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Inducing Private Investment for Grids

By Jeff Dalebroux, Attorney, Dykema, March, 03, 2010 - There has been much discussion about the need for increased transmission capability and the so-called smart grid. The need has been framed in terms of repair of deteriorating infrastructure, energy independence and security, and economic competitiveness. There is agreement that grid development would help meet the goals of carbon reduction and climate change damage modification, yet there has been relatively little successful activity. The intent of this article is to explore some of the issues involved in going forward to enhance transmission capability in the U.S., some of the obstacles to achieving that goal and some suggested paths to follow.  more...
Article Viewed 889 Times  |  7 Comments

Managing Tree-caused Electric Service Interruptions

By Siegfried Guggenmoos, President, Ecological Solutions Inc. (Ecosync), November, 16, 2009 - Throughout their one hundred year history, utilities have been challenged by tree-conductor conflicts. On transmission systems tree-conductor contacts can have devastating results as demonstrated by the fact that trees were involved in the last three major cascading outage events in North America. For many utilities, trees are the number one cause of unplanned distribution outages. Across the utility industry, tree-related outages commonly comprise 20% to 50% of all unplanned distribution outages. While these percentages indicate trees are a major threat to reliability, the convention of excluding outage statistics arising from severe storm events means the extent of the problem is, in fact, understated.  more...
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Computers Not Enough: Trends in Asset Management

By Warren Causey, Vice President, Sierra Energy Group, a division of Energy Central, August, 12, 2009 - Utilities have been managing assets for a long time -- lots of assets. Utilities have millions of parts, supplies, wires, capacitors, trucks, tools, laptops, screws, bolts, gloves and goggles. One problem facing them is that in the past, they weren't very good at managing all of those assets. That has changed somewhat in recent years with the advent of enterprise asset management (EAM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. This software grew out of earlier computerized materials management systems (CMMS).  more...
Article Viewed 2180 Times  |  2 Comments

Are Smart Grids a Smart Investment?

By Jerry Jackson, President, Jackson Associates, July, 08, 2009 - This article is a short excerpt from Jackson Associates' white paper, "Are Smart Grids a Smart Investment?"  more...
Article Viewed 3121 Times  |  16 Comments

Smart Metering Goes Smarter

By Fred Claassens, Chief Operations Officer, Hefcom South Africa, June, 09, 2009 - Smart metering is a common term used for any metering solution smarter than a mechanical analog metering service. The NRS 049 specification published in South Africa in 2008 cleared many of these myths and put smart metering in a new bracket, making it clear to the world what South Africa, as one of the largest and cheapest producers of power, understands as a smart metering solution.  more...
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Achievable Potential from Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Programs in the U.S.: 2010-2030, Part II

By Omar Siddiqui, Program Manager, Energy Utilization, EPRI, May, 13, 2009 - This article is excerpted from EPRI's "Assessment of Achievable Potential from Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Programs in the U.S. (2010-2030)". Part II discusses the potential for electricity savings from utility programs, what is realistically achievable, and the cost of achievable potential.



 more...
Article Viewed 2561 Times  |  1 Comments

Achievable Potential from Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Programs in the U.S.: 2010-2030

By Omar Siddiqui, Program Manager, Energy Utilization, EPRI, April, 08, 2009 - This article is excerpted from EPRI's "Assessment of Achievable Potential from Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Programs in the U.S. (2010-2030)." Part I discusses electricity consumption, peak demand, and defining achievable potential.  more...
Article Viewed 3231 Times  |  6 Comments

Research on the Characteristics of a Modern Grid: Self Heals

By Bruce Renz, President, Renz Consulting, LLC, March, 10, 2009 -

By: Bruce Renz, President, Renz Consulting, LLC, and G. Heber Weller, Senior Program Manager, SAIC  more...
Article Viewed 2812 Times  |  8 Comments

The Green Grid: Improve Operational Efficiency

By Omar Siddiqui, Program Manager, Energy Utilization, EPRI, February, 11, 2009 - A Smart Grid will enable a number of operational benefits for utilities, many of which go hand-in-hand with the customer service benefits already discussed. Benefits include advanced distribution management functions, outage management, power theft detection, as well as automated change of service, improved asset management capabilities, greater load profiling ability, grid stabilization, and a variety of advanced metering functions.  more...
Article Viewed 3149 Times  |  1 Comments

Intelligent Grid R&D Programs are Growing

By Donald Von Dollen, Program Manager, EPRI, January, 14, 2009 - The Smart Grid is now a reality and has a legislative recognition in the United States within the Energy Security and Independence Act signed in 2007. When looking at a worldwide perspective the same concern is currently under consideration in Europe and in Asia.  more...
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