Also Noted: GnuTLS exploit hits Linux; No Start Menu for Windows 8 until 2015; and much more... LASER pinpoints LA solar shortfalls
New research has revealed some startling information regarding California's solar capacity. Specifically that approximately 98 percent of Los Angeles County's solar capacity remains currently untapped. Article
A global view of large-scale EV deployment
The Global Smart Grid Federation (GSGF) makes several observations and recommendations concerning the large-scale rollout of electric vehicles (EV) and their impact on the grid in its recently released report on international developments in electric vehicles. Article
IHS makes very specific prediction about smart cities
The number of smart cities worldwide will quadruple within a 12-year period -- with at least 88 by 2025 -- proliferating as local governments work with the private sector to cope with a multitude of challenges confronting urban centers, according to IHS Technology. Article
News From Across the Energy Industry:
1. NREL CIP to drive down cost of wind
2. Dominion making progress toward reducing its environmental impact
3. EEI: Utilities should spend 5 percent a year on EVs
More headlines...
| This week's sponsor is Kony. | 
| Webinar: Capitalizing on the digital transformation: Providing mobile value for customers and utilities
Now available on-demand
This Kony webinar will address how utilities can provide mobile value to their customers while increasing customer engagement and trust in the utility brand. Register Today! |
Today's Top News 1. Farmers Electric Cooperative growing Iowa solar
After three years of planning, Farmers Electric Cooperative has opened the largest solar farm in Iowa. The 2,900-panel solar array is capable of generating more than a million kilowatt-hours a year.  | | Credit: Farmers Electric Cooperative | Solar has grown by leaps and bounds in Iowa compared to even just five years ago. "In 2008, there was just one little bitty array in Johnson, Washington and Iowa counties. There were four modules," Warren McKenna, general manager and CEO of the co-op told The Des Moines Register. "I don't know how many modules there are now, but it's in the thousands -- on homes, businesses, and pig and cattle operations." With its new solar array, Farmers Electric Cooperative is capable of generating up to 1800 watts of solar per customer, giving it the highest per-capita solar generation rate of any utility in the country with nearly double the second-ranking utility. By displacing energy generated by coal-fired power plants, Farmers Electric Cooperative will avoid approximately 2.1 million pounds of carbon pollution a year. "The solar farm and our other clean local generation -- including geothermal and wind -- is part of our commitment to generate 15 percent of our power locally with renewables by 2025," McKenna said. "Generating our own power close to our customers allows us to reduce transmission losses, secure long-term rates, and keep more money local." But producing local renewable power has implications beyond the state's borders, including increasing resiliency, energy diversification and security. For more:
- read this article Related Article:
Alliant supports Supreme Court solar decision but cannot predict impacts Read more about: Solar power
back to top |
2. NYSERDA launches solar database
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has a new database that provides the details for nearly 10,000 solar projects that have participated in NYSERDA's open enrollment solar incentive programs over the past 10 years. This information is part of NYSERDA's strategy to support private sector scale up of a sustainable solar industry driven by market forces rather than government subsidies.  | | Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Dick Mudde | The data set includes project applications and installations between 2003 and 2014 through NYSERDA's open enrollment solar PV programs, which provide incentives to help reduce the installed cost of residential PV systems of up to 25 kW and non-residential systems of up to 200 kW. The solar industry frequently requests this data to determine which areas of the state have room available for growth and expansion. The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) can use the data to see the impact of solar on the grid by region and academic researchers can use it for analyses. "Information about solar installations can be extremely valuable to prospective customers and to solar installers and the solar industry seeking to grow their businesses," said John B. Rhodes, president and CEO, NYSERDA. "Given the state's commitment to scaling up its solar industry under Governor Cuomo's NY-Sun Initiative, and its strategy to reduce solar subsidies over time, we are now making this information available to the public electronically through Open NY." For more:
- view the data Related Articles:
Final solicitation for NY-Sun Competitive PV initiative wrapping up
NY revolutionizing solar market Read more about: Solar power
back to top |
3. Gene research for better biofuels
Switchgrass is essential to the production of clean energy. If switchgrass could better endure northern United States' winters, the plant could be an even better clean energy source. To that end, Michigan State University (MSU) will use $1 million from a joint U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program to develop hardier switchgrass.  | | Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Chris Court | Switchgrass has high potential as a biofuel source, which can be used in power generation. That is why Robin Buell, an MSU plant biologist, is working to identify the genetic factors that regulate cold hardiness in switchgrass. By studying switchgrass' genetic composition, Buell hopes to identify alternative forms of the same gene that is responsible for cold hardiness, which could then be applied in breeding programs for switchgrass that can thrive in northern climates. One of the proposed methods to increase the biomass of switchgrass is to grow lowland varieties in northern latitudes, where they flower later in the season. However, lowland switchgrass is not adapted to the colder conditions of a northern climate and only a small percentage of the plants survive. "This project will explore the genetic basis for cold tolerance that will permit the breeding of improved switchgrass cultivars that can yield higher biomass in northern climates," said Buell, who is also an MSU AgBio Research scientist. "It's part of an ongoing collaboration with scientists in the USDA Agricultural Research Service to explore diversity in native switchgrass as a way to improve its yield and quality as a biofuel feedstock." For more:
- read this article Related Articles:
DOE, USDA funding bioenergy
New fuel cell uses solar and biomass Read more about: biofuel
back to top |
4. Exelon to buy Integrys
