Grid Security & Reliability


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    Permission granted by Black & Veatch
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    Sponsored by Black & Veatch

    Are utilities ready for data centers’ big AI energy?

    Amidst challenges of renewable integration and aging infrastructure, Black & Veatch’s new report signals data center power demands may test utilities’ capacity planning.

    By Phil Fischer, Black & Veatch, Data Center Client Executive • Oct. 14, 2024
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    Courtesy of Duke Energy
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    Hurricane Milton slams Florida, leaving 3.4M utility customers without power

    About 71% of Tampa Electric’s customers were without electricity Thursday morning after the hurricane hit land on Florida’s west coast.

    By Oct. 10, 2024
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    Chuck Schug Photography via Getty Images
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    Trendline

    Top 5 Stories from Utility Dive

    The U.S. energy transition is facing challenges around grid interconnections, project permitting and power system reliability, but state, federal and other solutions are emerging.

    By Utility Dive staff
  • DOE offers microgrid funding with focus on Alaska, Hawaii, indigenous tribes

    “DOE plans to work closely with rural and tribal communities to develop microgrid technologies that will lead to more reliable, affordable energy in isolated regions,” science and innovation chief Geri Richmond said.

    By Oct. 7, 2024
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    Thossaphol via Getty Images
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    Sponsored by Energy Exemplar

    Why decarbonization, reliability and affordability depend on co-optimized planning

    Holistic planning can highlight opportunities for gas and power systems to optimize their interdependence, as well as help avoid dangerous disruptions in supplies of energy.

    Oct. 7, 2024
  • A destroyed home in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 30, 2024 near Black Mountain, North Carolina.
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    Sean Rayford/Getty Images via Getty Images
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    In areas hardest hit by Helene, rural cooperatives could need weeks to restore power

    Mudslides, flooding and downed trees are challenging utilities in remote areas as they work to restore power. So far, supply chains have kept pace with the need for replacement equipment.

    By Oct. 2, 2024
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    bombermoon via Getty Images
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    Utility conferences to watch in 2025

    Start planning for 2025’s biggest power sector events, which will cover the clean energy transition, the impact of the 2024 elections and more.

    By Larry Pearl, Ethan Howland, Robert Walton, Diana DiGangi • Oct. 1, 2024
  • Talen Energy coal-fired Brandon Shores power plant near Baltimore.
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    Stuby, James. Retrieved from Wikimedia.
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    PJM artificially inflates capacity prices by billions, complaint alleges

    The PJM Interconnection is artificially boosting its capacity prices by not accounting for reliability must-run power plants in its capacity market, the Sierra Club and other groups told FERC.

    By Sept. 30, 2024
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    iStock | onurdongel

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    Sponsored by GridX & Uplight

    Virtual power plants and time-varying rates: The next big power move for a smarter grid

    The energy system is fundamentally changing. There is a major need for new grid management strategies to handle this transition and the challenges that come along.

    By Rachel Bryant, Senior Director of Regulatory & Policy Business Development at GridX and Alex Lopez, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Uplight • Sept. 30, 2024
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    Joe Raedle via Getty Images
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    Millions without power after Hurricane Helene rocks Southeast

    The storm struck Florida as a Category 4 and moved inland. More than 4 million customers lacked power Friday morning.

    By Sept. 27, 2024
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    Marc Piscotty/Getty Images via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    5 ways utilities and other climate planners can tackle extreme heat

    As climate change causes extreme heat to spread and become more frequent, the health and energy insecurity impacts faced by vulnerable populations will grow, too.

    By Judsen Bruzgul and Mason Fried • Sept. 27, 2024
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    Ron Jenkins via Getty Images
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    NERC sounds alarm over winter gas supplies, potential grid impacts

    December could be colder than normal across the northern and midwestern U.S., and grid operators and the natural gas sector say they are preparing.

    By Sept. 19, 2024
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    Jonathan Dakin/stock.adobe.com

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    Sponsored by Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors

    Go big or go home? How utilities can win the energy transition race

    By leaning into change and driving the transition forward, energy providers can come out of this transition as leaders.

