In an earlier post on this blog, I asked: “How soon will it be before we see retail behemoths like Wal-Mart go from exiting the grid at their warehouse facilities, to actually selling Wal-Mart generated electricity to their customers (want to refuel your electric vehicle at a lower cost than at home? Just top off […]
The debate about the future of the U.S. electric utility industry is heating up. How will utilities handle the growing demands on the existing electrical grid from advances in technology? To what extent will utility companies be able to fend off competition from micro grids and local generation, including such things as rooftop solar installations? […]
“Transactive energy” may represent the new paradigm that will allow electric utilities to remain relevant in an era of ever-changing technologies and consumer behavior. The term does not have a standard definition but generally describes techniques for managing the generation, consumption or flow of electric power within an electric power system through the use of […]
In an article on EnergyBiz, Ken Silverstein talks about the potential damage to the electrical grid from recent solar activity and the possible negative effects on the economy. There is another reason electric utilities should take this threat seriously: as Silverstein notes, long-distance transmission lines and the various switching stations needed to bring power from […]
Net metering (the process where a home or business generating its own electricity can run its meter backward and sell any excess electricity it generates to the grid for a bill credit) continues to gain momentum in the United States. While the total number of customers using net meters remains relatively small, their numbers are […]
