Highlights from the World of Linemen News
Here are some industry news and information articles from around the web, just for you.
Colorado electric co-op rolls out ‘community battery’ program
United Power Cooperative and SoCore Energy plan to build what they say would be the largest energy storage facility to date in Colorado.
The 4 MW, 16 MWh battery storage system in Firestone, Colo., would store energy generated over night and discharge it during the day to reduce demand charges.
The Firestone storage system is the first of several storage projects United Power is planning as part of its “community battery” strategy that lets members of the cooperative share the battery system’s output to reduce demand charges on their monthly electric bills… Read More
Bill Gates to Build a ‘Smart City’ From Scratch
ill Gates and his investment firm have just invested $80 million to build a “smart city” in Arizona.
The project is being funded through Gates’ investment firm, Kirkland, Wash.-based Cascade Investment LLC, which owns Belmont Partners, an Arizona-based real estate investment group that will lead the project.
Gates purchased 24,800 acres of desert land about 45 minutes west of downtown Phoenix, just off Interstate 10, near Tonopah, Ariz. The development will be called Belmont.
“Envisioning future infrastructure from scratch is far easier and more cost efficient than retrofitting an existing urban fabric,” said Grady Gammage, founding partner of legal firm Gammage & Burnham… Read More
Finding Hot Spots in Electric Power Facilities and Infrastructure with the FLIR T1K
Utilities are under mounting pressure to improve reliability. One of the most effective ways to do that is to identify equipment anomalies and malfunctions before they occur. Utilities often include thermal imaging in their strategies aimed at predicting and preventing equipment failure—from inside power plants and substations to transmission and distribution lines to customers’ premises.
A utility in the Pacific Northwest, featured in this white paper, has discovered that FLIR’s latest high-resolution thermal imaging camera, the T1K, has allowed it to improve system reliability and even pinpoint potential problems at individual customers’ premises before equipment failure creates lengthy disruptions… Read More
More Than 6,000 Utility, Government Officials Tested Grid Security During GridEx IV Exercise
On Nov. 15-16, more than 6,000 participants representing more than 400 organizations from across the electric power industry and federal and state governments participated in the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC’s) energy grid security and incident response exercise, GridEd IV. This two-day exercise was designed to test coordination among industry and government stakeholders, as well as their cyber and physical security incident response protocols. The biennial exercise gives participants from the United States, Canada, and Mexico the opportunity to self-assess their emergency response and recovery plans through a simulated exercise that takes place across North America.
“Protecting the nation’s energy grid and ensuring a reliable supply of energy are top priorities for the electric power industry,” said Edison Electric Institute (EEI) President Tom Kuhn. “NERC’s GridEx exercises offer an invaluable opportunity for industry and government at all levels to evaluate security and response plans. Electric companies have a strong record of working across the industry and with our government partners to enhance energy grid security and resiliency. Previous GridEx exercises have led to important changes in how the government and our industry protect the energy grid and respond to incidents affecting energy infrastructure.” Read More
Rhode Island grid mod plan to focus on renewables integration, cost control
Rhode Island energy officials say the state’s efforts to modernize its electric grid will be a “complex undertaking” as well as a “huge opportunity” that ultimately will help control costs, while creating a more resilient and cleaner system.
The state’s energy agencies Nov. 17 submitted to Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) a report outlining steps to overhaul Rhode Island’s electrical grid, with a focus on controlling costs, integrating more green power, improving service and overhauling utility incentive models.
The report, “Rhode Island Power Sector Transformation,” lays out a roadmap to foster customer participation and choice, while enabling the efficient integration of additional clean energy technologies like battery storage and energy management solutions… Read More
Keep it safe out there, and feel free to right click and share!
