| This week's sponsor is Oracle. |  | Making the Most of Your CRM: How Best-in-Class Sales Teams Maximize Revenue and Customer Experience
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Also Noted: Meru Networks
Russia's grant to DOE and much more... Utilities expanding social media presence
Electric utilities are expanding their use of social media and mobile applications as a way to capitalize on the benefits of smart grid, and improve engagement with their customers. Article
Renewables make smart grid a priority
In recent years, China has emerged as the largest smart grid market in the world in recent years, given the fact that the State Grid Corp. -- the utility responsible for the majority of the country's grid network -- plans to invest more than $200 billion to upgrade its existing grid infrastructure, according to Kuick Research. Article
Utilities recognized for role in Northeast Retail Products Initiative
The Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) has received a 2014 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its Northeast Retail Products Initiative. During the last 14 years, the initiative has won 15 awards including six Excellence Awards, one award for Excellence in Product Labeling, and eight Sustained Excellence Awards. Article
News From Across the Energy Industry:
1. TEP reducing coal generation, increasing renewables
2. Energy execs should wake up to effects of employee fatigue
3. Carnegie Mellon reveals office plug load research results
More headlines...
Today's Top News 1. TECO testing IGCC technology
Tampa Electric Company (TECO) is celebrating the successful startup of a pilot project to demonstrate a warm gas cleanup carbon capture technology in a coal gasification unit at the Polk Power Plant in Tampa, Florida. The project is approximately $3 million under budget and included $168 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).  | | Polk Power Station. Credit: TECO | "Fossil fuels will be a major part of America's energy supply for decades to come, and today's demonstration is a major step forward in the effort to develop and deploy our coal resources in the cleanest way possible," said Dr. Julio Friedmann, DOE deputy assistant secretary for clean coal. "This partnership between the Department and Tampa Electric… [fosters] the next generation of carbon capture technologies." The Polk Power Station was the first coal-integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant in the U.S. 20 years ago -- and one of the first in the world -- when it was funded by DOE. Gas cleaning at power plants to remove contaminates like carbon dioxide, mercury, and sulfur is typically done at low temperatures. IGCC technology, or warm gas cleanup, has posed a technical challenge to scientists for more than 30 years. It has the potential to improve the energy efficiency of removing pollutants from coal plant emissions, reducing the overall cost of capturing carbon dioxide and other emissions from power plants while also increasing reliability. IGCC also increases the possibility that the captured carbon dioxide can be turned into a new revenue stream for operators by converting it into other uses, like fertilizer and enhanced oil recovery. The TECO project is the first to use IGCC on a large scale. For more:
- see this report Related Article:
Addressing Environmental Regulations Read more about: IGCC technology, U.S. Department of Energy
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2. Energy efficiency crystal ball
A business customer segmentation solution will help utilities predict who's most likely to participate in their energy efficiency programs and prioritize their efforts based on a customer's energy saving potential. E Source's Energy Efficiency Predictor will offer insights about business customers that will enable utilities to improve their energy efficiency portfolio development, program design, and marketing planning.  | | Credit: Rob Curry/Wikimedia Commons | By better understanding their customers, utilities will be able to more effectively allocate marketing resources and develop strategies that make sense for business customers. "Business customers vary greatly in their energy needs and energy use, and many utilities struggle to categorize, prioritize, and better serve their business customers," said Kristin Vroman, E Source product manager. "Overwhelmingly, research shows that segmentation in utility marketing and program design can result in increased program participation and energy savings." The EE Predictor categorizes business customers into energy-specific sectors and singles out opportunities for implementing energy-efficient technologies. Data regarding individual business sites identifies exactly who utilities should target, giving program architects and managers a tool for predicting energy-saving potential in their service territory. "One of the most exciting parts of this segmentation solution is the predictive capabilities. Utilities can get a tailored, insightful, and actionable approach to better serve their business customers," said Vroman. For more:
- see this article Related Articles:
Wisconsin utilities celebrating energy efficiency savings
Utility efficiency programs saving enough to power more than 12M homes
Increasing participation in utility energy efficiency programs Read more about: E Source
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3. Legacy of technology innovation could sustain CA water future
California's sustainable water future would be achieved through a system management approach utilizing innovations in science, technology and management, according to a report from the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST), conducted at the request of a bipartisan group of legislators. The approach would rely on both currently available and new science and technology, yielding greater efficiencies and opening new sources of supply for managing California water through future multi-year cycles of drought and flooding.  | | Map of California State Water Project. Credit: DEMIS Mapserver, Shannon 1/Wikimedia Commons | This approach wouldn't reinvent the wheel, but would complement California's already significant investment in large-scale engineering solutions to meet water needs through dams, canals and pipelines. The report complements the governor's California Water Action Plan and the 2013 Update of the California Water Plan by the California Department of Water Resources. Such technologies are predicted by the report to be introduced or more widely applied within the next five to 10 years. For example, widespread use of soil-moisture-monitoring devices could help better manage irrigation in real time. Increasing wastewater cleanup and recycling technologies could provide more water for appropriate uses. Near-term actions suggested in the report include developing and implementing a comprehensive integrated statewide water information system, allowing a near real-time view of the status of the hydrologic cycle, elements, supplies and uses. In addition, the report encourages the metering of all water usage, for agriculture, urban and industrial use. Further, the report recommends expanding use of high-efficiency plumbing, appliances, low-water use landscapes, and self-repairing materials for distribution and identifying high-impact actions to restore and protect watersheds functions. Additionally, increasing storm water capture and groundwater recharge, as well as increasing nitrate reduction technologies for drinking water and desalination technologies for brackish water and groundwater cleanup are recommended. "Many of the needed solutions already exist or are in late stage development because of California's legacy of success in leveraging technological innovation," said Jude Laspa, a CCST council member who led the report's development. "Now, the challenge is coordinating the statewide application of these many advances associated with every stage in the water-use cycle." Of course, barriers do exist largely due to the heavily fragmented nature of current water resource management in California and lack of agreement on an overall strategic plan for the management of water in the state. Insufficient funding and outdated water-rights laws, as well as a lack of public understanding and support, further complicate things. Fortunately, collaboration with private- and public-sector leaders and California's science and technology community can help find solutions for state water challenges. For more:
- see this report Related Article:
Southern California tackles water scarcity Read more about: California Council on Science and Technology
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4. $1.3B FPL clean energy center enters operation
Florida Power & Light Company's (FPL) Riviera Beach Next Generation Clean Energy Center has officially entered commercial operation, replacing the previous Riviera Beach facility. FPL calls the new plant one of the cleanest, most energy efficient in the nation. The new energy center can produce more than 1,250 MW -- double the amount generated by the previous plant -- without using any additional water or land.  | | The original Riviera Beach plant in 2011. Credit: FPL | The Riviera Beach Next Generation Clean Energy Center is part of FPL's ongoing effort to modernize its power generation fleet in order to continue providing clean, affordable, reliable electricity for its customers. FPL invested approximately $1.3 billion to build the new plant on the same site where the previous 1960s-era oil-burning plant was dismantled in 2011. The center was completed two months early and under budget. FPL expects to provide approximately $25 million in new local tax revenue during the energy center's first year of operation. In addition to saving on fuel costs, the energy center's technology further improves FPL's emissions profile by generating power with half the rate of carbon dioxide emissions and more than 90 percent fewer air emissions than the former Riviera Beach plant. FPL has recently made other investments with similar objectives. For example, in 2013, FPL commissioned the Cape Canaveral Next Generation Clean Energy Center, replacing a 1960s-era power plant on the Space Coast. The Port Everglades Next Generation Clean Energy Center was dismantled in July 2013 to be replaced by a new facility entering operation in June 2016. For more:
- see this report Related Article:
FPL making great strides in fuel efficiency Read more about: Florida Power and Light
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5. Electric system investments spark rate freeze request
If a proposal submitted to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) by Alliant Energy is approved, customers will see a reduction in retail natural gas base rates, and retail electric base rates will remain the same. The proposal requests that retail natural gas customers' annual retail gas base rates be reduced by $5 million in 2015, followed by a freeze of those rates through 2016. For electric customers, retail electric base rates will remain at current levels through 2016.  | | Alliant Energy power plant in Beloit, Wisconsin. Credit: Jim Simonson/Wikimedia Commons | The request is based on Alliant's investments in its electric system, such as improvements in the environmental profile of Columbia Energy Center Units 1 and 2 and Edgewater Generating Station Unit 5, and continued investment in the company's electric and natural gas delivery system to maintain safe and reliable service. While electric base rates will not change under the rate freeze proposal during 2015 and 2016, changes in fuel costs would be adjusted in customer bills during that time. Alliant Energy will file an annual electric fuel cost plan for calendar years 2015 and 2016. Fuel costs for natural gas customers will continue to adjust monthly as gas costs change. The rate freeze proposal contains such provisions as continued authorized return on common equity of 10.40 percent; continuation of the earning sharing mechanism currently in place for 2013 and 2014; a common equity component of regulatory capital structure of 50.46 percent in 2015 and 50.95 percent in 2016; a retail electric and gas rate base of $2.5 billion in 2015 and $2.7 billion in 2016; escrow treatment of major transmission charges; and continued use of the conservation escrow to offset rate base additions. The PSCW is expected to have a decision on the retail electric and gas base rate freeze proposal in the second quarter of 2014. If approved, the base rate freeze proposal would become effective January 1, 2015 and extend until the end of 2016. For more:
- see the application Read more about: Alliant Energy
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Also Noted | This week's sponsor is Meru. |  | Download the White Paper "802.11ac in the Enterprise: Technologies and Strategies" to learn from industry expert Craig Mathias about the technologies behind 802.11ac, deployment misconceptions and review steps that every organization should take in getting ready for 802.11ac.
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News From Across the Energy Industry:
> North American utilities leading microgrid capacity Post
> Some states pulling back from energy efficiency despite success Post
> ODEC building $675M natural gas facility Post
> Exelon calls for energy reform Post
> Devastating storm results in positive outcome Post
> Hercules Municipal Utility finds a buyer Post
> Randi Zuckerberg: Social media lessons for utilities Post
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