News Highlights from the Electric Power Industry
Here are some industry news and information articles from around the web, just for you.
Wildfire Mitigation: Doing Your Part to Prevent the Spark
Many utilities, particularly in western states, are taking precautionary measures to avoid sparking wildfires, performing preventive maintenance like vegetation management and updating old equipment to strategic operational practices such as Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) de-energization programs. However, with worsening weather conditions, utilities are continually challenged to limit their role as the source of wildfires. Read more
Customer satisfaction with utilities climbs, J.D. Power finds
Overall business customer satisfaction with electric utilities has climbed this year, but the gap between the highest-ranking and lowest-ranking utilities also has grown.
According to the J.D. Power 2019 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study, overall satisfaction has increased 18 points (on a 1,000-point scale), but the gap between the highest- and lowest-performing individual utility has increased to a 13-year high of 192 points.
“Electric utilities around the country have been ramping up their communications efforts, often addressing everything from mobile alerts about outages to updates on citizenship initiatives,” said Adrian Chung, Director, Utilities Intelligence at J.D. Power. “Many top-performing utilities are getting that formula right, by visibly maintaining their infrastructure and leveraging technology to ensure businesses receive timely information needed to deal with outages and support decision-making. Read more >>
Top 5 Energy Storage Trends of the Year
Energy storage has been the hot topic in solar and e-mobility over the last couple years, and it’s only getting hotter. Last year, energy storage installations in the U.S. totaled 311 MW and 777 MWh, up from next to nothing six years prior, and this is just the beginning. Wood Mackenzie and Energy Storage Association analysts predict that total MWh deployed will grow nearly 14 times in the next five years. Read more >>
Warming Up to Energy Savings
Each morning, school buses make their rounds, picking up kids and guiding them safely to their classes. Families depend on these buses arriving on time, which means drivers don’t have time to wait for diesel engines to warm up in the cold. To combat this, many diesel fleets utilize engine block heaters. These plug-in devices keep engines warm overnight to ensure they’ll be ready to go come morning. Read more >>
Dependable Renewable Energy for the Power Grid
Although wind and solar facilities receive most of the renewable power publicity, biomass offers a reliable baseload solution for power generators. State-of-the-art circulating fluidized bed boilers are a dependable option for incorporating biomass into power mixes.
South Korea, a country with more than 50 million people and the world’s 11th-largest economy, imports 96% of its energy due to a lack of indigenous energy resources. To improve energy security and its environmental scorecard, the government’s eighth energy plan calls for reducing the share of coal-fired generation, accelerating energy efficiency measures, and increasing investment in renewable energy. The new energy plan also takes coal and nuclear off the table, leaving only the liquefied natural gas (LNG) option to keep up with growing baseload power demand and replacement of its aging fleet of coal power plants. Read more >>
Be Prepared. Think Safety.
