplifies a tremendously complex operation. A key task for 21st Century grid operators wil be to modernize the 20th Century grid from top to bottom, turning it into an Advanced Smart Grid. Beyond the integration of information and communication technology at all levels, this transition must also involve a comprehensive review of business processes, regulatory processes, and engineering processes, and economic principles at the wholesale and retail levels, with a shared goal to bring about new levels of efficiency. And as we continuously tweak our system design and operation parameters to find greater efficiency, we should keep our minds open to radical new concepts.

Whether we realize it or not, we are on the path to redesigning the grid into a new asset, to meet the needs of the 21st Century. This collection of activities is referred to as Grid Optimization, and it will become our focus in coming years. Even as we look backwards to respect what our forefathers created in the 19th and 20th Centuries, we must retrain our sights to the future, because it is rushing at us faster than we think. Our work likes ahead, in building on what our parents and grandparents left us.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/09/28/making-the-grid-more-efficient http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/09/28/making-the-grid-more-efficient Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:51:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/09/28/making-the-grid-more-efficient Greatest Engineering Acheivements of the 20th Century - right at the top? You guessed it, electrification. But lest we be tempted to rest on our laurels, we have [...]]]>
The National Academy of Engineering lists the 20 Greatest Engineering Acheivements of the 20th Century - right at the top? You guessed it, electrification. But lest we be tempted to rest on our laurels, we have change afoot, and there's certainly more work to be done - here in the US, we are utterly dependent on this energy ecosystem we have created, but look at what we have created! The complexity astounds the casual observer, and going deeper in, its easy to get lost in the arcane discussions of regulatory policy and stakeholder equity. Sure the grid is incredibly reliable, but certainly there is ample room for far more efficiency. Consider just the regulatory framework overseeing this engineering marvel. We'll start there.

At the federal level, we have the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Federal Communications Commision (FCC), the National Energy Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, the Office of Surface Mining (OSM), the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) - I'll stop here, but I could go on ... and I haven't even mentioned the US Congress and the courts.

To ensure reliable operations on this grid that operates by keeping generation and load in balance, we have regional transmission organizations (RTOs) sometimes also called independent system operators (ISOs), as depicted in the map above. Here in Texas we have the amazing disconnected ISO island called ERCOT.

Moving down to the state level, state regulatory commissions and legislatures and governors oversee investor-owned utilities (IOUs), Transmission and Distribution utilities and retail electric providers. City councils and boards oversee our municipallly-owned utilities (MOUs) and member-owned cooperatives have their boards of directors.

According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), there are 210 investor-owned electric utilities that account for 67 percent of revenue, 2,009 publicly-owned electric utilities (13% of revenue), and 883 cooperatives (10% of revenue). The Federal government is also in the power game, with nine electric utilities managed by the Army Corps of Engineers; the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Reclamation in the Department of the Interior, the International Boundary and Water Commission in the Department of State, the Power Marketing Administrations in the Department of Energy (Bonneville, Southeastern, Southwestern, and Western), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

We didn't design the electric system to be this complex, but it certainly turned out complex. Understanding how the system works requires more than a little knowledge about power engineering, telecommunications, business and economics, government and politics. I guess the system works - its hard to argue with success. But with the advent of technology changes embodied in the smart grid, and the prospect of a constrained world economy for the foreseeable future, we have an obligation to update this system to bring about more simplicity and bring more efficiency into the picture - this can't be the finished state of our electric system, can it?

Watch this space for more on this subject, I'm just getting wound up.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/08/02/the-rise-of-smart-solar-pv http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/08/02/the-rise-of-smart-solar-pv Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:15:00 +0000 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/08/02/the-rise-of-smart-solar-pv Smart Solar PV is coming

What makes a utility want more distributed solar PV? In my experience, utilities look askance at the addition of distributed (small scale) rooftop and ground-mounted solar PV in their territories. First, these systems reduce utility revenue. Second, they create additional risks for line workers. Third, [...]]]>
Smart Solar PV is coming

What makes a utility want more distributed solar PV? In my experience, utilities look askance at the addition of distributed (small scale) rooftop and ground-mounted solar PV in their territories. First, these systems reduce utility revenue. Second, they create additional risks for line workers. Third, high penetrations (greater than 20%) of distributed solar PV on a single distribution feeder get increasingly disruptive to feeder operations, risking two-way power flow and potential damage to distribution substation equipment. Fourth, “dumb” PV systems cannot be dispatched by control center operators.
But what if the distributed systems came equipped with a smart PV inverter, one that could provide ancillary services on the distribution feeder, communicate with the utility, and even provide some energy storage, so that the utility could use the devices to help harmonize the power on the distribution feeder? Now, that would get the utility’s attention and they may even want some of that kind of solar PV on every one of their feeders.
Well, that‘s the outlook for 2015, according to “The World Market for PV Inverters”, a report released recently by IMS Research. A July 26 press release on PVmarketresearch.com
highlights the report and shows sales of Smart PV inverters passing sales of standard inverters within three years, driven by “utility concerns over grid imbalances, the growing proportion of PV connected to the grid, as well as the need for energy storage to take advantage of self-consumption tariffs and further incorporate PV into the smart grid.” Given the maturity of distributed generation system penetration in Germany, we should watch developments in Europe closely, to understand how distributed energy resources will impact smart grid and utility operations going forward.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/27/the-emerging-smart-energy-consumer http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/27/the-emerging-smart-energy-consumer Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:44:00 +0000 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/27/the-emerging-smart-energy-consumer
In my post yesterday, I talked about the changes in Texas as seen from the consumer perspective, specifically from the perspective of the residential consumer. The deployment of millions of smart meters in Texas makes it different from other markets, and the influx of reams of data, which will be available to consumers on a website, means that perceptions from energy consumers will begin to evolve.

In Chapter 7 of our new book, The Advanced Smart Grid, we talk about the emerging smart energy consumer. As the graph above suggests, a first step for consumers will be to become aware of issues and go from a Consumer, passive and ignorant, to a Smart Consumer, now able to manage personal load in new ways ... and relate to the utility in new ways as well.

Consumer / Utility relationships today are relatively shallow, as most consumers rely on utilities, but do not interact much with them, short of using the electricity that comes to their house or office and paying their monthly bills. Thus changes to rate structure, which are a natural follow-up to the deployment of smart meters, pose questions for consumers and they will begin to seek answers. New time-of-use rates, as the name suggests, will be tied to the time of day the energy is consumed, linking energy consumption behavior to monthly bills. Shift your behavior, and you'll see savings. Carry on with business as usual, and you may be in for a surprise at the end of the month.

Such changes put the onus on utilities to warm up their consumers with education programs and other forms of outreach, so that consumers aren't surprised down the road when these changes are put into place. And to put it another way, utilities may not get so far as to get rates approved if they don't educate consumers first, as rate cases have a way of bringing opponents out of the closet. It will be to a utility's benefit to spend time understanding consumer perceptions and educating them so that future dialogue may be based on facts, rather than fears.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/26/the-advanced-smart-grid-is-coming http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/26/the-advanced-smart-grid-is-coming Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:25:00 +0000 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/26/the-advanced-smart-grid-is-coming here.

Here is an excerpt to [...]]]> here.

Here is an excerpt to whet your appetite.

