Smart Grid 101

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Camps have changed a lot since my childhood days of learning to swim at the Y. Somewhere between the increased competition for college admission and the universities’ quest to monetize all that empty space during the summer, parents have started spending a lot of money for “enrichment.” Admittedly, I have fallen prey. Recently, I sat …

Utilities and generators will find this recent decision by the Minnesota District Court interesting because the issues are similar to energy and environmental laws in other states. The plaintiffs include the State of North Dakota, the Industrial Commission of North Dakota, the Lignite Energy Council, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, the North American Coal Corporation, Great …

AT&T, Cisco, GE, IBM and Intel recently announced the formation of the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), an open membership group focused on breaking down the barriers of technology silos to support better access to big data with improved integration of the physical and digital worlds. The consortium will enable organizations to more easily connect and …

The members of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (“SGIP”) are working on standards, policies and guides to help modernize the electric power grid. Last month, the Smart Grid Cybersecurity Committee of SGIP released a helpful resource: A straight forward thirty page User’s Guide to help utilities navigate the previous released hefty 597 page Interagency Report …

As previously reported, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) will hold a Commissioner-led technical conference on Tuesday, April 1, 2014. A full day is planned to discuss the impacts of recent cold weather events on the Regional Transmission Organizations/Independent System Operators (“RTOs/ISOs”) and actions taken to respond. After opening remarks, there will …

Because the grid is so critical to all aspects of our society and economy, protecting its reliability and resilience is a core responsibility of everyone who works in the electric industry.

– Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) Acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur

This month, FERC directed the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) to develop Reliability …

According to a report released yesterday by Monitoring Analytics, LLC, the results of the energy, capacity and regulation markets in PJM were competitive, resulting in a good overall state of the market in PJM for 2013. Monitoring Analytics, LLC is the Independent Market Monitor for PJM and is also referred to as the Market Monitoring …

The polar vortex made its presence known this winter and its impact on the electric and gas industry will be felt beyond the first day of spring. Bitter cold temperatures caused record-breaking demand for gas and electric, sending prices for these commodities to unprecedented peaks. It was brief but the wholesale price spikes in January …

The PG&E Metcalf substation has been getting a lot of attention for an event that occurred nearly 10 months ago. Several media outlets have recently reported details about an April 2013 attack at the Metcalf substation where two manholes were entered and fiber cables cut, eliminating some 911 services, landline service to the substation and cell …