Advanced solar inverters could be one of the biggest distributed energy resource communications and control points out there someday. With California now requiring at least early-stage “smart” capabilities from all new solar projects — and a standards road map for next-stage efforts like real-time communications and active controls — this future now has a template.
There are still a lot of unanswered questions about how smart inverters will be used.
That was the consensus at...
Siemens proposes 10 mini-grids that will cover most of Puerto Rico and will be designed to enhance resiliency to withstand or recover quickly from future natural disasters.Design enhances reliance on renewables and exceeds the established renewables penetration goal by 15 percent.Today, Siemens...
Achieving the gold standard in data protection for the Smart Grid BY ANN CAVOUKIAN, Ryerson University’s Privacy and Big Data Institute The increased amount of information that is collected, used, and analyzed by the Smart Grid brings with it additional privacy and security concerns which must be...
Examining the foundational elements in architecture decision BY TOM WILSON, Itron In recent years, the utility industry has seen a diverse set of use cases for Smart Grid deployments emerge. North American electric utilities are carefully considering architecture decisions to ensure that the...
Power grids around the world are getting smarter thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT). While Smart Grid technologies are making the headlines, and poised to grow to more than $118 billion by 2019, according to November 2015 research from analyst firm Transparency Market Research—many...
A Smart substation digitizes protection and control, enabling utilities to detect faults faster, manage DER volatility, and reduce outage risk. The payoff depends on architecture, cybersecurity, and edge analytics, not just new relays. The shift toward smart substations is inseparable from broader...
A coalition of large energy consumers and ratepayer advocates has filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), urging the agency to prohibit transmission owners from independently planning "local" transmission projects exceeding 100 kilovolts (kV). The coalition argues...
The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) has unanimously decided to shelve the proposed $1 billion Performance Credit Mechanism (PCM) for power generators, concluding that it would not deliver the anticipated grid reliability benefits. The PCM was conceived as a means to incentivize power...
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has rejected a proposal from PJM Interconnection, one of the United States' largest regional transmission organizations, to alter its transmission planning protocol. The decision represents a significant victory for state regulators who had expressed...
In a significant move that underscores the growing demand for reliable and sustainable energy to power the expanding digital infrastructure, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved an interconnection agreement between Talen Energy, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Exelon. This...
In a significant move for the renewable energy landscape, RWE, a leading global energy company, has announced the addition of 450 megawatts (MW) of battery energy storage capacity in Texas. This expansion underscores the growing importance of energy storage solutions in enhancing grid reliability...