But transitioning to smart grids is not without its challenges, which show up on multiple fronts to confound utilities. A key challenge will concern maintaining reliability and continuity of service while upgrading to a Smart Grid. Ensuring physical and cyber security and interoperability with legacy and new technologies, even as interoperability standards are under development, creates a need for new skill sets and rapid adaptation to an increasingly dynamic environment. Making investment decisions on technologies at varying levels of maturity in tight economic times, when access to capital is constrained and when rate case recovery of Smart Grid investments is uncertain, requires a new level of technology and financial management. It will be increasingly important to consider and investigate ways of mitigating risks and costs, such as adopting new virtualization and cloud computing methodologies. Data mining and analysis become areas of focus in the post implementation phase that will benefit a utility's operations and customers. It all adds up to a fundamentally new way of doing business, where Smart Grids will require new business models, process improvement, staffing, training, and even regulatory treatment to extract maximum benefits.



]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/12/questions-and-answers http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/12/questions-and-answers Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:27:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/12/questions-and-answers here. Also, my book, The Advanced Smart Grid was published last week (buy [...]]]> here. Also, my book, The Advanced Smart Grid was published last week (buy it here), so I've been fielding notes of congratulations and busy marketing that. This is all good.

But I've been eager to come back to this post, because the transitions in electric industry are so compelling, and with Texas as my backyard, this economy offers a great way to study and contemplate those changes and what they mean.

In this post, let's take up the questions that all this change brings on. We should look at the change from different perspectives.

Today let's look at change from the customer perspective: change holds opportunities, but also risks - and given their lack of sophistication on the finer points of change, residential customers especially are more suspicious of the risks of change - the downside. Customers, by and large, have had it pretty good in the US when it comes to electricity, where the utilities provide incredible reliability and absent the occasional outage, we can count on the electricity being there when we throw a switch or plug in an appliance. In the industry, they call this Reliability, and it is the driving force for utility employees. Not just "keep the lights on" but all aspects of reliability.

And electricity has by and large been an incredibly inexpensive product/service, when one considers how it has impacted our lives - we generally spend less than 10% of our household budget on electricity - only the poorest households see significant economic distress from paying their utility bill. So change, when it comes, has a challenge for residential customers at least. They already have it pretty good, so change may likely bring ... higher bills, less convenience?

With commercial customers, however, change represents the ability to improve how they manage a signficant cost item on their books. Every net dollar saved from the electricity bill of a business, after all, flows directly to the bottom line as increased profit. Change that makes electricity less risky in terms of price, that provides greater control to users, that gives them more information or more options? That is change they can believe in.

In Texas, we're working our way through a major change, one that will impact customers directly. Texas leads the nation in the deployment of Smart Meters - we're about halfway through the deployment in the deregulated portions of the state, with about 3 million more meters to go, with completion expected sometime in 2012. The data from those meters is already flowing into data banks and showing up on the website designed for customer acccess - SmartMeterTexas.com. It remains to be seen how customers will use this day-behind consumer data, and also, how utilities and retail electric providers will make use of a more informed marketplace.

But Texas is a big state - we must also look to those areas of Texas not included in ERCOT - looking at the previous post, one can see that that would include folks out in El Paso, up in the Panhandle, and over in deep east and southeast Texas. The changes sweeping over the rest of the state are surely occurring in those areas as well, because no utility is left out of these changes - all utilities are closely examining their operational models, looking for effiiencies in operations and in the ways they run their businesses. Truly, Texas has every type of utility environment, and pretty much, every type of climate as well.

The big questions to hit us here in Texas, and those that will hit those utilities, retailers, and consumers in other areas of the country, mostly concern adaptation to changing technolgies and changing environmental conditions, at both the climate and political levels. These changes, loosely understood by what we have already seen in telecom and internet markets, are even now impacting how we produce, distribute and consume electricity.

This post is getting a little long in the tooth, so I'll close for now, to revisit this subject I hope in the next few days. Change, and the questions it brings and hopefully the answers we develop in response, have arrived at the doorstep of the electric industry. We - both utilities and consumers - must understand change and its impacts, if we are to plan and react in ways that serve us in the long-term. Ignorance is rarely an optimal strategy - and these days - it may be fatal.



]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/12/texas-an-electricity-microcosm http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/12/texas-an-electricity-microcosm Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:14:00 +0000 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/12/texas-an-electricity-microcosm
As with the rest of the country, the first to get electricity in Texas were the city residents in major population areas, served by investor owned utilities like Texas Power and Light (Dallas-FW), Houston Lighting & Power (Houston), Central Power & Light (Corpus Christi), and Eastern Texas Electric (Beaumont). And a strong city-owned industry developed in Texas with such cities as San Antonio, Austin, and Lubbock building their own distribution grids as enterprise departments within city government. The Lower Colorado River Authority was formed in 1934. And electric cooperatives were formed with the Rural Electrification Act in 1935; now Texas can boast 65 members in the Texas Electric Cooperative organization, the largest of its kind in the US.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) was formed in response to NERC requirements in 1970. ERCOT took on a market coordination role in 1981, which became more important with the deregulation of wholesale energy in 1995. Electricity wasn't regulated at the state level in Texas until 1975, when the Public Utility Commission of Texas was formed. But the monopoly investor-owned utlities in Texas vigorously defended their status as state-regulated, not federally-regulated entitites. In May 1976, the issue was forced when Central & South West technician connected grids in Vernon, TX and Aldus, OK, arguably putting all Texas electrons in interstate commerce. The issue was finally settled in 1980, when DC ties in Vernon and in East Texas connected ERCOT to the Eastern and Western Interconnections.

Ah, Texas likes to stand out. And stand out we do when we look at the national grid picture. The ERCOT system remains to this day an island, sitting astride the Western and Eastern Interconnections. In 2000, the Texas Legislature voted to make electricity service competitive at the retail level among those areas served by investor-owned utiltiies, allowing cooperatives and municipally-owned electric utilities (MOUs) to remain vertically intergrated. The advent of retail electric service transformed the Texas electricity market, and now 11 years later Texas has what many call the most mature competitive retail electricity market in North America.

Austin Energy, City Public Service (San Antonio), and Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative, still vertically integrated full-service electric companies, now serve as national examples of creative and progressive utiltiies, although they remain outside competition. These utilities are embracing the concepts of Smart Grid and leading in a variety of programs nationally. So Texas offers an interesting study of the benefits of deregulation as well, as we compare and contrast the traditional vertically-integrated utiilities with those that have been deregulated to let market forces have free rein, in the hopes of generating greater efficiencies.

By 2012, Texas will have deployed over 6 million smart meters in its deregulated territories, making it one of the first regions nationally to embrace Smart Grid in a big way. Texas has the most expansive wind energy industry in the nation and is building a multi-billion transmission system - the CREZ line - to connect west Texas wind resources with major population centers in Texas. ERCOT leads the nation in the modernization of its systems, with a nodal system coming on line in 2011.

We'll look at Texas electricity history in greater detail in coming posts on this blog, to drive some detailed discussion of what all these events mean to the smart energy consumer.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/11/la-plus-ca-change http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/11/la-plus-ca-change Mon, 11 Jul 2011 23:58:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/07/11/la-plus-ca-change
The French have a saying, "La plus ca change, la plus c'est la meme." In English, it translates as "The more things change, the more they stay the same." We're looking at massive changes on the way in the design of our electric grids and we may be revisiting an old argument between such luminaries as Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla played out at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. Edison, of course, invented the incandescent light bulb (and much else) and was an early proponent of on-site direct current generation. Sadly, technology at the time made that option less feasible and the debate played out in favor of the Westinghouse/Tesla model of AC and long-distance transmission of remote generation, which became the model for our current system.