Exelon Corporation is purchasing Integrys Energy Group, Inc., a competitive retail electricity and natural gas subsidiary serving approximately 1.2 million commercial, industrial, public sector and residential customers across 22 Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states, as well as the District of Columbia. Once acquired, Integrys Energy Services will become part of Constellation, Exelon's retail electricity supplier. The acquisition is intended to strengthen Constellation's retail power and gas business. Integrys' retail operations will cost Exelon $60 million. The purchase price includes adjusted net working capital at the time of closing. As of the end of May 2014, Integrys Energy Services had adjusted working capital of about $183 million. The transaction does not include Integrys' energy assets, which are primarily solar. "Integrys Energy Services' geographic footprint is a perfect strategic fit for Constellation and will create opportunities to reach more customers and grow the business, particularly in regions where Exelon also owns significant generation assets," said Chris Crane, Exelon president and CEO. "Constellation and Integrys share strong track records of delivering value to customers, and we see opportunities to build on that tradition as a combined company." The transaction requires approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), as well as other conditions. The companies expect to close in the fourth quarter of 2014 or first quarter of 2015. Integrys has been in the process of divesting its electric and natural gas retail marketing businesses since 2009. In June of this year, the company announced that Wisconsin Energy Corp. would acquire Integrys Energy Group for $9.1 billion. The combination brings together Wisconsin Energy's WE Energy and Integrys' electric and gas utilities Wisconsin Public Service, Peoples Gas, North Shore Gas, Minnesota Energy Resources and Michigan Gas Utilities. The combined company will also hold a 60 percent stake in American Transmission Co. Upon completion, the combined company will become WEC Energy Group, Inc. Integrys Energy Services is also in the process of selling Upper Peninsula Power Company to Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Partners. These transactions are expected to close in the summer of 2015. For more:
- see this article Related Article:
Exelon, PHI initiate merger's regulatory approval process Read more about: Integrys Energy Group
back to top |
5. Oregon LNG exports to non-FTA countries serve public interest
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has conditionally authorized LNG Development Co., LLC (Oregon LNG) to export domestically-produced liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Oregon LNG Terminal in Warrenton, Oregon to countries that do not have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States. The facility is conditionally authorized to export at a rate of up to the equivalent of 1.25 billion standard cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas for 20 years. Federal law requires approval of natural gas exports to countries that have an FTA with the United States. For countries that do not have an FTA, the Natural Gas Act allows the DOE to grant export authorizations -- unless it finds that the exports are not in the public interest. In fact, DOE found that the proposed exports are likely to yield net economic benefits to the United States. The Energy Department conducted an extensive, careful review of the application to export LNG from the Oregon LNG Terminal -- taking into consideration the fact that the natural gas for export would primarily come from Canada, and not the U.S. The DOE also considered the economic, energy security, and environmental impacts, as well as nearly 200,000 public comments, and determined that exports from the terminal at a rate of up to 1.25 Bcf/d for 20 years was in the public interest. The development of U.S. natural gas resources is improving energy security while spurring economic development and job creation around the country, and this is expected to continue, with the Energy Information Administration forecasting a record production rate of 73.29 Bcf/d in 2014. For more:
- see the conditional authorization Related Articles:
Energy independence hinges on closing gas infrastructure gap
Natural gas distribution forecast
LNG exports self-limiting Read more about: liquified natural gas
back to top |
Also Noted > Google gives Apps admins a deeper dive on usage info. Post (Computerworld)
> Amazon now offering virtual instances of Windows Server 2012 R2. Post (Redmond Magazine)
> Encrypted IM tool vulnerable to eavesdropping. Post (Dark Reading)
> Developers get first look at next Visual Studio. Post (The Register)
> Linux hit by GnuTLS exploit, follows Heartbleed model. Post (The Inquirer)
> SAP begins testing HANA on IBM Power Systems. Post (ZDNet) And Finally… Report: No Microsoft Start Menu for Windows 8 until 2015. URL. (ZDNet) News From Across the Energy Industry:
> Are you an Energy Industry Innovator? Post
> APAC CHP investment second only to Europe Post
> AEP Energy to build solar "Block O" on University rooftop Post
> $1.2B buys out NCEMPA's ownership in Duke Energy's power plants Post
> Idaho Power files solar contracts under PURPA Post
> Forest investment protects water supply, infrastructure Post
> National Grid supports net metering compromise Post
> Capitalizing on the digital transformation: Providing mobile value for customers and utilities - Now Available On-Demand This webinar will address how utilities can provide mobile value to their customers while increasing customer engagement and trust in the utility brand. Register to watch now! > National Consumer Telecom and Utilities Exchange (NCTUE) - August 5, 2014, 2pm ET / 11am PT This must-attend Equifax webinar - led by the NCTUE board members Buddy Flake (SCANA), Leon Broughton (Citizens Energy Group) and Bob Romeo (AT&T) - dives deep into the mechanics of an industry specific data resource from the (NCTUE) that offers practical, relevant credit insight on more than 170 million consumers. Plus you'll hear exclusive use cases based from real utility organizations that have leveraged this data to solve common business issues, update and realign their business processes and reap substantial financial benefits. Reserve your spot today! > IT and Marketing: Extreme Collaboration - Sponsored by: PGi Media outlets love to focus on the tension between IT and marketing. But if it's a war, both sides lose. Instead, CIOs have to partner with CMOs to help deliver on aggressive business goals in an ever-changing landscape. Register Today!
| > Whitepaper: Download a FREE PREVIEW of the 2013 Smart Grid Hiring Trends report! Featuring 76 unique tables illustrating nearly 30 Smart Grid hiring topics, this original research offers human resources professionals and hiring executives unique insight into emerging Smart Grid human resources challenges, solutions and trends. Click here to download the executive summary. | |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep a civil tongue.