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Today's Top Stories
1. Dominion declares LNG victory for Cove Point
2. China ensuring its nation's energy safety
3. Italy, U.K. encouraged to invest in solar
4. Hydroelectric past not indicative of future
5. Southern Company partners on CTL, CBTL research Also Noted: Spotlight On... Mexico wasting solar potential
Who owns your data?; More connected devices and much more... EPA prepping for a busy 2013
Energy regulation is a complicated game. Ensuring compliance requires utilities to navigate policy at the local, state, and federal levels while monitoring a host of commissions and government departments. The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is among the most influential of these organizations, having carried the torch on issues ranging from air pollution to clean energy and water. Article Customer engagement goes beyond satisfaction
The utility-customer relationship is undergoing a drastic transformation -- the first in decades. Utilities have been plagued almost from their inception by the attitude that customers are just ratepayers. And customers have returned that outlook with minimal engagement or understanding about how utility companies operate and distribute power. Feature NSA secret cyber security testing no longer secret
It's no secret that the nation's electric grid is vulnerable to potentially devastating cyber attacks. It's also no longer a secret that the federal government is targeting utilities to test the security of their grids. Article News From Across the Energy Industry:
1. NY-BEST grants $11.8M for energy storage research
2. LG joins Pecan Street smart grid research project
3. NY Energy Highway gets $250M injection
| This week's sponsor is SmartGrid Careers. |  | | Market Your Open Smart Grid Career Opportunities to 17K Qualified Smart Grid Professionals! |
Today's Top News 1. Dominion declares LNG victory for Cove Point
Dominion is declaring a victory of sorts after a judgment that confirms the utility's right to build liquefaction facilities at its Dominion Cove Point facility. The Circuit Court ruling determined that Dominion Cove Point's agreement with environmental agencies allows it to build liquefaction facilities inside the plant's fenced area and export liquefied natural gas even though the Sierra Club had contended that Dominion needed its permission to build. The liquefaction project could cost between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion. Dominion Cove Point is one of the nation's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facilities. In 2009, Dominion completed an expansion project that increased Cove Point's storage and production capacity by nearly 80 percent. Although there are vast reserves of natural gas in the U.S., many are not yet available. With natural gas becoming the energy of choice for many Americans, Dominion Cove Point will play an increasingly critical role as demand grows through the next decade. Reserves in a number of other countries are available and for sale, but the gas has to be transported. The most efficient way to transport natural gas across the ocean is to liquefy it and transport it in specially built ships. Dominion Cove Point is strategically located where it can receive transport vessels, store the LNG onshore, and then transform it back to gas when it is needed to meet demand. Dominion has received the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) permission to act as an agent for liquefied natural gas exports to countries with free trade agreements. Dominion could soon do the same for countries without a free trade agreement. For more:
- see this article Related Article:
Dominion's stake in LNG Read more about: natural gas
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2. China ensuring its nation's energy safety
China is committed to the development of renewable energy in order to ensure the safety of national energy, according to Liu Qi, deputy director general of the National Energy Administration. According to the State Council, wind power is currently the non-hydro renewable energy with the biggest possibility of large-scale development and is the most rapidly expanding in the world. China is developing wind power in both concentrated and distributed formats in areas abundant with wind resources, including the Northwest, North China and the Northeast. As China's offshore wind industry moves from demonstration projects to large-scale construction, it is predicted that China's total wind turbine installed capacity will be 100 million kW, including 5 million kW offshore by 2015. At the end of 2012, Longyuan Wind Power completed a 150 MW offshore wind demonstration project, making it China's largest offshore wind farm to achieve grid integration. Phase II of the project will see 100 MW of installed capacity with 26 sets of wind turbines -- in addition to the 34 installed in Phase I -- including the largest wind turbine in Asia. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2014. For more:
- see this article
- see this article Related Articles:
China in line to surpass North American power production
China becoming major wind player Read more about: wind power, renewable energy
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3. Italy, U.K. encouraged to invest in solar