Fast forward to today, and we see that same current system under stress and a growing potential for distributed energy services to offer a compelling alternative, at least on the small scale. As price points decline further and technology continues to improve, this option will become more and more feasible. There will come a day in the not too distant future when residential and commercial energy consumers will opt to invest in their own power plants near where they consume energy. Once again, we're looking at a build up phase in electric grid infrastructure, but this time, we'll employ new efficient technologies that may or may not leverage the existing grid.

As with any inventor, Edison struggled to match his ideas and concepts with available material of the day, and with a society and market that were ready for his inventions. Edison had it basically right in viewing on-site generation as more efficient - he just lacked the technology to realize his vision. The Westinghouse/Tesla model was a better fit for the industrial age of the late 19th and 20th centuries. But in the 21st century, we're catching up to Edison's vision, more than one hundred years later, and an energy internet may be better suited to our needs in the coming decades.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/03/29/best-investment-virtual-and-distributed http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/03/29/best-investment-virtual-and-distributed Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:47:18 +0000 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/03/29/best-investment-virtual-and-distributed Virtual Power Plants Aren't Just Virtual -- They're [...]]]> Virtual Power Plants Aren't Just Virtual -- They're Real.

The challenge to making the electric grid more efficient is focused squarely on managing the peaks better - the times when the grid is least efficient and power is the most expensive. Think about the folly of adding two additional highway lanes over on the left that are almost never driven on, but must always be maintained and paid for because we don't tolerate traffic jams - that's what it's like in the electric grid today. That is the infrastructure in the grid devoted to meeting peak demand - power plants and wires that sit idle much of the time.

An alternative to expensive, fixed investment in large remote power plants is to preposition and organize assets out at the edges of the grid that can be available to meet peak demand when it occurs, but far less expensively than we do today.

Combine some renewable energy (solar PV and wind) with on-demand conservation, known in the industry as demand response, add in a dash of energy storage, organize it all with energy management systems that can communicate with the utility, and you have a VPP that can address peak demand better, cheaper, and cleaner than a traditional fossil fuel plant can.

We can do it today, we just have to demand new ways of thinking about making and consuming electricity.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/03/28/multipurpose-distributed-generation http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/03/28/multipurpose-distributed-generation Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:52:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/03/28/multipurpose-distributed-generation
Disaster recovery will become a fringe benefit of plans such as the Tuscon Electric Power Bright Roofs program announced recently, whereby public schools will contribute their rooftops to mount PV systems owned by the utility.

Distributed generation, as it takes hold, will open up new areas of synergy and creativity, where we get more from our investments.


]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/03/28/smart-meters-need-to-hire-an-agent http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/03/28/smart-meters-need-to-hire-an-agent Mon, 28 Mar 2011 20:30:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/03/28/smart-meters-need-to-hire-an-agent Smart meter opt-out saga continues, PG&E sends plan to California commission, IntelligentUtility's Phil Carlson describes the PR challenges and the Opt Out option now underway in California. The California PUC has opened the door [...]]]> Smart meter opt-out saga continues, PG&E sends plan to California commission, IntelligentUtility's Phil Carlson describes the PR challenges and the Opt Out option now underway in California. The California PUC has opened the door to allow customers to choose not to have a smart meter, but that will come at a cost. As it should. Those who opt out place additional costs on the system and will need to choose higher rates, or differently structured rate plans that allow those costs to be recovered.

IMHO, this is a sad state of affairs, reflecting the poor job PG&E has done in bringing out the benefits of change and educating its customers. Ignorance certainly drives health claims, given that Smart Meters have been shown to emit a minuscule amount of radiation, far from the threat that some claim. Rather, it is likely that reluctance to have a Smart Meter is more resistance to the utility, especially in Marin, as well as a reflection of the misunderstanding of the value proposition of Smart Meters.

It didn't have to be this way, and its worked out differently in other places, notably SCE and SDGE, where smart meters were rolled out after significant efforts to raise customer awareness and encourage customer support. Going forward, chalk this case study up as one more reason that customers need to be at the table from the very beginning, as strategic decisions are made that will not only impact customers but also be paid for by customers. To do anything else is folly, plain and simple.


]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/01/29/whats-next-for-smart-grids http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/01/29/whats-next-for-smart-grids Sat, 29 Jan 2011 22:06:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2011/01/29/whats-next-for-smart-grids
]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/03/12/knowledge-needs-an-open-mind http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/03/12/knowledge-needs-an-open-mind Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:47:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/03/12/knowledge-needs-an-open-mind
But first, we've got to get over the hurdles of installing the smart meters - and overcome the distrust that consumers have of their utilities. For make no mistake, distrust in institutions is at the heart of current protests of smart meter rollouts. It is up to institutions - the utilities, their regulators, and governmental bodies - to restore confidence by providing better marketing and consumer awareness programs in advance of meter rollouts and the inevitable time-of-use rate cases that will follow after the interval meter data starts to fill databases.

Intelligent Utility has provided good coverage of both the California and Texas smart meter snafus (I like Intelligent Utility), and the commentary here highlights the connection between consumer knowledge and progress.

What's interesting about all of this is not so much the testing and review plan, but who was complaining about high bills. Of the customers who called to request meter tests, about 75 percent of them had traditional meters. Apparently, December was the second-coldest one in 20 years and February was exceptionally cold, too. Certainly, some mistakes were found in final readings made before installing the smart meter, but it was also just pretty darn cold in the area. And, as this situation reminds us, weather can significantly impact your electric bill. Working with its customers, Oncor is finding that common reasons for the recent high bills include very cold weather combined with inefficient heaters, electric resistance heat and insufficient weather stripping and insulation.

The hysteria and significant media attention surrounding smart meters has, in a strange way, provided an opportunity for people to remember (or learn) that extreme cold and heat mean that electricity bills will likely go up. And, in the future, the currently criticized smart technologies will ultimately enable electricity customers to better understand the impact of things such as weather in real time, and then be able to take action to avoid the sticker shock they are complaining about now. That is, if they actually have a smart meter.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/03/12/the-domino-theory-whos-next http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/03/12/the-domino-theory-whos-next Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:42:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/03/12/the-domino-theory-whos-next
Smart Meters, the vanguard leading the charge into the Smart Grid era, stubbed their collective toe in Fresno and Bakersfield last fall, when a class action lawsuit challenged PGE [...]]]>
Smart Meters, the vanguard leading the charge into the Smart Grid era, stubbed their collective toe in Fresno and Bakersfield last fall, when a class action lawsuit challenged PGE about higher bills many consumers blamed on the new technology. The announcement of an independent investigator is rumored to be days away.

Now, in Texas, ONCOR is suffering a similar fate, with angry consumers upset about higher bills. Technology is a convenient scapegoat, but in Texas, it looks like record cold weather may be the more likely culprit. Still, the process was fairly predictable. Navigant has been awarded a contract to conduct the independent investigation here in Texas, which benefited from watching the California saga unfold and reacted with amazing swiftness.

Somehow, SCE and SDGE, the other two large investor-owned utilities, managed in California where PGE failed - or at least they avoided a lawsuit. I think the pending investigation will show that those two utilities took more care to educate consumers and bring them along as the transition to smart meters took place.

The consumer will pay for these changes - we avoid bringing them along at our own peril. It reminds me of the old Aamco commercial - "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later." How many more independent investigations will we need before we catch on that we must slow down and educate the consumer before sticking them with a bill?

