Category: Distributed Energy Resources

Posted on

Duke Energy Offers New Incentives for Residential Solar Power

DailyEnergyInsider.com – Dave Kovaleski

DEI-Duke Energy (Shutterstock-302004626)
DEI-Duke Energy (Shutterstock-302004626)

“Duke Energy has enrolled more than 1,300 customers in North Carolina in a new pilot program that is designed to make a home solar plus battery system more affordable.

The PowerPair pilot initiative is a one-time incentive-based program that offers up to $9,000 in incentives for residential customers who install a new solar plus battery system. The total incentive is based on the approved capacity of the solar array and battery installed.

The PowerPair program, approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) in January and launched in May, was developed in collaboration with various stakeholder groups at the direction of the NCUC.”

READ More…

Posted on

Power Generation by Natural Gas in the U.S. Accelerated During July’s Summer Peaks

EIA.gov (In-Brief Analysis) – Kimberly & Chris Peterson

EIA-NG-Electricity
EIA-NG-Electricity

During the month of July 2024, most power utilities across the country experienced summer peak power demands while dangerous warnings of weather heat advisories were announced. With the spike in warmer than average temperatures and record-breaking heat temperatures, power generation providers relied more on natural gas generation to meet electric power demands.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), “Power plant operators generated 6.9 million mega watthours (MWh) of electricity from natural gas on a daily basis in the Lower 48 states on July 9, 2024, probably the most in history and certainly since at least January 1, 2019, when we began to collect hourly data about natural gas generation.”

READ More…

Posted on

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.”

READ More…

Posted on

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.”

READ More…

Posted on

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.

READ More…

Posted on

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)…