February 2
$1.5 Billion in Savings for ComEd Customers
Top consumer smart grid news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
In 2017, ComEd reduced customer outages by 10 percent from 2016 levels. The frequency of outages has reduced by 46 percent and the duration of outages lowered by 47 percent since 2012. More than 7.7 million customer interruptions, including 1.5 million in 2017 alone, have been avoided between 2012 and 2017. Such developments have resulted in $1.5 billion in societal savings.
On January 17, SMUD and Clean Power Research announced the launch of a software as a service, called WattPlan Grid, that can help utilities to forecast the adoption of DER technologies and how those technologies might impact utility operations and revenue. SMUD also plans to use the forecasting software.
CLEAResult announced this week that it has reached an agreement to acquire Ecova's utility division, a deal the company says will make it "the dominant provider" of retail-based and midstream demand side management programs. No financial details were released. The companies expect the deal to close this quarter. Once that happens, the Ecova unit will be rebranded CLEAResult.
Improving our electricity system – using technology available today – could be the single largest opportunity we have to fight climate change. Our grid was built over a century ago by different companies, cities and co-ops. Pieces of it are owned and run by a dizzying web of stakeholders, with different visions of what a “modern grid” looks like.
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Industry News
Safe, reliable, affordable. This multifaceted obligation for utilities to serve is the bedrock of the regulatory compact that still prevails today -- and it is evolving in states like New York, Minnesota, California and Hawaii. As new regulatory frameworks emerge, utilities are also faced with ever-increasing expectations from consumers.
The nation’s largest distributed energy show is turning into a software exhibition as utilities search for ways to make sense of a flood of data from new technologies on their grids. “You used to have this tactile experience at DistribuTECH where you could just hold the technology in your hands,” said Drew Johnston, director at Navigant Consulting. “Now it’s all behind the glass because it’s all digital.”
Wind power is poised to surpass hydroelectricity as the largest renewable energy generation source. EIA notes that hydroelectric power has historically provided the largest share of renewable electricity generation in the US. But based on forecasts in its latest “Short-Term Energy Outlook”, EIA expects wind power to surpass hydroelectricity in the near future.
At DistribuTECH 2018, there was one recurring question all around the floor that wasn’t about low voltage or meter-to-cash or grid management, that wasn’t about distribution issues or DER or the juggling of old assets. That question: Have you been to the Alamo?
