February 4
Georgia Power Plans to Retire Coal, Increase Renewables
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
Georgia Power proposed closing all its coal-fired units and doubling its renewable and solar capacity by 2035, according to the company’s 2022 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). The 2022 IRP lays out Georgia Power’s plan to transition its fleet to more economical, cleaner resources; invest in its transmission system to make it smarter and even more reliable and resilient; double its renewable and solar capacity; focus on energy storage solutions; and offer innovative energy efficiency programs.
Con Edison has awarded consulting firm ICF with a $30 million contract for the management and implementation of the energy company’s residential consumer energy efficiency program. ICF and Con Edison have partnered on energy efficiency project implementation and optimization over the past 15 years.
Santee Cooper, South Carolina’s state-owned electric and water utility, recently launched a new demand response program. Under the program, called SmartRewards, customers can earn bill credits for helping Santee Cooper reduce electricity use during periods of high electric demand or during times when system resources are constrained.
Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, commenced the commercial operation of two major solar facilities in North Carolina. One of the facilities is the 50-megawatt (MW) Broad River Solar power plant in Cleveland County, and the other is the 22.6-MW Speedway Solar power plant in Cabarrus County. They will provide electricity for about 15,000 homes.
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Industry News
A silent revolution is underway on city streets as transit agencies large and small replace noisy, polluting diesel buses with clean, quiet electric vehicles. But agencies and bus manufacturers alike warn that the transition is not as simple as signing a procurement order for new battery-powered buses. The number of battery-electric transit buses currently on order or operating in the U.S. grew 112 percent from 2018 to 2021.
Electric vehicles driving in Detroit could increase their charge by using an in-road charging system by 2023, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office announced Tuesday. In 2021, Whitmer announced the state’s plan to build the first electric vehicle charging road in the U.S. The roadway would charge electric vehicles while they are in motion or stationary.
Entergy Arkansas’ Searcy Solar Energy Center went online last week, becoming the company’s first battery storage capable solar farm, with 30 MW of storage capability and no added fuel costs for customers. With the addition of Searcy, Entergy Arkansas now has three solar plants at its disposal, including the 81 MW Stuttgart Solar facility and the 100 MW Chicot Solar at Lake Village.
Go for a walk in a dense urban area like where I live in Oakland, and you’ll probably come across tangled tendrils of extension cords winding across the sidewalk to reach parked electric vehicles. This shows the need for more and better access to smart, effectively located vehicle charging. Renters are especially likely to be overlooked when it comes to charging, and this could be hurting EV adoption.
