October 5
PSEG Unveils Six-Year Clean Energy Plan
Top consumer smart grid news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
PSEG recently unveiled a $4 billion clean energy plan aimed at helping New Jersey meet aggressive environmental goals while also reducing customer bills. The proposal includes investments in energy storage, smart meters and EV infrastructure, but its largest component by far is energy efficiency. The utility wants to invest $2.8 billion in efficiency, including customer rebates and other incentives, with a special focus on customer groups which have traditionally been underserved.
Smart meters are helping to transform the electric grid, but the enormous amounts of data generated by the technology could be better leveraged by utilities in order to provide more customized energy solutions for customers. SECC asked 1,698 U.S. consumers what they want from their smart meters, and their answers detailed in a new report can help electric utilities gain insight into how best to engage their customers.
Tendril has introduced a new platform to help utilities manage residential load, which the company says can analyze hundreds of thousands of data points to improve everything from customer segmentation to system planning. Tendril Home Energy Analytics is a utility-facing, web-based software application and will join an array of other residential-focused demand management programs, products and systems that residential users are embracing in order to control their energy use and monthly bills.
During this week’s Itron Utility Week (IUW) event in Scottsdale, Arizona, the company unveiled its fourth “Resourcefulness Report”, which measures how informed consumers (defined as energy consumers who think about their utility bill) and utility executives view how well their utility is wisely and carefully using water and energy resources. Vice President, Global Marketing and Public Affairs, Marina Donavan, presented three of the report’s key findings in the opening keynote for IUW.
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Industry News
The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) on Thursday issued an order approving compensation for 1,600 MW of new solar projects, launching an eagerly-awaited incentive program just as the state's market was showing signs of weakness. Regulators say the SMART program, which will be administered by the Department of Energy Resources, will save ratepayers an estimated $4.7 billion over current programs.
DOE has issued a $5.8 million funding opportunity for research and development of “advanced tools and controls” to improve the resilience and reliability of the nation’s power grid. The Transmission Reliability Program part of DOE’s Office of Electricity is looking for applications that use big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning technology and other tools to derive more value from the sensor data already being gathered and used to monitor the health of the grid and support system operations.
The man who keeps the electrons flowing inside one of Austria’s oldest power plants is actually often caught off guard when its turbines thrum to life with the thumping baritone of a giant washing machine. The Kaprun hydroelectric station may be 70 years old, but Helmut Biberger’s job is to ensure it can handle the rapid swings in modern electricity markets.
The New York Power Authority on Oct. 2 unveiled plans to establish a new 20-megawatt battery project in Northern New York that will demonstrate the operation of a large-scale energy storage system. NYPA noted that the first-of-its kind project supports New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s commitment to combat climate change and grow the energy storage sector.
