Insights from our Editorial Team
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Best practices: automation, tailored conversations, improving `ease of doing business'Nov 13, 2012 |
Energy Central's annual KITE Awards for customer service leadership go to executives at San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) and Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU). Caroline Winn at SDG&E and Monica Whiting at CSU explain their philosophies, strategies and tactics.
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"Transformational journeys" in grid modernization detailed by winnersNov 12, 2012 |
Energy Central's KITE Awards for CIO of the year go Mike Winters at Hydro One and Branndon Kelley at American Municipal Power for their leadership in transforming IT's role in their organizations as they pursue grid modernization. Both CIOs share details of their journey and the work at their respective utlities as the Knowledge2012 Summit gets underway this week in Houston.
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Solid state transformers coming, but standards guide current workNov 11, 2012 |
Smart transformers are coming, but until then current technology and standards can handle the bi-directional flow of power between utilities and industrial customers with cogeneration or renewable, distributed energy resources.
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'Smarts' overrated, some say; others envision symbiosisNov 08, 2012 |
Discussions about grid hardening and resiliency have gone in every direction: smarts should give way to traditional measures such as aggressive vegetation management, smart meters did play a role in post-Sandy restoration and end-users should play new roles if they expect to survive more extreme weather events. We discuss these ideas with our readers.
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Sandy pushes thought leaders to write inNov 07, 2012 |
Readers of Intelligent Utility weighed in on the lessons, still unfolding, of Hurricane Sandy, even as a nor'easter struck the afflicted Northeast this week. Grid design, hardening, distributed generation, time, money and political will all found a place in the discussion.
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A call for resiliency and evidence-based investmentNov 06, 2012 |
Hurricane Sandy should call for evidence-based investments in hardening and resiliency, particularly where that dovetails with cyber and physical security. The performance of smart grid investments must be weighed against resources for traditional steps for hardening and resilience, including vegetation management. What works should be applied where it fits.
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Association's focus remains awareness, educationNov 05, 2012 |
Terry Jarrett, utility regulator in Missouri, also chairs the NARUC Committee on Critical Infrastructure, which plays a key role in cyber security education for regulators and their regulated utilities. Jarrett says that keeping cyber security on state regulators' minds remains a challenge.
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Association's focus remains awareness, educationNov 04, 2012 |
In an extensive Q&A, Terry Jarrett, who chairs the critical infrastructure committee at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, says that knowledge and training are the primary resources needed by state regulators.
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Hard analysis needed of practices and technologyNov 01, 2012 |
As the media documented the damage to the grid by Hurricane Sandy, before economic losses can be properly estimated, questions were ubiquitous and largely unanswered. Good answers will take time. What utilities do with the answers may determine our future quality of life.
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Sober discussion needed in wake of extreme stormsOct 31, 2012 |
Killer storms last fall. Killer storms this spring. Killer storm this week. What w're learning about grid modernization and resiliency in the wake of extreme weather events should inform investments going forward, if hype, spin and unsubstantiated claims are subtracted.
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