IntelligentUtility commentary is succinct in today's e-newsletter:

This situation has evolved, however, for one very good reason. So far, smart meters are the most prominent, consumer-facing technology to be deployed. Not necessarily employed, but definitely deployed. And the issues surrounding those deployments will have a direct effect on the politics of the smart grid and its acceptance. In a sense - and I don't think this is exaggerating - as go smart meters, so goes the fundamental notion of wise energy use, consumer-utility interactivity and national energy independence.

It is into this environment that the smart grid meets reality and reality is biting back. When I read stuff like the foregoing in The Dallas Morning News, I see an entire nation's goals foundering on mistrust, not to mention the failure of a nascent industry with laudible goals.

Something's gotta give, and fast.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/23/a-sustainable-energy-utility http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/23/a-sustainable-energy-utility Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:45:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/23/a-sustainable-energy-utility sustainability that I prefer.

RenewableEnergyWorld.com

sustainability that I prefer.

RenewableEnergyWorld.com

Shifting from the Economics of Obesity to Sustainable Energy
The Potential for Clean Energy, Low-Carbon Gains through a 'Sustainable Energy Utility.'

A growing number of communities are developing comprehensive energy approaches that promise fundamental lifestyle changes similar to what we witnessed with information. These experiments include a “net zero energy” buildingscape (Austin, Texas), carless transport during certain hours (London), low/no-carbon communication (Google’s green data network) and industrial ecology-based manufacturing (Kalundbord, Denmark). All of these initiatives represent efforts to boldly craft 21st-century answers to the new era’s economic and social needs that go beyond the carbon accounting model hotly debated for 15 years. Indeed, these options seek to remove the problem rather than waste time counting molecules.

Unleashing the social and market forces that are needed to achieve a real transition to sustainability will require new institutions. The Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) is just such an institution and was recently mandated by law in Delaware. Also by law, the state of Delaware is now required to reduce in-state energy use from all fuels by 30% before 2017 and source 20% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The SEU does not spend time penalizing failure to switch to clean energy; instead, it marshals capital and policy to reward and support those communities and businesses willing to build an entirely new future.

Just What Is a Sustainable Energy Utility, and Why Do We Need It?

Designed as an independent, non-profit, and financially self-sufficient entity, the SEU delivers energy efficiency, conservation and distributed renewable energy to everyone. Its distinction lies in its potential to help overcome the formidable disincentives to investing in sustainable energy, such as the misalignment between the utility provider’s and customer’s returns on investment and the government rules that create risks for the future value of investments. The SEU seeks to capitalize on the fact that with sustainable energy the individual benefits may be small in isolation, but they are massive in aggregate.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/18/progress-of-a-sort http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/18/progress-of-a-sort Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:36:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/18/progress-of-a-sort intelligentutility 02/18/2010

Getting smarter every day

Last year, Sierra Energy Group, a division of Energy Central, surveyed utilities about very basic business intelligence and the results were informative. [...]]]> intelligentutility 02/18/2010

Getting smarter every day

Last year, Sierra Energy Group, a division of Energy Central, surveyed utilities about very basic business intelligence and the results were informative. Investor-owned utilities (IOUs), municipals and co-operatives were asked: how close is your utility to being able to provide real-time, collated information about the operation of the grid and the enterprise to the executive suite? On a scale from one to five, with five representing the highest, the results were: 2.6 for IOUs, 2.3 for municipals, and 1.8 for co-operatives. So IOUs, municipals and co-operatives each recognized that they have a long way to go before they can offer real-time information about the operation of the grid to their executive suite -- much less their customers.

It doesn’t get any better when we look at general business intelligence. The same IOUs, municipals and co-operatives were asked: how effectively does your utility use business intelligence to make informed business decisions? On a scale from one to five, the results were: 2.8 for IOUs, 2.4 for municipals, and 2.6 for co-operatives. When it comes to using intelligence about their own business to make informed decisions, respondents recognized that they have a long way to go in this area as well. These results, of course, leave us wondering what information they do use to make decisions about their business.

But, enterprise-wide business intelligence is clearly becoming more important to utilities. The same survey mentioned above also asked respondents about their plans related to development of an intelligent utility enterprise. About 80 percent of IOUs and co-operatives and 65 percent of municipals indicated that they had such a plan. Additionally, nearly all of the CIOs we talk with are engaged in some manner with projects that will help improve enterprise intelligence, which indicates that the intelligent utility enterprise plan includes increased business intelligence.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/18/tens-of-millions-of-power-plants-on-wheels http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/18/tens-of-millions-of-power-plants-on-wheels Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:29:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/18/tens-of-millions-of-power-plants-on-wheels intelligentutility 2/18/2010


To V2G or not to V2G


So, to the vision. Kempton, at the University of Delaware, has coupled the nation’s electric utility system and the light vehicle fleet as “two [...]]]> intelligentutility 2/18/2010


To V2G or not to V2G


So, to the vision. Kempton, at the University of Delaware, has coupled the nation’s electric utility system and the light vehicle fleet as “two massive but separate energy conversion systems.” Nearly 10,000 utility generators produce more than 600 gigawatts (GW). More than 176 million cars and light trucks produce more than 19,500 GWm (m stands for mechanical energy). That’s 24 times the capacity of the electric generation system.

As the automotive world explores electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy sources are tied into the grid, in Kempton’s words, “the economics and management of energy and power in the light vehicle and electric systems make their convergence compelling in the early decades of the 21st century.”

EVs can provide electricity storage and quick-response generation to the grid, electricity will complement and displace gasoline in the fleet and automated controls will optimize the transfer of energy between the two giant systems, given their different but compatible needs based on time of day.

In a paper titled, “Vehicle-to-grid power implementation,” in The Journal of Power Sources, Kempton calculated that one-fourth of the U.S. fleet produces mechanical energy equivalent to the entire output of the nation’s electricity generation. “Capital costs to tap vehicle electricity are one to two magnitudes lower than building power plants,” Kempton wrote.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/it-isnt-easy-being-greenin-boulder-or-on-sesame-street http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/it-isnt-easy-being-greenin-boulder-or-on-sesame-street Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:16:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/it-isnt-easy-being-greenin-boulder-or-on-sesame-street Wall Street Journal 2/13/2010

Even Boulder Finds It Isn't Easy Going Green

What we've found is that for the vast majority of people, it's exceedingly difficult to get them to do much of [...]]]> Wall Street Journal 2/13/2010

Even Boulder Finds It Isn't Easy Going Green

What we've found is that for the vast majority of people, it's exceedingly difficult to get them to do much of anything," says Kevin Doran, a senior research fellow at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

President Barack Obama has set ambitious goals for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, in part by improving energy efficiency. Last year's stimulus bill set aside billions to weatherize buildings. The president has also called for a "cash for caulkers" rebate for Americans who weatherize their homes.

But Boulder has found that financial incentives and an intense publicity campaign aren't enough to spur most homeowners to action, even in a city so environmentally conscious that the college football stadium won't sell potato chips because the packaging isn't recyclable.



