Energy Exchange

Consumers At The Heart Of Illinois Smart Grid Revitalization Project

By Raya Salter / Published: April 3, 2013

On April 1, Illinois’ largest utilities, ComEd and Ameren Illinois (Ameren), updated their plans to launch one of the nation’s largest electrical grid upgrades, a $3.2 billion project that will set the stage in Illinois for how utilities and customers interact in the future.  The ComEd and Ameren plans provide new detail on how they intend to replace the aging Illinois grid and begin to transform it into a digital smart grid capable of monitoring customer and environmental benefits.  EDF and Citizens Utility Board (CUB) teamed up with both utilities to create twenty new benchmarking metrics that will measure how the utilities deliver benefits to consumers and improve their performance annually. 

To elaborate, such metrics include reductions in peak energy demand, increased adoption of renewable energy, such as solar power, wide-spread implementation of smart energy devices and diminished greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, among others.  In addition, ComEd and Ameren have elected to work with EDF and CUB to develop new and better ways to measure how smart grid technology can help reduce GHG emissions and electrical inefficiencies.  Using smart grid devices to precisely measure GHG and line loss is technically challenging, but key to unlocking the promise of smart grid technology.

When customers are empowered with the knowledge and tools to control their own energy usage, they are also empowered to save money on their utility bills.  As CUB Executive Director David Kolata points out, “A smart grid begins with smart policy. These new metrics will help bring the power grid into the 21st century more quickly and cost-effectively, ensuring that consumers see the benefits in the form of lower electric bills.”

To take full advantage of the $3.2 billion project, born out of the Illinois Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act of 2011, ComEd and Ameren must go above and beyond the business-as-usual utility metrics.  Utility metrics to date have commonly focused on general measures to gauge customer benefits, such as customer awareness survey completions and number of customer outreach events attended.  These new tracking mechanisms go further in that they will allow the utilities to track and report where customers are realizing the benefits of electric grid improvements, and the extent to which they are participating in these opportunities.  This includes measures like the number of customers who can directly access their own energy usage data and the time it takes to connect renewable energy resources, like solar power, to the electric grid. Read More »

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Solar, Wind Prompting Electricity Grid Innovation In California

By Jamie Fine / Published: March 4, 2013

In a February Wall Street Journal article (“California Girds for Electricity Woes”), reporter Rebecca Smith gives an alarmist and misleading account of California energy regulators’ efforts to secure a cleaner, less expensive, more reliable electricity grid.  Right now, California has plenty of power:  44 percent more generating capacity than it typically uses, including a considerable fossil fuel energy portfolio.  Renewables – large scale, rooftop solar, wind, and, increasingly, energy storage – make up almost 15 percent of the grid, a percentage that will more than double in the next decade.  These clean, innovative energy technologies are working to improve the system by reducing the need for fossil fuels.

The reality is that the grid is changing, driven by California’s quest to secure an environmentally safe and affordable electricity system. Increasing the amount of renewable energy on the grid will mean that more generation is variable; electricity output from solar and wind depends on sunshine or windiness, respectively.    Up to this point, California has met this challenge by backing up clean resources with fossil fuels.  But California’s ratepayers can’t afford to keep doing this, so instead of “girding for woe,” the CAISO and the CPUC met to proactively address our changing future – to move California towards cleaner, less expensive electric grid planning.

This new approach can increase California’s ability to rely on clean energy generation by building greater flexibility into the system – while giving more options to consumers.  Not only can customer-based (“demand-side”) clean energy technologies reduce reliance on polluting power plants, they are quite likely to be more reliable and are potentially more cost-effective.   Demand response, or the ability of customers to choose to save money by responding to a price or electronic signal from the grid operator in times of excess system demand, will be key to integrating large amounts of intermittent solar and wind without back-up fossil or storage.   In fact, during afternoon peak demand, where supply is extremely limited in its ability to serve load, the addition of virtual generation resulting from the participation of DR into the market will actually lower energy prices.

California has already installed a robust digital metering infrastructure – and it’s time to put these meters to work by enabling customers to participate in demand response and other demand-side programs.  Coupled with technologies that now allow for fast, reliable, automated ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ adjustments to electricity use, we can seamlessly integrate variable electricity resources, such as wind and solar, without disrupting energy users.  Customers can choose to become an energy resource instead of fossil fuel plants.  Read More »

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Bloomberg’s State Of The City Ideas Good For Health And The Environment

By Andy Darrell / Published: February 15, 2013

Source: CBS New York

A lot happened yesterday: Brooklyn Nets cheerleaders. Jay-z soundtrack. Kids dancing on stage. The new stadium at Barclays Center. Popcorn. Valentine’s Day. Mayor Bloomberg’s birthday? Yes. But also his last State of the City speech.

In his speech and a small briefing in advance, he identified recent environmental wins: clean heat’s 170 tons of soot per year gone so far, a 16 percent cut in GHG pollution since 2005, the monumental third water tunnel under city streets, new waterfront parks underway at Fresh Kills, Governors Island and Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Mindful of 320 days left in his term (this guy counts data), he announced some ideas that can get done now:

  • Electric vehicles. A network of charging units citywide with 30-minute charges — one third of NYC’s taxi fleet to be electric. New York City could become a great place to charge a Tesla, a Leaf or a Volt. With traffic just behind heating oil as the main reason why some neighborhoods have unusually high pollution, that’s a good idea for health and climate. It also opens a conversation about the electric grid that extends well past his term. Will those cars run on electricity created by solar, hydro, wind, nuclear, natural gas, coal? Here’s an example of how to get it right: Pecan Street Inc.
     
  • Recycling. Expanded recycling for plastic, including those take-out containers so familiar to New Yorkers.  And – an issue that’s getting a bit of press – ridding our city of styrofoam cups used in schools, delis and restaurants.   This reminds me of EDF’s work with McDonald’s many years ago, getting rid of the Styrofoam clamshell.
     
  • Third, a citywide bike share program, to launch this summer.  This could end up being one of the largest bike share programs in the world.

Equally interesting are some of the ideas not explicitly framed as “environmental,” for instance:

  • A post-Sandy commitment to “rebuilding here,” on the waterfront — but doing so sustainably, in a way that “keeps the lights on” in a storm. That will take unprecedented collaboration with state and federal policy makers, tech innovation, architecture and design and efficiency finance.  A first step is to make sure that federal dollars flowing in to the region after Sandy are spent in a way that helps local communities make fully informed choices about not just “where” to rebuild, but “how” to rebuild.
     
  • And an idea that could reshape the skyline for a long time: “Midtown rezoning.” Sound boring? Could be.  But imagine midtown Manhattan with buildings that are far at the forefront of resilience and clean energy – taking full advantage of the latest technologies to generate clean electricity and waste as little as possible. Could Manhattan be the next Pecan Street? This is an opportunity not yet fully-seized. Read More »
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President’s Vision Encompasses A Next-Generation Energy System

By Elizabeth B. Stein / Published: February 14, 2013

Tuesday’s State of the Union (SOTU) speech included much that was music to environmentalists’ ears.  The headline, of course, is the commitment to take serious action to address the most significant challenge our generation faces – climate change.  And, with it, the extreme weather and public health burdens that are already making life harder for vulnerable regions and people nationwide, and that stand to become so much worse as the root cause remains unaddressed. 

But some of the most exciting aspects of the SOTU message are the nuts and bolts that underlie the top-line goal.  Specifically, the President’s speech recognizes that Americans have an opportunity to achieve many of the carbon reductions we need through actions that create new business opportunities, increase national security and drive economic growth.  In fact, we already are.  As the President noted, the past four years have seen the beginnings of a revolution in American energy production and use – technological innovations have put us on track to energy independence and renewable resources constitute a growing share of electric generation capacity. 

The President’s vision, as outlined in the SOTU, encompasses a next-generation energy system – one where the system that was revolutionary in Thomas Edison’s time is finally supplanted by a system that meets the needs of our time.  Technological change can bring full-scale transformation, and government can play a role by accelerating technological development.  A future where cars and trucks no longer depend on oil can finally be imagined – and government efforts can help bring that future into the present more quickly.

Carbon-free wind and solar energy represent a growing share of our resource mix, and  they can grow to serve a larger and larger share of load.   And energy waste in buildings can be cut substantially – but doing so requires innovations in energy retrofits, building operations and finance, which government can also help to foster.

Finally, President Obama referred to fostering a ‘self-healing power grid,’ which is extremely important. Modernizing our outdated, aging electric grid and how it is operated (as well as customer-side technology and practices) will help minimize problems that arise from extreme weather events and other disruptions, while also allowing for greater shares of electric demand to be served by resources whose output depends (literally) on something as fickle as the weather.

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Experts Unveil Plan To Double U.S. Energy Productivity By 2030

By Elgie Holstein / Published: February 7, 2013

Achieving Goal Could Cut Carbon Pollution By One-Third And Save $327 Billion Annually

The Alliance Commission on National Energy Efficiency Policy released a report today with recommendations that would put the U.S. on a path towards doubling its energy productivity by 2030. The Commission, which is chaired by U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) and National Grid U.S. President Tom King, is a diverse coalition of energy leaders that includes representatives from energy utilities, academia, industry and environmental groups.  Fred Krupp, President of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), serves on the Commission.

The Commission found that a doubling of energy productivity (or obtaining twice as much output from the energy we use) would reduce U.S. carbon dioxide pollution down to four billion tons per year by 2030, which is 33 percent below 2005 levels. The full report is available at energy2030.org.

