Opinion
The latest opinion pieces by industry thought leaders
If you are interested in having your voice heard on Utility Dive's Opinion page, please read our editorial guidelines and fill out the submission form here.
-
What can power companies learn from iTunes?
In a way, utilities are looking to emulate the iTunes business model, leveraging their customer base to become a trusted provider of third-party products and services, writes Rainer Sternfeld of Intertrust Corporation.
Rainer Sternfeld • March 22, 2019 -
Experiment without penalty: Can regulatory 'sandboxes' foster utility innovation?
The sandbox concept allows innovators to experiment without the usual regulatory impediments and long delays associated with traditional oversight, writes Illinois Commerce Commission Chair Brien Sheahan.
Brien J. Sheahan and Jimmie Zhang • March 21, 2019 -
What happened to agricultural demand response?
Agricultural loads, with their potential flexibility, can help improve grid stability and reduce costs for utilities and ratepayers as energy markets move into a future of increasingly distributed, 100% renewable energy generation.
Arian Aghajanzadeh • March 20, 2019 -
State of the states: 4 reasons that red plus blue makes green economics
While the Green New Deal proposal has sparked an important national conversation, the next wave of innovative energy legislation will likely come from red and blue state capitols.
Malcolm D. Woolf • March 19, 2019 -
Steel-for-fuel, data-for-fuel, and other good ideas for asset retirement
Balanced, collaborative and innovative stakeholder processes can help regulators align securitization of obsolete power plants with the public interest.
Carl Linvill and Megan O’Reilly • March 18, 2019 -
It's time to change our approach to grid security
Relying on physical defensive techniques — software patching, anti-malware tools, creating strong perimeters and air-gapped networks — will not be enough to ward off future cyberattacks.
Richard E. Harrison • March 15, 2019 -
The devil's in the details: Policy implications of 'clean' vs. 'renewable' energy
In the U.S., researchers who analyzed 40 different decarbonization pathways found that a system inclusive of clean energy will be much cheaper than a system based entirely on renewables.
Lee Beck and Jennifer T. Gordon • March 14, 2019 -
It's time to Spotify the grid with DSO functions
If you don't get working on implementing distribution system operator functions now, you probably won’t be ready for a DER-filled world where everything we knew about the energy market gets put on "shuffle."
Stuart McCafferty • March 13, 2019 -
Beyond transmission: How remote sensing speeds inspection and management of distribution networks
By more quickly identifying potential problems, utilities can address areas where safety concerns are most urgent, or infrastructure is at risk.
Eric Merten • March 12, 2019 -
BQDM program demonstrates benefits of non-traditional utility investments
Con Edison's Brooklyn Queens Demand Management project creates a win-win-win scenario for the utility, third-party companies and customers, highlighting advantages of non-traditional solutions.
Coley Girouard • March 11, 2019 -
Consumers shouldn't pay for bureaucratic thinking on electricity
Achieving grid reliability and resilience that meet customer needs will require a culture shift within regulatory agencies and grid operators away from reliability-at-all-costs and toward reliability-at-the-right-cost.
Devin Hartman and Caitlin Marquis • March 08, 2019 -
Deploying more renewables now through an energy storage-centric Clean Peak Standard
Policies that encourage energy storage to be paired with solar or wind power can have an outsized impact because these grid assets can together deliver firm capacity into peak periods when customer costs are the highest.
Ronald DiFelice • March 07, 2019 -
Extreme weather alert: How utilities are adapting to a changing climate
The costs of recent U.S. hurricanes and wildfires have been in the tens of billions of dollars. The pace, scale and scope of efforts need to increase dramatically to ensure safe and reliable energy delivery, Navigant says.
Frank Stern, Sarah Hendel-Blackford, Kaboo Leung, Ian Trim Rodrigo Leal and Danielle Vitoff • March 06, 2019 -
How renewable energy providers can prepare for PG&E's bankruptcy
Providers need to be prepared to renegotiate power purchase agreements at lower rates in the near term, and to try and leverage greater rate increases in the years ahead, writes CohnReznick Capital's Jeffrey Manning.
Jeffrey R. Manning • Feb. 15, 2019 -
Energy transition: Carbon capture is clean energy, too
Slow deployment of carbon capture and storage is not a technology problem, but the result of a lack of policy mechanisms to place a value on carbon, writes Global CCS Institute head Brad Page.
Brad Page • Feb. 14, 2019 -
Oklahoma's energy efficiency incentives give utilities a business reason to save customers money
The traditional cost-of-service revenue model disincentivizes utilities from delivering robust energy efficiency programs. But Oklahoma demonstrates two ways to help utilities embrace such efforts, AEE writes.
Coley Girouard • Feb. 11, 2019 -
The 10 most valuable insights from Accenture's SMB New Energy Consumer Report
The report shows how utilities can become trusted advisors to small and medium-size business, with the next steps including a focus on digital engagement and personalized energy management insights.
Indran Ratnathicam • Feb. 06, 2019 -
Moving beyond business as usual to a resilient power system for California
PG&E's bankruptcy provides an opportunity for new legislation that would shift our energy system to one that doesn't rely on remote power generation requiring thousands of miles of expensive, inefficient and dangerous transmission lines.
John Sarter • Feb. 04, 2019 -
Is 100% renewable energy for the US possible? Yes
Naysayers argue we'll continue to need nuclear power and natural gas plants, and an all-renewables grid will be too expensive. But none of their arguments stand up, writes the Environmental Working Group.
Grant Smith and Bill Walker • Jan. 30, 2019 -
CPUC Commissioner: 'Creating a new risk evaluation paradigm' in the face of California's wildfires
"Utilities will now be required to evaluate risks in a much more transparent, uniform and quantitatively rigorous way," writes Clifford Rechtschaffen, a commissioner at the California Public Utilities Commission.
Clifford Rechtschaffen • Jan. 29, 2019 -
Behavioral demand response gives Baltimore Gas and Electric a business reason to reduce peak usage
Rocky Mountain Institute, America's Power Plan and Advanced Energy Economy Institute provide insight on the results of the largest dynamic pricing program in the nation, as of 2017.
Coley Girouard • Jan. 28, 2019 -
Don't confuse energy favoritism with energy resilience
The Department of Energy has cited cyber and national security in a proposal to subsidize uneconomical power plants. Major General Bob Dees writes that this assertion is "dubious."
Bob Dees • Jan. 24, 2019 -
Navigating utility business model reform: A practical guide
Rocky Mountain Institute, America's Power Plan and Advanced Energy Economy Institute provide a guide to modernizing the electric utility business model.
Dan Cross-Call, Cara Goldenberg and Mike O’Boyle • Jan. 22, 2019 -
The Supreme Court should reject requests for a do-over on state clean energy programs
Ruling against zero emission credit programs for nuclear plants could jeopardize renewable energy credits, too, and threaten to overturn policies in nearly thirty states, according to Harvard's Ari Peskoe.
Ari Peskoe • Jan. 17, 2019 -
4 common missteps to derail a utility's digital transformation effort
There are compelling reasons for utilities to transform their operations and systems with digital technologies, which can produce significant gains in safety, reliability, customer satisfaction and regulatory compliance.
James McClelland • Jan. 16, 2019