]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/whats-on-our-leaders-plates http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/whats-on-our-leaders-plates Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:55:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/whats-on-our-leaders-plates Washington, DC, this is the agenda starting tomorrow.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A. Is a New Paradigm Needed to Manage the Electricity [...]]]> Washington, DC, this is the agenda starting tomorrow.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A. Is a New Paradigm Needed to Manage the Electricity System in a Clean Energy Economy? Views from the Nation’s Thought Leaders

B. Building New Electricity Infrastructure: Balancing The Roles of Coordinated Planning and Market-based Processes

C. LUNCH: An International Perspective on the Clean Energy Environment

D. Carbon Restrictions: What Steps Will the Economy Actually Take in a Carbon Constrained World?

E. Wild Cards: Innovative Technologies that Might Transform the Electricity Industry

Thursday, February 18, 2010

A. An Evolving Grid - Will a Smarter Grid Matter?

B. The Role of Energy Efficiency in the Clean Energy Economy

C. Electric Generation Resource Investments: Pursuing a Long-term Goal for a Clean Energy Economy in the Face of Transitory Trends

D. Closing Remarks: Reflections on a Path Forward

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/a-good-foundation-for-a-demand-response-discussion http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/a-good-foundation-for-a-demand-response-discussion Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:28:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/a-good-foundation-for-a-demand-response-discussion
1.
1. FERC Staff Report titled A National Assessment of Demand Response Potential from June 2009
and
2. FERC Staff Report Discussion Draft on Possible Elements of a National Action Plan on Demand Response from October 2009

and, mark your calendars - due by June 2010: the Demand Response National Action Plan.


]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/new-pev-era-new-car-language http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/new-pev-era-new-car-language Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:58:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/new-pev-era-new-car-language
Typically, we speak of cars in terms of a) gas mileage - MPG; b) speed - MPH; c) acceleration - 0 to 60; and d) gasoline cost - $/gal. From boyhood up, I fantasized about a speedy coupe like a Ferrari or [...]]]>
Typically, we speak of cars in terms of a) gas mileage - MPG; b) speed - MPH; c) acceleration - 0 to 60; and d) gasoline cost - $/gal. From boyhood up, I fantasized about a speedy coupe like a Ferrari or a luxury sedan like a Mercedes. The car review section in the Sunday paper almost always talks in terms of performance or comfort, rarely in terms of environmental impact.

In a new PEV era, talking about cars will require a bit of a paradigm shift and it is going to be a little disconcerting.

We'll be talking about a) range instead of gas mileage - how far can you go on a charge?; b) speed will be the same concept; c) acceleration - except for the Tesla - few will own these - acceleration will be much less important in PEVs, because speeding about takes a lot of juice, and until storage improves, rapidly discharging comes at the expense of range; d) energy cost will be much less, and it will be in terms of $/kWh - we're not used to that. Finally, how many of us can say what our car gets now in terms of lbs CO2/mile ... mine is 0.57...how about yours?

Topping up will become much more common - think of how many more electrical outlets there are than there are gas stations...given the lack of range for the foreseeable future, I imagine the electric car owner will take advantage of plugs and idle parking time to charge wherever possible. Solar PV garages, anyone?

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/test-driving-a-tesla http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/test-driving-a-tesla Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:58:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/test-driving-a-tesla NY Times 2/16/2010

Oh-So Quick and Even Carbon-Free

Great article, loaded with statistics about the [...]]]> NY Times 2/16/2010

Oh-So Quick and Even Carbon-Free

Great article, loaded with statistics about the Tesla...got me to thinking about my car v. a Tesla...my Honda Civic Hybrid averages about 35 miles/gallon, so I'm getting about 11 miles for every dollar at $3/gallon, whereas the Tesla averages 2.8 miles/kWh of charge, so it gets about 28 miles for every dollar at $0.10/kWh. (I'm not ready to line up my Civic H in a drag race with a Tesla though...it goes 0-60 in under 4 seconds, where my car takes about a minute and a half to get up to 60...)

As for carbon pollution, my hybrid produces a little over 0.5 lbs (0.57) of CO2/mile (20 lbs CO2/gallon of gas), while the Tesla would produce a little under 0.5 lbs (0.39) of CO2/mile (here in Austin, our generation portfolio gives us about 1.1 lbs CO2/kWh).

So, the Tesla is cheaper and cleaner to operate than the Civic Hybrid, but its a hell of a lot more expensive - you could buy six Civic Hybrids for the price of one Tesla - and a hell of a lot faster.

But, who's counting? Is my math right?

Using the standard charging connector (15 amp capacity) plugged into a typical 120-volt outlet, the Roadster needs an hour of recharging for every five miles of driving. If you drive it 40 miles — the typical daily use, according to research by the General Motors engineers developing the 2011 Chevrolet Volt — you can replenish the battery pack in eight hours. If you top off overnight at off-peak electricity rates, the Roadster is cheaply and fully charged by morning.

If you drive far enough to deplete the Roadster’s battery pack, it can take up to 36 hours to recharge it using 120-volt household current, at a cost of about $5, according to Tesla. Refueling is quicker when a high-voltage circuit, typically used for appliances like electric clothes dryers, is available.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/a-profile-of-a-utility-energy-efficiency-program http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/a-profile-of-a-utility-energy-efficiency-program Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:27:00 +0000 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/a-profile-of-a-utility-energy-efficiency-program intelligentutility 2/16/2010

Funds help residents make homes more energy efficient

Most current utility energy efficiency programs, as this article describes, promote energy audits followed by [...]]]> intelligentutility 2/16/2010

Funds help residents make homes more energy efficient

Most current utility energy efficiency programs, as this article describes, promote energy audits followed by a laundry list of projects to make a house more energy efficient.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/a-new-mobile-power-ecosystem http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/a-new-mobile-power-ecosystem Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:13:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/a-new-mobile-power-ecosystem intelligentutility 2/16/2010

Will electric vehicle charging blackout neighborhoods?

Utilities plan for the coming wave of PEVs and the potential disruptive impact of sudden dynamic hot spots [...]]]> intelligentutility 2/16/2010

Will electric vehicle charging blackout neighborhoods?

Utilities plan for the coming wave of PEVs and the potential disruptive impact of sudden dynamic hot spots of localized demand on a grid used to static demand.

"I suspect that the greatest challenge being posed by electric vehicles is not with the charging stations or even the availability of the vehicles themselves, but with the challenge to over 3,000 U.S. electric utilities that will suddenly face unplanned demand and will need to expend significant financial resources, staff resources and planning resources to deal with that demand," Howard concluded.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/energy-independence-coming-to-a-neighborhood-near-you http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/energy-independence-coming-to-a-neighborhood-near-you Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:07:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/energy-independence-coming-to-a-neighborhood-near-you intelligentutility 2/16/2010

A behind-the-meter revolution in the making?

The microgrid concept is gaining traction. And what starts with industrial/commercial customers will filter down, over time, into [...]]]> intelligentutility 2/16/2010

A behind-the-meter revolution in the making?

The microgrid concept is gaining traction. And what starts with industrial/commercial customers will filter down, over time, into neighborhoods, as well. We've already seen new neighborhoods across the country being built that incorporate large-scale solar generation. It's only a matter of time before this becomes the norm, rather than the exception. It's a new game board, and the rules are still being written while the players are jostling for position.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/ac-dc-pv http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/ac-dc-pv Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:55:00 +0000 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/ac-dc-pv RenewableEnergyWorld.com 2/15/2010

The Transition from Standard PV to AC Modules

When solar PV panels become plug and play, deployment costs will [...]]]> RenewableEnergyWorld.com 2/15/2010

The Transition from Standard PV to AC Modules

When solar PV panels become plug and play, deployment costs will fall and grid parity will be at hand. Microinverters are the key to transitioning solar PV from a complex system that produces DC power to a more simple, modular system that produces AC power.

