Austin Energy (AE) recently announced that it will work with the Pecan Street project to test Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology, adding to an increasing number of V2G pilots globally. In addition to providing insights for grid management, V2G has the potential to provide flexible resources and a way to meet clean energy objectives. Whether or not […]
Smart inverters are getting more attention these days with utilities looking to mitigate voltage instability and variability on the system brought forth by distributed energy resources (DER). As the penetration of DERs increases, autonomous operation of smart inverters with pre-programmed responses at the edge will be more and more crucial. For more, read Is your […]
Once a niche product, EVs are coming into the mainstream. In the United States, registrations for EVs have grown at an astronomical 55% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2011 to 2016 . According to a recent AAA survey, one in five U.S. drivers desires an EV for their next car. For utilities, EVs offer […]
Non-wires alternatives (NWA) are gaining popularity in utilities, so much so that E4theFuture funded a study by the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) and the Peak Load Management Association (PLMA) on the topic. The study investigates 10 case studies utilities where utilities have planned and/or implemented NWA in their service territories. According to Non-Wires Alternatives: Case […]
No one, except maybe a few tech visionaries, expected the Internet to become such a critical part of our lives. Today, technologists are constantly on the lookout for other game-changers like the Internet. Blockchain may be one of those things — and it could have far-reaching implications for the electricity sector. Blockchain is a distributed […]
It’s been almost a decade since German utility RWE piloted one of the first virtual power plants, made up of nine small hydro facilities networked to deliver power to the transmission grid. The world of virtual power plants (VPPs) has evolved considerably since then. Check out what the panel on VPPs had to say at GTM’s GridEdge […]
For most veterans of the utility industry, the “utility of the future” hearkens back to the 1990s and the introduction of deregulation and wholesale markets. Today’s “future” represents an even greater departure from previous discussions. What’s new is the rapidly rising penetration of renewables and distributed energy resources, and the prospect of evolving technologies (storage, […]