Category Archives: Utility Transformation
Electric Vehicles Are Here. Is Your EV Strategy Ready?
Written on October 21, 2016 at 12:05 pm, by Nilsa Sweetser
There are nearly 500,000 plug-in electric vehicles (EV) on U.S. roads today. Almost every car manufacturer offers an electric vehicle with over 14 models to choose from and more on the way. The cost of EVs is declining, while the range on a full charge is rapidly increasing. Tesla and Chevy plan on introducing new models with a range of over 200 miles at a cost of around $35,000 or less by 2018. Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that by 2022, the total cost of EVs will reach parity with their internal combustion counterparts. That’s likely to be the point (more…)…
Why Decarbonization is A Smart Strategy (Regardless of What Happens with the Clean Power Plan)
Written on March 8, 2016 at 8:00 am, by Nilsa Sweetser
Issue [from Greentech Media] Bloomberg New Energy Finance recently released the 2015 edition of its Sustainable Energy in America Factbook. The report includes information on biomass, biogas, waste-to-energy, and a variety of other renewable energy technologies. The fourth annual Sustainable Energy in America Factbook highlights the record year for utility-scale and distributed solar, huge gains for wind energy and a shift away from coal toward natural gas (which has a smaller carbon footprint, although it is hardly clean). The result is an energy industry that is decarbonizing across the board. Analysis Specific data regarding the market expansion witnessed in the (more…)…
Electric Vehicles: An Antidote to Utility Revenue Erosion?
Written on August 25, 2015 at 7:00 am, by Nilsa Sweetser
Issue Earlier this year in Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill into law that allows utilities in the state to rate-base investments in electric-vehicle (EV) charging stations and related infrastructure. The measure was proposed by Republican state Rep. Chad Magendanz, who said, “My vision is for utility customers to be able to simply request an EV charging station for their garage, just like they’d request a cable modem installation from the cable company. Because there’s no upfront cost to the ratepayer or property owner, many of the current obstacles to charging at home or work will disappear,” he (more…)…
Making the Case for Microgrids
Written on June 23, 2015 at 6:58 am, by Nilsa Sweetser
Issue Believing it to be the first time that a microgrid has leveraged renewable energy to power an entire U.S. community, Sempra Energy utility, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. (SDG&E) has reported that its microgrid kept Borrego Springs, Calif., an isolated desert community, fully energized during a planned grid maintenance event. SDG&E used NRG Energy’s nearby 26-MW facility Borrego Springs Solar facility, and batteries and traditional distributed generation to “follow the load” and fill in gaps created by the solar facility, providing uninterrupted power supply to all 2,800 customers in the area for approximately nine hours. Analysis There are (more…)…
Solar and Storage: A Match Made in DERs Heaven
Written on June 3, 2015 at 3:43 pm, by dcurran
Issue Tesla Motors, which shook up the electric vehicle sector when it launched the Tesla Roadster in 2008, recently unveiled its lithium ion battery (the “Tesla Powerwall”) for residential and utility-scale customer usage, with a particular emphasis on storing solar power. Tesla is now marketing its battery through SolarCity Corp., which designs, finances and installs solar energy systems. Tesla has also announced it will begin producing larger batteries for businesses and utility companies, listing projects with Oncor and Southern California Edison as it markets to other utilities. Analysis Make no mistake about it, this is huge news. The opportunities for the (more…)…