Most everyone knows that the market for PV systems, whether residential, commercial or utility-scale, has grown at a break-neck pace over the past decade. Now, with the challenge of solving climate change and the visible implications of energy policy on national security, the PV market’s growth seems inevitable. As this market expands to all corners of the world, a PV technology that is simple to understand, safe to work with, modular and scalable, and above all reliable - will make this rapid growth possible. Therein lays the compelling nature of AC Modules.

What are the advantages of an AC Module, that is, a PV module with an integrated micro-inverter? In short, the advantages are Performance, Modularity, Simplicity, Intelligence and Reliability.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/fit-to-be-tied-to-the-grid http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/fit-to-be-tied-to-the-grid Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:39:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/fit-to-be-tied-to-the-grid RenewableEnergyWorld.com 2/9/2010

NREL: Feed-in Tariffs Legal in US When Certain Conditions Met
RenewableEnergyWorld.com 2/9/2010

NREL: Feed-in Tariffs Legal in US When Certain Conditions Met
A new report charts path through the U.S. regulatory minefield.

There may be ways around the legal roadblocks that have heretofore made feed in tariffs (FIT) an illusory goal for those who would promote widespread adoption of solar PV. Feed in tariffs are widely seen as driving the German solar PV market, the densest penetration of solar PV in the world, but US legal restrictions on pricing and selling of power have kept FIT out of the US market so far. And price matters when it comes to the market success of a FIT.

Opponents have long argued that feed-in tariffs are illegal in the U.S. They will find ample solace in the report that the European or Canadian approach of setting specific tariffs directly won't comply with current federal law or its interpretation. Hempling says, in essence, that states can't set specific tariffs above "avoided cost" under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) of 1978.

However, Hempling goes on to chart a path to implementing feed-in tariffs that avoids the regulatory minefield under PURPA and the Federal Power Act. Hempling describes how states can set total payments, or equivalent feed-in tariffs, above avoided cost in compliance with federal law. The path may appear more circuitous, in comparison to that in other countries, but it is, nevertheless, clear.

Proponents of FITs argue that feed-in tariff programs work best (spur the development of significant amounts of renewable energy) when the tariffs are based on the cost of generation plus a reasonable profit. In these programs, there are a suite of tariffs for solar PV, another set for wind energy, and so on. The tariffs for solar PV in these programs are much higher than the "avoided cost" of a conventional natural gas-fired power plant in the U.S.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/the-steady-rise-of-chinese-solar-pv http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/the-steady-rise-of-chinese-solar-pv Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:28:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/16/the-steady-rise-of-chinese-solar-pv RenewableEnergyWorld.com 2/10/2010

Financial Crisis Paves the Way for Chinese Solar Giants

A slumping global polysilicon price and a [...]]]> RenewableEnergyWorld.com 2/10/2010

Financial Crisis Paves the Way for Chinese Solar Giants

A slumping global polysilicon price and a competitive advantage in processing cost have given Chinese solar PV manufacturers a boost over their competitors globally.

But cost competitiveness isn’t China’s only advantage, said analyst Jiang Qian with Shenzhen Zhongzhe Investment Consulting Co. "China's well-developed supply chain, cheap electricity, supportive policies and even low environmental standards, all contribute. While, currently, solar manufacturing conditions in Malaysia still lag behind."

Another major advantage for Chinese solar companies is their ready access to finance amid the global economic downturn. Backed by China's preferential policies towards renewable energy, domestic solar modules makers have benefited from supportive local banks.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/sensitivity-101-data-first-then-tou-bills http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/sensitivity-101-data-first-then-tou-bills Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:04:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/sensitivity-101-data-first-then-tou-bills SmartGridNews.com 11/13/2009

Smart Grid Fallout: Lessons to Learn from PG&E’s Smart Meter Lawsuit

It is hard to know exactly when the [...]]]> SmartGridNews.com 11/13/2009

Smart Grid Fallout: Lessons to Learn from PG&E’s Smart Meter Lawsuit

It is hard to know exactly when the honeymoon ended, whether it was
when Bakersfield.com reported on a customer who found his power usage had tripled during a six-hour blackout, or at the town meeting in Fresno on Oct. 20 became a unanimous indictment of smart metering, or now in November, as a class-action suit has been filed against PG&E, asserting a variety of mistakes and misrepresentations. For those of us who have spent a fair amount of time researching the potential for advances derived from smart metering, these developments are disconcerting.

Some of the Solution Is in the Data
Many of the same constituencies who are actively opposing the smart meter evolution are also very much interested and involved in the promotion of more efficient energy usage and more integration of alternative sources. It is now the responsibility of the utilities to educate their customers about the actual dynamics of power and power pricing, to help them to better understand the choices that they will need to make.

For those utilities who have not yet begun to alter the finances of their customers through higher peak pricing, there is a cautionary tale here. It seems that it might well be worth 3-6 months of reporting on usage, with simulated billing and recommendations for changes, prior to actually instituting those changes. It would better showcase the insight provided by Smart Metering, would provide a sense of empowerment for the users, and would certainly eliminate some of what seems to be a sense of blindsiding on the part of the consumer.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/electricity-like-water-or-like-information http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/electricity-like-water-or-like-information Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:32:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/electricity-like-water-or-like-information SmartGridNews.com 2/9/2010

Blowback Attack: The Smart Grid’s Greatest Danger?

From Erica Watson-Currie, a member of the SmartGridNews.com 2/9/2010

Blowback Attack: The Smart Grid’s Greatest Danger?

From Erica Watson-Currie, a member of the DOE-funded Smart Grid Demonstration project partnership between LADWP and a consortium of top Southern California research institutes including USC, UCLA, and CalTech/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. USC and UCLA will be testing grounds for innovative technologies. This project is currently the only DOE funded project to have a socio-behavioral component, which makes it one to watch.

A DOE 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?

Our team [has] discovered most of the resistance centers on the following common themes:
* Anti-Big Business as evil, oppressive, greedy or abusive
* Anti-ties between business and government
* Privacy concerns
* Anti-governmental intrusion
* References to dystopian science fiction
* Fear of cost increases

Consumers are afraid, it seems, of things they don't understand, and they prefer the water analogy they're used to - "power flows" - over the data analogy they're not used to - "smart wires and appliances"...the Terminator and Matrix come to mind. So, what language should we use instead? I suggest customer empowerment and energy independence messages...

Continuing to “explain” Smart Grid using analogies which fail to generate end-user understanding; using utilities’ rate structures to reward those who cede control and punish those who refuse; and increasing governmental regulatory actions will result in fueling these fears, increasing end-users’ opposition and resistance.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/get-on-board-the-ami-train http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/get-on-board-the-ami-train Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:06:33 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/get-on-board-the-ami-train intelligentutility 2/15/2010

Smart meters coming, whether consumers want them or not

San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison are in the process of replacing 6.7 [...]]]> intelligentutility 2/15/2010

Smart meters coming, whether consumers want them or not

San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison are in the process of replacing 6.7 million conventional electric meters with the new computerized devices.

The meters are considered essential for managing the variability of renewable electricity generation, and they offer new functions, including measuring electricity usage by when it's used and the possibility of having power turned on and off remotely. But regulations require all customers to get the new meters.

"It's just basically the privacy issues," he said. "I don't like anybody knowing when you're home, when you're not home."

Cayafas, an Edison customer who lives in Los Angeles County, also said he was concerned about recent reports that showed problems with the meters: Security consultants demonstrated last summer that the meters can be hacked; Bakersfield residents are suing Pacific Gas & Electric Co. because they allege the meters inflate their electric bills; and PG&E dramatically increased the number of customers they disconnected thanks to their ability to remotely shut off power.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/the-inevitable-nature-of-smart-grid http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/the-inevitable-nature-of-smart-grid Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:20:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/the-inevitable-nature-of-smart-grid intelligentutility 2/15/2010

Why the smart grid is inevitable

According to ZigBee Alliance chairman Bob Heile ...

