Category: Electric Power Grid

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Five Reasons Remote Technology Makes Sense

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PowerMag – The case for advanced analytics and remote diagnostics: During the last 25 years significant advancements have been made in remote monitoring capabilities for power plants. A number of operations and maintenance (O&M) functions can routinely be managed remotely, and it is also becoming more common for peaking and renewable energy plants to be remotely operated reliably and safely.

Operating and maintaining a full-scale power plant remotely presents challenges that require sophisticated systems, reliable sensor and diagnostic equipment, stable high-bandwidth communication, and advanced security protocols. Even with progress made in each of these areas, some plant managers don’t foresee a scenario where remote operations will become the norm. But even in cases where there are no plans to run a generating station from a remote location, there is still a solid case for adopting remote technology.

Here are five reasons why the case for remote technology is stronger today than ever before.

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State regulators fine Xcel Energy $1M over dispute with solar developers

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StarTribune – Minnesota utility regulators Thursday slapped Xcel Energy with a rare $1 million fine for a bevy of complaints over delays in connecting solar projects to the electricity grid.

Almost all of the roughly 120 complaints were filed by St. Paul-based All Energy Solar in 2019. A solar trade group said All Energy’s grievances reflect longstanding and costly interconnection problems with Xcel for the entire industry.

Minneapolis-based Xcel, the state’s largest electric utility, has acknowledged shortcomings. But it argues that the big batch of complaints should be rolled into one.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) unanimously disagreed with Xcel’s assertion but split on whether to immediately hit Xcel with the $1 million fine.

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Dominion files plans with federal regulators for 2.6 GW offshore wind project, largest in US to date

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UtilityDive – Dominion Energy has filed the construction and operations plan for its 2.64 GW offshore wind project, with construction expected to start off the coast of Virginia in 2024. The anticipated filing with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) was made after Dominion completed construction of a 12 MW pilot offshore wind project in Virginia — the first offshore wind turbines approved by regulators in federal waters. The company expects the BOEM review process for the largest offshore wind farm in the country announced to date to take about two years.

The offshore wind generation capacity is a large component of the utility’s clean energy plan, to meet the state’s rigid decarbonization standards in the Clean Economy Act passed earlier in 2020. Pending approval of the project by the State Corporation Commission and federal regulators, the project would provide renewable electricity to power up to 660,000 homes upon completion in 2026.

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FBI: White supremacists plotted attack on US power grid

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WKRN.com (FBI) – MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — White supremacists plotted to attack power stations in the southeastern U.S., and an Ohio teenager who allegedly shared the plan said he wanted the group to be “operational” on a fast-tracked timeline if President Donald Trump were to lose his re-election bid, the FBI alleges in an affidavit that was mistakenly unsealed.

The teen was in a text group with more than a dozen people in the fall of 2019 when he introduced the idea of saving money to buy a ranch where they could participate in militant training, according to the affidavit, which was filed under seal along with a search warrant application in Wisconsin’s Eastern U.S. District Court in March. The documents were inadvertently unsealed last week before the mistake was discovered and they were quickly sealed again.

The teenager wanted the group to be “operational” by the 2024 election because he believed it was likely a Democrat would win, but “the timeline for being operational would accelerate if President Trump lost the 2020 election,” according to the affidavit. An informant told investigators that the teen “definitely wanted to be operational for violence, but also activism.”

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Why Grid-Tied Solar Power Systems Are Recommended Over Other Solar Systems?

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by the 3 Phase Associates “TEAM”
Renewable energy and distributed energy resources (DERs) continue to flood the electric utility grid providing cleaner and more sustainable energy. As the traditional power grid evolves into a smarter electric grid, environmental regulations push for more cleaner renewable energy sources. Solar PV electric power systems are leading the path in this effort with improvements in technologies, efficiencies, and cost reductions. The grid-tied solar systems are gaining popularity and becoming more favored over other solar electric systems. 
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