Replacing old coal-fired plants with small nuclear reactors could be an economic boon Energize Weekly, May 8, 2024 The steady pace of coal-fired plant closures in the U.S. is leaving gaps in the economies of dozens of communities and creating risks to electricity reliability. One solution addressing multiple problems could be replacing coal with nuclear…
Interconnection reform needed to keep transmission upgrades moving, industry report says April 29, 2024 If the clean energy transition is to pick up speed, and transmission upgrades are to continue, the way interconnection works – from funding on up – needs to change, according to a new whitepaper from the Solar and Storage Industries Institute…
States rethink data centers as ‘electricity hogs’ strain the grid APRIL 30, 2024 State Sen. Norm Needleman championed the 2021 legislation designed to lure major data centers to Connecticut. The Democratic lawmaker hoped to better compete with nearby states, bring in a growing industry, and provide paychecks for workers tasked with building the sprawling server…
New cybersecurity center to protect grids integrated with renewables, microgrids 23-Apr-2024 Bringing renewable energy to the power grid raises all kinds of “internet-of-things” issues, said Iowa State University’s Manimaran Govindarasu. That’s because “everything is connected,” said the Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering. Solar inverters are connected to the internet. Wind farm controllers are connected…
DOE Finalizes Energy Efficiency Standards For Distribution Transformers April 8, 2024 The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has finalized congressionally mandated energy efficiency standards for distribution transformers to increase the resiliency and efficiency of America’s power grid, support good-paying, high-quality manufacturing jobs, and accelerate the deployment of affordable, reliable, and clean electricity. The updated standards,…
In the central U.S., an electric grid bottleneck persists MARCH 30, 2024 Forty-five million people live in the area managed by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, the organization that runs a massive portion of the North American electric grid running from Manitoba, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico. Inside that footprint are all or parts…
Hawaii Faces Lengthy Blackout Risk Amid Power-Plant Outages March 25, 2024 The big island of Hawaii is at risk of blackouts through the end of April because several large power plants have broken down or are undergoing maintenance, the state’s main utility operator said. Hawaiian Electric on Monday asked customers on the island, including resort…
The U.S. is facing an “unprecedented” shortage of electric transformers, NREL says Energize Weekly, March 27, 2024 The U.S. is facing an “unprecedented” shortage of electric distribution transformers creating challenges for the nation’s utilities, according to a study by the National Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (NREL). The nation’s grid faces the dual pressures of aging…
U.S. Power Grid Struggles to Keep Up with Data Center Growth March 18, 2024 The exponential growth of data centers with a tremendous appetite for electricity rapidly is outpacing the capacity of utilities to meet their needs, pushing data center developers to prioritize new markets where they can be sure they can hook up to…
After being rebuffed by regulators, utilities file slimmed-down spending plans March 18, 2024 State regulators are once again considering massive electric utility spending plans that would affect the state’s climate goals – and 5.4 million electric customers’ monthly bills – after rejecting previous versions late last year. The Illinois Commerce Commission forced the state’s two…
Xcel says big reason it needs to spend millions on new projects is regional grid’s reliability risks MARCH 4, 2024 The growing risk of unreliability and potential expense of buying energy on the open market is a big reason why Xcel Energy wants to make significant investments in its infrastructure. The issue was underscored last…
Poor grid interconnection policies are causing project backups across the U.S., study says Energize Weekly, March 6, 2024 The grid interconnection process in the U.S. is so “dysfunctional” that more than two million megawatts of generation and storage are waiting to be hooked up, according to an analysis by Advanced Energy United (AEU). The study…
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