American consumers are going to have to live with the interactive nature of the smart grid and [...]]]> intelligentutility 2/15/2010

Why the smart grid is inevitable

According to ZigBee Alliance chairman Bob Heile ...

American consumers are going to have to live with the interactive nature of the smart grid and the overwhelming fact that power generation will never keep up with future demand, Heile told me. Even if utilities pursued new power generation by every means, American attitudes towards nuclear power, not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) sentiments and demands of the Clean Air Act will constrain new generation to lag behind demand.

"We can't build new power plants fast enough, even without the transportation sector going electric," Heile said. "With EVs in the mix, demand will be huge."

"As a result, the price of electricity may have to get expensive to change consumer behavior," Heile said. "We'll have to pay the real cost of electricity and that means that consumers will have to get smart about how they use it."

"Take the tree-hugging out of it," Heile added. "Do we just get around to [the smart grid] when we can, to avoid rolling blackouts? I hope not. That seems like a remote scenario right now, but it isn't. It's going to happen. The coastal areas with large populations are going to be in deep trouble."

The United States has a good opportunity in this regard, however, because our infrastructure is so old and broken that we need solutions, Heile added. We can pull it together, he insisted.

"The market will experience a lot of misinformation, a lot of confusion, for the next year or so, before it settles down," Heile predicted.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/california-racing-to-meet-its-dgrps-goal http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/california-racing-to-meet-its-dgrps-goal Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:13:00 +0000 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/california-racing-to-meet-its-dgrps-goal RenewablesBiz 2/15/2010

Utility use of renewable energy reached new high in 2009

California's three largest utilities added 5,451 megawatts of renewable power last year, the most green energy added [...]]]> RenewablesBiz 2/15/2010

Utility use of renewable energy reached new high in 2009

California's three largest utilities added 5,451 megawatts of renewable power last year, the most green energy added to the state's electric grid since regulators started keeping track in 2002, the California Public Utilities Commission reported Wednesday.

San Diego Gas & Electric Co. added 400 megawatts of renewable electricity generation in 2009, up from 278 the previous year. Southern California Edison added 1,577 megawatts, down from the 1,883 megawatts it added in 2008, the only of the three utilities to add less than the previous year.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/edge-storage-passive-demand-response http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/edge-storage-passive-demand-response Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:21:00 +0000 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/15/edge-storage-passive-demand-response intelligentutility 2/15/2010

Demand response without bothering the public

The public just hasn't bought into the global warming driver for remaking the industry, as indicated by a recent PEW Research [...]]]> intelligentutility 2/15/2010

Demand response without bothering the public

The public just hasn't bought into the global warming driver for remaking the industry, as indicated by a recent PEW Research poll in which they listed global warming as last on their concern list and down from last year. And, they are showing increasing reluctance to let others tell them how much electricity they can use when.

Betting on the public to change their energy habits is a long bet - I'm with this guy. He suggests storage at the edge near the load to enable DR where the customer doesn't even know about it - call it "passive DR."

A new battery-powered system also is under development in the Northwest that has promise because it does not involve customers, but potentially can store intermittent renewable energy down to the transformer level. Called Demand Energy Network, the company already has some prototypes at Avista Utilities and a co-operative served by Bonneville Power. What is different about this system is that it doesn't try to store renewable electricity at the windmill or the large solar farm, but on a distributed network.

"We're in the early stages of putting the company together and we have a couple of prototype systems," said Doug Staker, vice president of product development. "Our goal is peak shaving. A lot of storage systems are doing frequency regulation, they ramp up and down to absorb excess generation. Our key differentiator is that we operate on a distributed network architecture -- the storage is distributed out to the end of the grid.

"Most energy storage discussions revolve around storing electricity near the generation site," he continued. "It seems to us you would locate the storage as close to the load as possible. Storage is a form of passive demand response. You keep the customer immune and they don't see the event. But from the utility side, it looks like demand response. It can be located in neighborhoods, at commercial facilities or at a substation."


]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/whos-going-to-pay-for-the-smart-grid http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/whos-going-to-pay-for-the-smart-grid Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:17:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/whos-going-to-pay-for-the-smart-grid SmartMeters.com 2/14/2010

Is the Smart Grid Too Expensive?

Elsewhere in the United States utilities are facing “stiff pushback” according to Charles Acquard, executive director of the National [...]]]> SmartMeters.com 2/14/2010

Is the Smart Grid Too Expensive?

Elsewhere in the United States utilities are facing “stiff pushback” according to Charles Acquard, executive director of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates. “We feel we are moving too fast,” said Acquard. “Smart grid is the brand new, shiny toy of the utility industry.”

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has already installed 4.6 million smart meters in California – at a cost of $2.2 billion. The meters automatically report usage information back to PG&E every hour and can signals to smart appliances in consumers’ homes. Paul Moreno, a spokesman for the utility, says that smart meters are essential for management of peak load and the integration of renewable energy.

“The cornerstone of smart grid is this house where your meter talks to your appliances,” said Mindy Spatt, spokeswoman for The Utility Reform Network (TURN) in California. “My toaster is never going to talk to anyone.”

Spatt believes energy efficiency and management can be accomplished without expensive smart meters. “People can see the costs, not the benefits,” she said.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/make-energy-mgmt-like-cell-phonesplease http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/make-energy-mgmt-like-cell-phonesplease Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:01:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/make-energy-mgmt-like-cell-phonesplease CNET GreenTech Blog 2/11/2010

Peering beyond the meter in the smart grid

In the long turn, these sorts of control features are what will appeal to consumers, more than providing very detailed information on their usage, said Sander van 't [...]]]> CNET GreenTech Blog 2/11/2010

Peering beyond the meter in the smart grid

In the long turn, these sorts of control features are what will appeal to consumers, more than providing very detailed information on their usage, said Sander van 't Noordende, group chief executive of Accenture's Resources Operating Group.

"The challenge on the consumer side is consumer behavior. Frankly, I'm not that interested in looking at my utility bill on the computer and watching it very closely--the fun wears off pretty quickly," he said.

In the future, smart-grid tools will be used to create a home energy profile, much the way people buy mobile phone plans to match their usage pattern. Consumers could program heating and cooling as they do now. But smart meters and networked appliances allow for new efficiency services, such as agreeing to turn up the air conditioner thermostat when the grid is stressed in exchange for rebates or cheaper rates.

