Microgrids

[mspohr]

Commentary: California needs clean, healthy and safe local energy systems – microgrids | CalMatters

To secure a healthier, climate-friendly solution, we must first understand a major failing of our current system: because private utilities can profit from building a vast network of transmission lines, they are not motivated to pursue cleaner, modern solutions that could reduce the need for those lines.

Relying on long-distance transmissions lines makes electric service less dependable, allows for delivery of high-carbon electric power, and increases the risk of wildfire.

For all of these reasons, we should reduce our reliance on expensive long-distance transmission infrastructure by using locally generated clean power from “microgrids.”

 

[mspohr]

Solar to Cyber: Electricity Grid Security Gains Traction

The grid is incredibly vulnerable right now to both man-made and natural hazards,” Tommy Waller of Secure the Grid told The Epoch Times via email.

 

[Ampster]

Solar to Cyber: Electricity Grid Security Gains Traction

The grid is incredibly vulnerable right now to both man-made and natural hazards,” Tommy Waller of Secure the Grid told The Epoch Times via email.

Micro grids can add resiliency to the grid. In California with all the public safety power shutoffs more municipalities should consider them to keep vital services up. that would include traffic signals, cell towers and other critical infrastructure support.

 

[mspohr]

PG&E deploys microgrid to protect high fire-threat area

Remote grid provides enhanced reliability, lower risk profile, and lower total cost when compared to existing distribution lines

pv-magazine-usa.com

 

[jimm01]

Is the Utility Transmission Syndicate Forever?​

In his new paper, Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe explores the history of FERC’s oversight of transmission operations and planning and argues that FERC should reclaim its aggressive pro-competition agenda. Entitled “Is the Utility Transmission Syndicate Forever,” Ari’s paper explains how investor-owned utilities (IOUs) came to dominate transmission, details FERC’s efforts to wrest transmission from IOU control, reveals how IOUs have evaded competition in transmission development, and proposes that FERC subject IOU transmission spending to greater scrutiny.

Transmission is the nervous system of our interstate electric power systems that allows the industry to unlock short- and long-run efficiencies through trading and joint planning. Historically, its strategic importance enabled IOUs, which owned most of the transmission, to exploit smaller non-profit utilities and regionalize their control through collusive agreements that with each other that obstructed competition and cartelized infrastructure development. With four orders it issued from 1996 to 2011, FERC aimed to wrest the nation’s high-voltage electric delivery systems from IOU control and open interstate power systems to competition.

In telling this history, Ari provides context for ongoing debates about transmission planning. In 2011, FERC ordered utilities to engage in regional planning, and required that regional projects be developed through competitive processes. Yet, FERC’s order has not spurred development of regional projects. He argues that IOUs are at the heart of the problem. They have evaded regional development, in part by capitalizing on FERC’s rules that allow them to build local projects within their state-granted territories without competitive pressures and on the backs of their captive retail ratepayers. This defensive approach to transmission development has no place in a technologically dynamic industry.

Is the Utility Transmission Syndicate Forever? was published in the spring issue of the Energy Law Journal.

https://www.eba-net.org/assets/1/6/5_-_%5bPeskoe%5d%5b1-66%5d.pdf

 

[jimm01]

Clean energy needs interregional connection​

Robust interregional electrical connections have long been desirable from an economic point of view (which is why a Bush-era energy bill tried to facilitate them) just because it’s always the case that there are idiosyncratic surges in power demand and idiosyncratic shortages in output, and it’s better to be able to balance them.

But this is especially important for zero-carbon electricity for two reasons.

One is that the places where our zero-carbon resources lie are not necessarily where we have the most people and, thus, electricity users. Here’s a map of geothermal resources (top left), solar resources (top right), wind resources (bottom left), and population density (top right).

Slow Boring

Start your day with pragmatic takes on politics and public policy. Click to read Slow Boring, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

www.slowboring.com

 

[mspohr]

Clean energy needs interregional connection​

Robust interregional electrical connections have long been desirable from an economic point of view (which is why a Bush-era energy bill tried to facilitate them) just because it’s always the case that there are idiosyncratic surges in power demand and idiosyncratic shortages in output, and it’s better to be able to balance them.

But this is especially important for zero-carbon electricity for two reasons.

One is that the places where our zero-carbon resources lie are not necessarily where we have the most people and, thus, electricity users. Here’s a map of geothermal resources (top left), solar resources (top right), wind resources (bottom left), and population density (top right).

Slow Boring

Start your day with pragmatic takes on politics and public policy. Click to read Slow Boring, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

www.slowboring.com

Sounds like a complex problem from a political standpoint.

 

[jimm01]

Sounds like a complex problem from a political standpoint.

Sadly, like anti-vaccination it is presently both sociality and politically intractable.

"Whatever the reasons, the effects are clear: We are stuck as a society, unable and seemingly unwilling to make sufficient progress against two of the great threats of our time." ~ Joel Mathis

https://theweek.com/coronavirus/1002741/can-america-save-itself-the-outlook-is-grim