Chattanooga’s EPB Rated Best in Nation by JD Power

Chattanoogan.com

EPB-PWR-ISP
EPB.com (PWR & ISP)

The Chattanooga Electric Power Board (EPB) utility was ranked #1 in the southeastern U.S. by its customers among residential power providers according to “J.D. Power’s newly launched U.S. Utility Brand Appeal Index Study.”

High marks were given to EPB for “customer trust, company reputation, and marketing execution.” EPB was also ranked #2 across the nation as an Internet Service Provider (ISP) by “Consumer Reports” with high marks for “value, reliability, speed, and technical support.”

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FCC Has Approved New Rules for Power Pole Attachments

BroadbandBreakfast.com – Taormina Falsitta

NRECA-Power-Poles
NRECA-Power-Poles (Denny Gainer)

“The announcement was made by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Wireline Competition Bureau regarding new rules that are intended to assist Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) that need to attach their wires and other facilities to utility poles owned by various third parties.”

The new rules went into effect at the end of July 2024 in order to help “speed-up the broadband deployment.”

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FBI Warning of Cyber Attacks to Power Grid Weaknesses

EnergyCentral.com (source CNBC)

EnergyCentral.com (CNBC) - FBI-Warnings
EnergyCentral.com (CNBC) – FBI-Warnings

In the U.S., with the increased connections to the power grid by cleaner, greener, carbon-free electric generation, and renewable resources, the FBI has issued a warning for the nations power system. “The federal government is becoming more concerned about vulnerabilities with new energy systems being a target for cyberattacks.”

Adversaries and hackers are looking at potential weaknesses in the power sector with “private and individual owners of renewable power systems.”

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Nuclear Reactor ‘Hermes’ in Oak Ridge Is Underway

Knoxville News Sentinel – Daniel Dassow (Oakridger.com)

Oak-Ridger-Knoxville News Sentinel
Oak-Ridger-Knoxville News Sentinel-Jennifer Granholm

“Oak Ridge has emerged as a critical hub for newer technology like the Hermes Low-Power Demonstration reactor.” These efforts hope to achieve “affordable nuclear heat, but it will not produce electricity.”

This new “$100 million investment created 55 new high-paying jobs” in the area where construction began in July 2024.

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How Can Virtual Power Plants Benefit the Electric Power Grid?

VPPs-PowerMag.com-Sally Jacquemin
VPPs-PowerMag.com-Sally Jacquemin

PowerMag.com (Sally Jacquemin):
“When DERs and other devices are logically grouped or aggregated, they can form a virtual power plant, or VPP, providing load flexibility for grids that are reaching capacity or economic value with energy market participation, like a traditional power plant.” VPP’s can help prevent current and future plans for adding on new generation plants and can be considered as a method for shrinking future “greenhouse gas emissions.

As power demand increases beyond current power plant capacities and clean energy goals are accelerated, power generation sources of the future will start to look different. In fact, some of these new components—rooftop solar, battery energy storage, electric vehicles and distributed energy resources (DERs)—can already be found in millions of homes.”

READ More @ PowerMag.com (Sally Jacquemin)…