Category: Domestic

February 22, 2022

Washington state utility Avista has launched a request for proposals (RFP) for 196MW of winter capacity and 190MW of summer capacity by 2030, with the request also considering storage and demand-side response resources as the utility works to meet the […]

February 17, 2022

Smart grids have been with us for over a decade. But for many power industry stakeholders, they’re associated almost exclusively with smart meters. Remote meter reading is certainly a compelling use case, and one which justified many initial deployments, especially […]

February 4, 2022

Parts of Texas have suffered localized, distribution-level power outages as an Arctic outbreak sent temperatures plummeting across the state, but its heavily scrutinized grid is largely prepared to weather the storm, state entities said. Frigid temperatures stemming from a large […]

January 12, 2022

New distributed energy resources (DERs) are being added to the power grid every day. However, DERs don’t automatically provide owners with the greatest value possible. In many cases, that requires the help of an aggregator, that is, a company that […]

December 2, 2021

There is a common misperception that “green energy” appeals mostly to liberals. However, at least some of the facts don’t support that view. A case in point can be found in the rooftop solar sector. “It’s not Republican or Democratic. […]

November 30, 2021

Duke Energy and solar industry stakeholders have reached an agreement on net metering policy in North Carolina that will help expand distributed solar generation and benefit utility customers, the parties announced Tuesday. The Solar Energy Industries Association, the primary lobbying […]

November 18, 2021

NET Power, developer of the novel Allam-Fetvedt supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycle, says its 50-MWth test facility in La Porte, Texas, delivered power to the grid overnight on Nov. 16. The achievement marks a major milestone for the potentially […]

November 8, 2021

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Black, Brown and Indigenous communities have been disproportionately at risk of hospitalization and death. Recent research suggests high utility bills and utility shutoffs played a role in that impact — while companies were receiving federal funds […]

November 5, 2021

The City of Ithaca, New York has voted to electrify its entire building stock — the first large-scale, city-wide decarbonization effort in the U.S. Ithaca’s Common Council gave approval to Mayor Svante L. Myrick to negotiate a contract with BlocPower, […]

October 29, 2021

When it comes to residential energy consumption, people are constantly striving for ways to reduce their monthly bills and energy usage and wastage. By looking at the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) annual energy outlook, we can see the top […]

October 7, 2021

There are four types of electric car plugs in North America. Each plug is compatible with different electric vehicles as well as capable of providing a certain amount of power. Just like how the iPhone has one plug and Android […]

August 13, 2021

As Congress debates billions of dollars in new infrastructure investments, advocates are touting the social and economic benefits of building new high-voltage transmission lines, clean energy plants and electric vehicle charging stations, along with fixing aging roads and bridges. But […]

July 8, 2021

Stricken by repeated extreme heat events, the prospect of a worsening drought, incremental resource delays, and the “unforeseen” loss of 300 MW in thermal resources, California has set out to secure additional energy resources to ensure reliability this summer. Responding […]

June 30, 2021

Utilities across the Pacific Northwest are bracing for exceptional stress on the grid as record-breaking temperatures continue to fester across the region, and at least one utility—Avista Corp.—this week began rolling outages as a measure to alleviate strain on the […]

May 6, 2021

A lot of energy is consumed by buildings. In fact, the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit energy efficiency advocacy group, says buildings account for about 40% of all U.S. energy consumption and a similar proportion of greenhouse gas emissions. […]

April 14, 2021

Energy storage is having a transformative impact on the power sector. Storage solutions are enabling growth in several areas, including electric vehicles, and are supporting technologies such as solar and wind power, being paired with installations to capture and supply […]

April 1, 2021

The mid-February blackouts in Texas have raised a lot of questions about power grid reliability. While investigations into the underlying causes of the outages could take a while to complete, and I don’t want to weigh in on the main […]

March 22, 2021

The power outages in Texas are an all too painful reminder how extreme weather events can expose weaknesses in our energy infrastructure. But until we’re willing to make bold moves on how we approach energy, these incidents likely won’t change. […]

March 3, 2021

Communications Systems, Inc. (CSI), an IoT intelligent edge products and services company, announced that it entered into a definitive merger agreement with privately held Pineapple Energy, an operator and consolidator of residential solar, battery storage, and grid services solutions. Upon […]

October 19, 2020

U.S. homes and commercial buildings consume roughly two-fifths of the country’s overall energy and three-fourths of all electricity, and account for most of the peak electricity demand that drives generation and power grid infrastructure costs. Each of these statistics points […]