August 2
FirstEnergy Enhances Smart Grid in Pennsylvania
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
FirstEnergy company Met-Ed is installing smart reclosers on power lines in York and Adams Counties in eastern Pennsylvania. The installations at what have been identified as 53 “key spots” on the overhead power lines are planned to minimize or prevent outages for the more than 24,000 customers in these areas. Some of the new devices are already in service and the remainder is expected to be installed and operational before the end of the year.
Xcel Energy seeks proposals for a major expansion of its Texas–New Mexico power-generating system in a proactive move meant to meet growing customer electricity demands as older power plants are retired. “We are excited to have another historic opportunity to realize an energy future that is cost-efficient, diverse and balanced with an aim of serving our customers economically for years to come,” said Adrian Rodriguez, President of Xcel Energy Texas-New Mexico.
Virtual power plant deployment can help utilities avoid billions in new generation and transmission costs, but inadequate performance accountability and poor visibility into distribution networks are holding back wider VPP adoption, panelists said July 23 during a webinar presented by Heatmap Labs and Uplight. From a funding and procurement standpoint, VPPs should evolve to look more like a conventional electricity supply resource, said panelist Sam Hartnett, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Uplight.
PSEG Long Island, which provides electric service to some 1.2 million customers in New York’s Long Island and the Rockaways, has made numerous upgrades to the electric grid, its systems and its storm processes, including contingency procedures. Across its service area, the company has prepared the electric infrastructure by focusing on substation and transmission and distribution improvements, as well as by performing circuit and equipment inspections using helicopters and infrared technology.
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Industry News
In 2021, Alyssa Cheung’s old gas stove was making her anxious. Cheung was about to have a baby girl, and she wanted to protect her daughter’s developing lungs from the harmful pollution that fossil-gas stoves spew. “I was scared of the health impacts,” she tells me. Cheung was eager to adopt a cleaner method of cooking for her family and the planet: an electric induction stove.
Electric vehicles (EVs) will help position the U.S. auto industry and the nation for economic opportunities and global competitiveness if America’s EV sector is supported by a 21st century grid, said witnesses and lawmakers during the July 31 U.S. Senate Budget Committee Hearing, Charging Ahead: The Future of Electric Vehicles. “The grid will need to handle increased demand from electric vehicles, heating and cooling, manufacturing, hydrogen electrolyzing, and energy-gobbling data centers,” said Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse.
Tenet Energy, a financial technology platform, and Sunnova Energy, known for residential and commercial solar and virtual power plants, are collaborating to accelerate the adoption of solar energy and EVs. The companies are rolling out a series of exclusive promotions encouraging Sunnova customers to purchase an EV with Tenet’s financing options and Tenet customers to adopt Sunnova’s solar energy systems.
Linda Cleveland knew that getting solar panels on the roof of the Watts-Willowbrook Church of Christ was more than just a way for her congregation to save on electric bills. It would further its broader community mission too. The 12-kilowatt solar array on the roof of “The Brook,” as her church is known to neighbors in the predominantly Black and Hispanic city of Compton in Los Angeles County, will help the congregation cut its bills roughly in half.