Research firm GlobalData is sharing a dim forecast of renewable subsidies and increasing oil and gas prices that will affect both energy consumers and utilities alike. "Twenty-thirteen looks pretty grim for both energy consumers and utilities. Prices are sure to rise again for energy consumers, as both renewable subsidies and higher oil prices push electricity and gas prices higher across the continent," said Jonathan Lane, GlobalData's head of consulting for Power and Utilities. Lane identifies the U.K. and Italy as countries particularly susceptible to future price increases. "In the U.K., the government has introduced a new policy looking to simplify tariffs amongst the major utilities and a program to ensure that consumers are always on the best tariff," he said. The verdict on how a tariff program for customers will work is still out, but Lane predicts that the endeavor will "probably prove impossible." "In Italy, the government's focus is the better integration of Italian wholesale electricity and gas with the wider European markets in the expectation that this will reduce Italian wholesale energy prices to the levels found in other European countries." Lane believes a large-scale shift in focus to solar power generation would alleviate some issues. "Now is the time to invest in Italian solar, and utilities should be engaging with customers to fit and manage the panels alongside supply contracts. Indeed, it is possible that solar PV starts to lower electricity prices in Italy post-2014." And this is good advice to international and North American utilities alike. "Utilities…will need to consider how to make money out of energy efficiency rather than selling kWhs, and will need to do this more quickly than they might have anticipated, Lane said. "A move to energy services, where utilities make money saving energy rather than selling energy, is the key transition that utilities need to make this year." For more:
- see this article Related Articles:
EU FITs effective, but not sustainable
EU renewable energy sector in jeopardy Read more about: Energy Efficiency, renewable energy
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4. Hydroelectric past not indicative of future
Over the past five years, the number of firms in the hydroelectric power plant construction industry is has fallen at an average annual rate of 5.8 percent. That number will drop even further in the coming five years, according to researchers IBISWorld. A continued decline in demand, increased awareness of environmental impact, drought conditions, competition from other energy sources such as fossil fuels, wind and solar, have all hampered the success of hydroelectric power growth over the last five years. However, IBISWorld is predicting that an increase in electricity demand and a continued shift away from fossil fuel-based and nuclear power will promote hydroelectric growth through 2017. While the next five years is expected to see industry revenue increase due to demand, industry consolidation and high operating costs associated with environmental compliance are predicted to force the number of companies in the space down during the same timeframe. Part of the increasing demand for hydroelectric power will come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which already generates nearly 24 percent of industry revenue, operates 75 power plants, and produces 25 percent of the nation's hydroelectric power. For more:
- see this article Related Article:
Hydropower getting its day Read more about: IBISWorld, Industry Revenue
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5. Southern Company partners on CTL, CBTL research
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded Southern Research Institute $1.5 million to produce liquid fuels from coal and biomass mixtures. SRI, DOE, and research partners Southern Company Services and Nexant will test a new method for producing liquid transportation fuels from coal and biomass in order to improve the economics and lifecycle impacts of coal-to-liquid (CTL) and coal-biomass-to-liquid (CBTL) processes. The research includes evaluating of the impact of adding moderate amounts of biomass to coal on CBTL products and process economics, and comparing the carbon footprint of CBTL processes with petroleum-based fuel production processes. The research team will use an existing demonstration scale coal gasifier at the DOE's National Carbon Capture Center -- an air-blown transport gasifier operated by Southern Company Services -- as the source of both coal and coal-biomass derived synthetic gas, according to Southern Research Principal Investigator Dr. Santosh K. Gangwal. A decrease in U.S. dependence on foreign oil and new industry jobs hinge on the success of the project in reducing the production costs and environmental impact of alternative fuel processes, which could lead commercialization of CBTL processes. For more:
- visit the Southern Research Institute
- visit the National Carbon Capture Center Related Articles:
Renewables minimize GHG emissions
Carbon capture technology breakthrough
Southern Company honored for carbon capture technology Read more about: DOE, Southern Company
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Also Noted SPOTLIGHT ON... Mexico wasting solar potential Mexico has the most abundant sunshine and potential for solar power than almost any country in the world. The Sonora Desert in Northern Mexico provides potentially endless opportunities, but instead of capitalizing on that potential to supply electricity to residents, Mexico is using solar to make tortillas. Article Quick news from around the Web >Who owns your data? Article
>U.S. Government to release data memo. Article
>AT&T, Qualcomm team up on connected device development. Article
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