October 8
Itron Report Highlights Growing Need for Resilience Planning
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Itron this week released its 2021 Resourcefulness Insight Report detailing why modernizing energy infrastructure is the path to achieving a resilient and reliable grid that successfully mitigates the impacts of climate disruption, minimizes interruptions from natural disasters, integrates renewables and prepares for the increased adoption of electric vehicles.
Paula Gold-Williams, President and CEO of San Antonio, Texas-based CPS Energy, has been named as a new member of the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board (SEAB). The members of the SEAB are appointed for a two-year term and represent academic institutions, nuclear security experts, labor unions, utility companies, energy equipment manufacturers, low-income consumers and non-governmental organizations.
National Grid is looking to recruit as many as 50 grocery stores in Rhode Island and Massachusetts to test an artificial intelligence software platform designed to lower their refrigeration energy use during peak demand periods, thereby reducing their costs and easing stress on the electrical grid.
Danish energy company Ørsted has completed a 227 MW solar project in Alabama for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The Muscle Shoals photovoltaic solar project in Colbert County has a long-term power purchase agreement with TVA. The project will support the sustainability goals of Facebook’s data center in Huntsville, Alabama that just started operations. TVA’s Green Invest program is available to businesses and local power companies in TVA’s territory.
Google Nest’s smart thermostats are already saving energy for millions of U.S. households and helping to maintain the stability of the nation’s power grids as they incorporate more renewables. Soon the thermostats will be able to buy clean energy for their owners as well. That’s the idea behind Nest Renew, a multifaceted offering the company unveiled on Wednesday.
Massachusetts has found early success with its behind-the-meter energy storage incentive program. The ConnectedSolutions program compensates residential and commercial customers for allowing utilities to draw from energy from their grid-connected batteries and/or to curtail energy use via smart thermostats or electric vehicle charging at times of peak electric demand.
The governors of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at accelerating vehicle electrification in the Midwest. The Regional Electric Vehicle for the Midwest Memorandum of Understanding (REV Midwest MOU) provides a foundation for cooperation on fleet electrification along key commercial corridors.
Avista Utilities filed a Clean Energy Implementation Plan (CEIP) with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission – the first utility in the state to do so. The CEIP is a road map of actions the company will take for the next four years 2025 to show the progress it has made toward clean energy goals established by the state’s Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA).