Commentary
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Sep 13, 2011 |
With the deployment of Smart Metering, Utilities now have an opportunity to explore the broader benefits that Smart Metering can result in. Of course, many utilities are currently in the process of leveraging their Smart metering investments to employ energy savings programs such as Demand Response, Critical Peak Pricing just to name a few. -
Aug 25, 2011 |
These three terms are deeply deceptive marketing terms intended to hide the very real problems of electronic equipment in the field. The fact is that electronics break a lot. If they didn't break, networks wouldn't need to be self-healing, scada systems wouldn't need to be fault tolerant or fully redundant. -
Aug 05, 2011 |At the most recent annual auction for electric capacity in PJM, the Base Residual Auction (BRA) for delivery year 2014/15 electric capacity cleared with lower volumes versus the prior year due to lower demand. Prices were lower than previous years in the Mid Atlantic Area Council (MAAC) region and higher than previous years in the rest of the Regional Transmission Organization (RTO).
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Jul 28, 2011 |
In the April/May 2011 edition of Intelligent Utility Magazine, there was an interesting article about the Salt River Project electric utility and its focus on data loss prevention -- otherwise called DLP. The key points raised by the article were primarily focused on recognition that risk management is a necessary practice in order to protect data and that the author noted that "It takes constant vigilance" -- something I heartily agree as a former Chief Information Security Officer. -
Jul 27, 2011 |
When the power goes out, the last thing an energy provider wants to do is keep their customers in the dark. But many utilities are still far behind the times when it comes to mobile workforce management. Of course, the complexities of managing real-time customer service requests are vast. -
Jul 22, 2011 |
What a difference a decade makes. Just a little over ten years ago, many businesses remained uncertain that they really needed a Web site, and we might have remembered to check our email maybe two or three times a week without missing anything important. Cell phones were catching on, but they were only voice-enabled and not linked to the World Wide Web. -
Jul 20, 2011 |
A recent audit by the Department of Energy's inspector general, as reported in a recent Wired Magazine article, found that the official government cyber-security standards for the electrical power grid, set by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), "fall far short of even the most basic security standards observed by noncritical industries." -
Jul 14, 2011 |
Smart grids have intelligent monitoring devices, which frequently transmit the customers' power usage information to the utility containing information like which appliances were in use, their frequency of usage, time of usage, consumption amount, carbon footprint, heat production etc. -
Jun 29, 2011 |
The combination of scientific/technological advances and evolving changes in the power industry provide opportunity to develop large-scale thermal energy storage technology. Engineers used small-scale thermal energy storage during the latter 19th century to provide propulsion for steam-powered submarines that stored saturated water at some 100-psia and 328°F (164°C) in on-board accumulators. -
Jun 24, 2011 |
Investor owned and consumer owned electric utilities need to address a new challenge in the next decade or they may become mediocre, obsolete, servant infrastructure to businesses who will take their customers away from them.