"So you install it once and the system in your home automatically does what you need it to do," van 't Noordende said. He predicts that smart meters will become like PCs or mobile phones: at first consumers weren't sure they needed them, but over time they have become widespread.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/smart-grid-suspicious-minds http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/smart-grid-suspicious-minds Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:56:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/smart-grid-suspicious-minds BusinessWeek 2/2/2010

The Static Over Smart Grids
Utilities say new technologies will boost efficiency and lower overall energy costs. But consumer advocates worry about fluctuating prices

But there's a hitch. [...]]]> BusinessWeek 2/2/2010

The Static Over Smart Grids
Utilities say new technologies will boost efficiency and lower overall energy costs. But consumer advocates worry about fluctuating prices

But there's a hitch. From California to Colorado to Maine, consumer groups are expressing concerns about these efforts. In particular, they're leery of giving utilities the ability to change electricity prices on the fly, jacking rates up on hot summer days, for instance. Most utilities are prohibited from using variable prices now, but the flexibility to raise rates for a community as demand rises is essential for utilities to get the full benefit of new technology. Consumer groups worry these so-called smart-grid technologies are just another way for utilities to make extra money off consumers. "It's the biggest hype since electric [deregulation] and has the same amount of factual basis," says Barbara Alexander, a consultant for several state consumer advocates.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/smart-grid-will-consumers-buy-it http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/smart-grid-will-consumers-buy-it Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:51:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/smart-grid-will-consumers-buy-it BusinessWeek April 19, 2009

The Smart Grid's Next Step: Winning Over Consumers
Given the potential inconvenience and 'Big Brother' aspect of utilities controlling home appliances, it's time to convince energy users [...]]]> BusinessWeek April 19, 2009

The Smart Grid's Next Step: Winning Over Consumers
Given the potential inconvenience and 'Big Brother' aspect of utilities controlling home appliances, it's time to convince energy users

NSTAR's approach in Marshfield— putting out an array of options, including some more glamorous ones (in this case, solar panels), along with the utility's favorites— offers a start. The next step will be to track the success of the program, based at least in part on tangible customer benefits: savings, convenience, and yes, the green factor. When it comes to designing and deploying the smart grid, "customer benefit should be top line," said Richard Sedano of the Regulatory Assistance Project, who also sat on the Ceres panel. "Then figure out how to make it a sustainable business for the utility."

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/the-pevs-are-coming http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/the-pevs-are-coming Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:35:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/the-pevs-are-coming Nissan to take Leaf reservations in April

Nissan will start taking reservations for its Leaf all-electric sedan in April, with deliveries [...]]]> Nissan to take Leaf reservations in April

Nissan will start taking reservations for its Leaf all-electric sedan in April, with deliveries coming at year's end.

The company isn't disclosing the car's price tag, but Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has said it will be competitively priced with similarly sized vehicles, which the company sees as crucial to mass market adoption. The $100 reservation fee is refundable, and the company will start to take actual orders in August, Nissan said Thursday.
2011 Nissan Leaf (photos)

The design of the car is very much aimed at everyday use, although its anticipated 100-mile driving range does impose limits. It's a four-door sedan with a hatchback, as well as on-board features to help drivers track battery charge level and remaining range.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/consumers-and-smart-grid-in-the-news-part-3 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/consumers-and-smart-grid-in-the-news-part-3 Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:08:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/consumers-and-smart-grid-in-the-news-part-3 Fortune Brainstorm Tech Blog, 2/10/2010

The Smart Grid Requires Smart Customers
by Will West, CEO and co-founder, Control4

Turning on the smart grid—and the consumers who use [...]]]> Fortune Brainstorm Tech Blog, 2/10/2010

The Smart Grid Requires Smart Customers
by Will West, CEO and co-founder, Control4

Turning on the smart grid—and the consumers who use it

As consumer electronics companies already know, ease of use is essential to the success of any new category. The first step is to make the smart grid painless for consumers: integrate everything so energy consumption throughout the house can be managed through a single interface.

Engagement and automation are both key—while simply providing information about usage can help consumers save money in the short term, they tend to lose interest and return to their old habits. To keep them engaged and make the smart grid a seamless part of their lives, consumers should be able to monitor personal usage over time and compare it to past usage through the same multi-purpose interface they also use to access weather reports, grocery lists, family calendars, and other daily information.

The most crucial piece will be letting the consumer set up rules for how and when specific devices modify their power consumption; this will deliver savings that are both larger in scale, and more sustainable over time. Direct control ensures that consumers will not feel that something is being taken away from them—as when a brownout suddenly cuts power to their TV. Instead, they can decide for themselves how to alter their consumption in situations of limited availability.

By showing consumers just how easy, convenient, interactive, and even fun to use smart grid technologies can be, we can keep them engaged while helping them save money. And with consumers on-board, the smart grid can deliver its full benefits for consumers, technology providers, manufacturers, retailers, utilities, and the planet alike.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/consumers-and-smart-grid-in-the-news-part-2 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/consumers-and-smart-grid-in-the-news-part-2 Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:42:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/consumers-and-smart-grid-in-the-news-part-2 IntelligentUtility

Ontario looks to consumers in its smart grid efforts

Jan Carr, a member of the board for the Alberta Electric System Operator, brought the consumer, and smart grid, to the table [...]]]> IntelligentUtility

Ontario looks to consumers in its smart grid efforts

Jan Carr, a member of the board for the Alberta Electric System Operator, brought the consumer, and smart grid, to the table in his remarks at the Smart Energy Canada conference. I mentioned him last week, but part of his comment bears repeating: "In the end, the practicalities are the people that are going to pay for it. Customers must see a very immediate, tangible benefit. If the customers don't see it, it isn't going to happen."

Bringing expertise from the United Kingdom, Howard Porter, managing director of the European Smart Metering Industry Group, and chief operating officer of BEAMA, UK, brought to light what he sees as a future challenge for Ontario. "The dissemination of benefits to consumers before rollout is essential, half of which think they're out to be shafted, by the utility or by the government or both," he said.

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/consumers-and-smart-grid-in-the-news-part-1 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/consumers-and-smart-grid-in-the-news-part-1 Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:37:00 +0000 John Cooper http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/consumers-and-smart-grid-in-the-news-part-1
This week in the news:

IntelligentUtility

Willing the Grid to Be Smart - GridWise Alliance President Katherine [...]]]>
This week in the news:

IntelligentUtility

Willing the Grid to Be Smart - GridWise Alliance President Katherine Hamilton:

What part of the status quo is the hardest to overcome?

“The consumer piece is the most challenging, frankly,” Hamilton said. “Our industry hasn’t had to do a lot of that type of work. It has been focused on safety and reliability. It’s a paradigm shift. Now it’s about consumer engagement.”

What are the messages that the alliance would have utilities deliver?

“You don’t have to sacrifice anything,” Hamilton. “Just be smarter about your electricity use. You can have a better lifestyle if you have access to information and you take steps to be more efficient.”

]]> http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/one-minute-blogs-on-smart-grid-consumers http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/one-minute-blogs-on-smart-grid-consumers Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:19:00 +0000 http://ecomergence.com/blog/2010/02/14/one-minute-blogs-on-smart-grid-consumers www.metronetiq.com. While I enjoyed that and the blogs allowed me to explore in great detail what I thought or felt about an issue of the day, I was told by many a friend that blogs [...]]]> www.metronetiq.com. While I enjoyed that and the blogs allowed me to explore in great detail what I thought or felt about an issue of the day, I was told by many a friend that blogs that are short and punchy get read and linked to more often. (I think they were trying to tell me something!)

First, my goal (and commitment to the reader) with this blog will be to limit my blog posts to no more than one minute of reading time - longer than a Twitter post, but shorter than many blog posts you'll find out there.

Second, the nature of this blog will be to explore the electric industry and Smart Grid. Specifically, I'll look at technology and business model changes from the perspective of the energy consumer - impacts on consumers and impacts of greater consumer awareness and participation.

Third, I'll encourage a deeper understanding of DER - distributed energy resources - and the integration of new technologies into the Smart Grid.

Finally, I'll drill down on the whole process of retrofitting a residence or business for greater energy efficiency. I call such a process an Ecofit.

That's it - I think my minute is up! Well, I read this in 45 seconds, so I'm giving you back 15 seconds. I'm looking forward to this!

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