August 20
Four Steps for Equitable Clean Energy Solutions
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
The climate-related events of the last several years have reminded us of the vital importance of a reliable and affordable energy supply. The California blackouts, the Texas freeze and ongoing threats to resiliency from fires and other weather-related events provide stark reminders that a reliable energy supply can no longer be taken for granted.
Through its BizSavers Program, Ameren Missouri has made cost-saving energy efficiency upgrades to several St. Louis area school districts. The upgrades, which include brighter classrooms and more efficient heating and cooling systems, will result in significant cost savings for the schools. Since 2018, Missouri schools have saved more than $7.9 million on their energy statements and conserved more than 91 million kWh of electricity as a direct result of energy efficiency upgrades.
Colorado Springs Utilities has successfully modernized its smart meter data management system to enhance the acquisition, processing, storage and utilization of data regarding consumer energy usage and grid operations. The project was implemented in partnership with Red Clay Consulting, which also provided management services to keep the smart meter installation and operation program on track.
The nation’s largest public utility plans to switch out 1,200 of its vehicles for electric ones by 2030, furthering its role in that market for a power supplier that also plans to help add charging stations across the region, the utility’s top official said Wednesday. Tennessee Valley Authority CEO Jeff Lyash announced the changeout plans within its current fleet of about 3,800 vehicles during a board meeting.
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Industry News
When coal plants on the mainland U.S. began to shut down in droves, natural gas plants were ready to take their place, ramping up as needed to keep the lights on. In Hawaii, that’s not an option — both because of the state's commitment to having a carbon-free grid by 2045 and because delivering natural gas to the islands is prohibitively expensive.
A new coalition of automakers, workers, utilities, suppliers, investors and public interest advocates has formed to spur the development of the nation’s electric-vehicle (EV) charging network. The National EV Charging Initiative consists of 24 groups representing tens of thousands of companies, union members, investors and advocates.
The U.S. continued a trend of significant growth in large-scale battery capacity, with U.S. battery power capacity reaching 1,650 MW by the end of 2020, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Aug. 16. According to EIA’s report, Battery Storage in the United States: An Update on Market Trends, U.S. battery power capacity grew by 35 percent in 2020 and has tripled in the last five years.
Ample just raised $160 million in a Series C funding round led by Moore Strategic Ventures to build a battery-swap infrastructure for refueling electric vehicles. Existing investors Eneos and Shell Ventures participated, along with Momentum Venture Capital (the corporate venture arm of Singapore's public transport operator) and PTT (Thailand’s state-owned gas and oil company), plus Clayton Christensen's Disruptive Innovation Fund and Spanish energy company Repsol.
