Calpine signs PPA with Public Service Company of Oklahoma; TransCanada and Ontario PowerAuthority agree to develop 900-MW gas-fired power plant; Panda selects Siemens to build combined-cycle plant; Progress Energy retires coal plants dating from 1923; Southern Company and Turner acquire 30-MW PV project; PSO begins smart meter pilot rollout; Southern California Edison contracts with Corix to install smart meters; Iberdrola USA hires Burns and McDonnell to review grid infrastructure. Plus contracts and announcements from Itron, eMeter, Echelon, Quanta Services, DNV, Metadigm, Landis+Gyr, and others.
Byline:
Hossein Haeri, Heidi Ochsner and Jim Stewart
As efficiency programs mature, utilities and regulators will be challenged to keep producing demand-side resources. A systems-oriented approach can yield cost-effective results.
Author Bio:
Hossein Haeri, Ph.D., is an executive director, Heidi Ochsner an associate and Jim Stewart, Ph.D., a senior associate at The Cadmus Group, Inc.
Continuous improvement requires changing practices and cultural norms.
State commissions can select from a toolkit of regulatory approaches to promote desired utility cybersecurity behavior. One approach is to allow the industry to selfregulate, and another approach is to leave the job to the federal government. But sofar, neither the industry nor the federal government have developed and implemented adequate standards for securing the smart grid. States can play a constructive role—albeit perhaps not in the form of traditional regulation.
Author Bio:
Nancy Brockway is the principal of independent consultancy NBrockway & Associates. Previously she was a commissioner with the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission, and served on commission staffs in Massachusetts and Maine before that. Brockway acknowledges the insightful help of Alison Silverstein, but retains sole responsibility for errors and opinions.
The regulator’s role in promoting cybersecurity for the smart grid.
Solyndra shakeout hits the electric car business
Michael T. Burr
Six months after Solyndra's bankruptcy, the resulting controversy is affecting other companies that were hoping to secure loans from the Department of Energy. Lawmakers want to know whether the DOE loan program has stalled out -- and whether reforms are needed to clarify the mission and the risks for taxpayers.
Distributed Renewables: A National Imperative
John Joshi and Malay Bansal, CapitalFusion Partners LLC
For decades, America’s national security has been closely linked with our energy policies. Sustainable energy resources -- especially local, renewable options -- represent a lynchpin in the country’s future security. As such, it’s time to re-think the way we’re financing renewable investments.