“The Alliance Commission’s recommendations are an innovative approach to greatly increasing our nation’s use of energy efficiency, which represents a huge – and largely untapped – opportunity,” said Fred Krupp, President of EDF.  “Reducing wasted energy through efficiency is a true win-win solution that cuts harmful pollution and saves people money on their energy bills.”

The Commission’s recommendations are wide-ranging, covering multiple sectors of the economy.  The recommendations include: increased stringency of energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances, creation of financing mechanisms that bring down the cost of energy efficiency projects, reform of utility regulatory policies to enable full use of cost-effective energy efficiency and greater support for research and development.

Achieving the Commission’s goal of doubling energy productivity by 2030 would:

  • Add 1.3 million jobs;
  • Cut average household energy costs by more than $1,000 a year;
  • Save American businesses $169 billion a year;
  • Increase gross domestic product (GDP) by up to 2 percent;
  • Decrease energy imports by more than $100 billion a year; and
  • Reduce CO2 emissions by one-third.

Source: www.energy2030.org

EDF is particularly encouraged by the Commission’s recommendations related to energy efficiency finance and smart grid policies, which are a high priority for EDF.  The Commission recommends that state and local governments work with utilities to create financing mechanisms, such as On-Bill Repayment (OBR) programs.  OBR provides a new route to funding clean energy investments at attractive terms, relying solely on private third-party financing.

OBR programs offer an opportunity for residential and commercial utility customers to finance energy efficiency projects with loans repaid through their utility bills and financed at no additional cost to ratepayers.  The Commission also recommends reforms to state utility regulatory policies that would break down barriers to utility investment in energy efficiency and enable greater use of advanced new technologies that create a smarter and cleaner electric power grid.

Though the U.S. currently lags behind other nations on energy productivity, the Commission believes there are more than $1 trillion in energy-saving opportunities with the right federal, state and local government support, and private-sector buy-in.

The Alliance Commission’s goal of doubling energy productivity by 2030 is ambitious, yet attainable, and it goes well beyond capturing the well-known, low-hanging fruit. I am confident that the solutions proposed by the Commission will drive innovation and technological advancements, which will modernize U.S. manufacturing and help us to compete globally.

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Super Bowl, NOT Super Coal

By Marita Mirzatuny / Published: February 6, 2013

Was it the duel between two brothers coaching opposing teams? The awesome performance by Beyonce’ and the reunion of Destiny’s Child? Ray Lewis’ last game? No. What everyone was talking about post Super Bowl 2013 was the power outage!

Let’s get this straight: With over 108 million people watching the most important football game of the year — the third most watched TV program ever  — yielding hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising revenues, the power in the stadium just happens to go out for over 30 minutes?

The first thought I had was, “Is someone trying to spare the 49ers from suffering a Super Bowl blowout? The second was, “Do I have time to run out and get more snacks?” The third was, “Who’s to blame for this power fumble…the NFL? The City of New Orleans? Beyoncé?”  Well, the fossil fuel industry seems to think they have the answer, jumping at the opportunity to remind us of the need for more coal.

The truth is that officials are just starting to figure out what caused the power outage, according to a recent article by The Times-Picayune.  What is clear is that the stadium had reliability problems which were identified in October 2012 – including decayed feeder lines – and that officials quickly tried to fix them in the months before the game.  Somewhere along the line, something failed – and the new switchgear did its job, shutting down the stadium to save it from a longer blackout.

The bottom line is that no amount of coal would have solved the problem – unless, of course, more charcoal would have meant better tailgate parties while attendees waited for the electrical system to be restored.

In fact, an article in The Washington Post notes that stadiums across the country have avoided blackouts through advanced technology that allows grid operators to identify problems more rapidly and fix the system in real time.  While the Superdome’s electrical system did not seem to have that level of advanced technology, perhaps its game-day tale is a win – without the new switchgear, the blackout may have in total, lasted much longer, and signaled the end of the game.  Only time will tell.  In the meantime, we say “well played” to New Orleans for working diligently to upgrade the stadium in the short time that it had.

Fortunately, while upgrades to the larger electricity system must happen to ensure reliability and reduce pollution, we have the time to thoroughly and thoughtfully upgrade our electricity system – and EDF is quarterbacking the issue to make sure it is done right.  The same smart technology used successfully by football stadiums across the county can be applied on a neighborhood, region, and national scale, avoiding and reducing blackouts, minimizing air pollution, and incorporating cleaner technologies.  The benefits from these investments nationwide are potentially huge – in the trillions of dollars – three times their cost.  With interest rates on savings accounts currently well below 1 percent, this kind of payback is certainly worth the investment in our nation’s economy, health, and –well -football.

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