    Sept. 9, 2024
  • Rust-colored, V-shaped transmission towers carry power lines across a barren desert landscape with rugged, treeless mountains in the background.
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    Retrieved from US Department of Energy.
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    WestTEC to develop West-wide ‘actionable’ transmission plan

    The initiative aims to develop interregional and interstate transmission portfolios across the West on 10- and 20-year timeframes.

    By Sept. 6, 2024
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    Joesboy via Getty Images
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    Ratepayer advocates urge PJM to include RMR power plants in capacity auctions

    PJM should hold a stakeholder process to include reliability-must-run plants and, if needed, delay the next auction, set to take place in December, to avoid “unjust and unreasonable” prices, they said.

    By Sept. 3, 2024
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    davelogan via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Getting real about reliability in PJM

    The July capacity auction for the 2025/26 delivery was the first auction in over five years that sent a message to power suppliers: We need you to stay, and we need you to bring some more friends.

    By Glen Thomas • Aug. 29, 2024
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    onurdongel via Getty Images
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    Better grid edge visibility is key for load forecasting, cost control: Heatmap Labs panel

    Advanced metering infrastructure is already enabling more effective distribution grid operation and planning, but regulatory support and proactive utility investment is needed now, panelists said.

    By Brian Martucci • Aug. 28, 2024
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    zhaojiankang via Getty Images
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    Sponsored by Southwire

    How software and AI bolster grid resilience

    Grid resilience has never been as critical or as challenging as it is today.

    Aug. 26, 2024
  • Aerial shot of New England countryside on an overcast day in fall.
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    halbergman via Getty Images
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    New England may need ‘vast renewable build-out’ by 2050 to meet state decarbonization goals: ISO

    By 2045, wind and solar resources are projected to meet just 10 GW of the 51 GW peak gross load during peak winter demand, according to the grid operator’s modeling.

    By Aug. 23, 2024
  • A server room within a data center.
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    bjdlzx via Getty Images
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    Data center vacancy rate hits record low in H1 2024 as power supply challenges persist: CBRE

    Demand for high-power computing is driving a significant price gap between new data centers and legacy facilities, which lack the infrastructure to support workload demands, the firm says. 

    By Joe Burns • Aug. 22, 2024
  • A rooftop solar installation against the backdrop of the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building in midtown Manhattan.
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    FernandoAH via Getty Images
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    Deep Dive

    California pioneers new ways to ease interconnection of large DERs

    Limited generation profiles in California will schedule limits to DERs during system constraints. New York, Illinois, Colorado and others are testing more flexible approaches.

    By Aug. 21, 2024
  • People get sprayed by water on a city street lined with cars.
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    Adam Gray/Getty Images via Getty Images
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    With 10 new climate resilience centers, DOE aims to translate research into local action

    Researchers will work on actionable science and tools to help local stakeholders combat extreme heat, flooding, drought and more, the U.S. Department of Energy announced last week.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • Aug. 20, 2024
  • A low angle of tall buildings in Manhattan
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    franckreporter via Getty Images
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    New York encourages electrification with new grid planning process, affordability pilot

    “The rate at which consumers are electrifying buildings and vehicles has the potential to outpace the existing grid planning processes,” the New York Public Service Commission said.

    By Aug. 19, 2024
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    iStock/Zoran Orcik

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    Sponsored by Huron

    Artificial intelligence and workplace safety: A new era for the energy and utilities sector

    AI’s potential to revolutionize safety standards in the energy and utilities workplace is significant, yet it presents its own set of challenges.

    By Simar Grewal • Aug. 19, 2024
  • CenterPoint cannot cancel $800M lease for large mobile generators unused during Beryl

    The utility should weigh its options, including subleasing the generators and renegotiating contracts, members of the Public Utility Commission of Texas said Thursday.

    By Aug. 16, 2024
  • Mutual assistance crews working with CenterPoint Energy work to restore power around Houston, Texas, following Hurricane Beryl.
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    Danielle Villasana/Getty Images via Getty Images
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    Texas AG investigates CenterPoint storm response, possible ‘fraud, waste’

    Hurricane Beryl left 2.3 million CenterPoint customers without power in July, spurring questions about the utility’s storm preparedness and restoration efforts.

    By Aug. 14, 2024