Public power utilities and the electric grid must evolve with global trends, says Kelly
By Susan Partain
APPA Senior Editor and Content Strategist
Posted on June 19, 2018
Kicking off the American Public Power Association’s National Conference in New Orleans, La. on June 18, Sue Kelly, president and CEO of the Association, urged public power utilities to heed three global trends to consider how to serve customers in the future.
Megatrends electric utilities must deal with NOW
By Susan Partain
APPA Senior Editor and Content Strategist
Posted on June 19, 2018
Chunka Mui is a futurist, innovation advisor, and author. His book, Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance, is a New York Times bestseller. Public Power Daily interviewed Chunka in advance of his presentation Tuesday, June 19 on Unleashing Six Megatrends of the Next Decade to public power leaders at the National Conference in New Orleans.
What qualifies a technology as a megatrend, as opposed to a technology that just gets widely adopted?
A megatrend is something that creates a large gap in capability. When technology improves to the point that it creates a whole enormous amount of capability that is very different from the capabilities utilized today. Essentially, you have a large gap that separates what people are doing now from what’s possible.
NV Energy solar PPAs include prices below $30/MWh
By Peter Maloney
APPA Author
Posted on June 18, 2018
NV Energy in a joint filing for its Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific Power subsidiaries is seeking approval of six solar power purchase agreements with some of the lowest prices seen to date.
WAPA submits request to SPP for reliability coordinator services
By Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
Posted on June 15, 2018
The Western Area Power Administration on June 11 submitted a formal request to the Southwest Power Pool for reliability coordinator services for two WAPA balancing authorities.
RFI will seek renewable energy project price estimates for cities
By Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
Posted on June 15, 2018
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh on June 7 unveiled plans to issue a request for information for competitive pricing of large-scale renewable energy projects.
Cyber risks are real but not hard to manage
By Meena Dayak, Nathan Mitchell
APPA Authors
Posted on June 14, 2018
Michael Daniel, Cybersecurity Advisor to President Obama (2012 - 2016) and President, Cyber Threat Alliance, will address public power leaders at the National Conference in New Orleans on Monday, June 18 (2:45 to 4 pm CDT) on How Cybersecurity Is Redefining Our World. Public Power Daily interviewed Daniel in advance of his keynote.
Given current world events, what is the real potential for a cyber attack on any of our critical infrastructure, and on the electric grid in particular?
The threat is very real and evolving. Nation states are beginning to incorporate offensive cyber capabilities into their toolboxes. The likelihood of an attack is increasing. If you look at what happened in Ukraine, there has certainly been some experimenting with what those capabilities can do. If you are the owner and operator of a critical infrastructure system — power, natural gas, healthcare, transport, etc. — you should be paying attention.
Utilities enter first credit facilities tied to renewable energy
By Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
Posted on June 14, 2018
Michigan-based CMS Energy and its and its primary subsidiary, Consumers Energy, have entered what they said is the first syndicated sustainability-linked revolving credit facilities for a U.S. borrower.
Lawmakers hear concerns on transmission planning from TAPS, others
By Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
Posted on June 13, 2018
Lawmakers at a recent hearing on Capitol Hill heard from several power industry participants, including John Twitty, executive director of the Transmission Access Policy Study Group (TAPS), who detailed concerns they have about the current environment for transmission planning.
No need for FERC to alter approach to setting ROEs, coalition says
By Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
Posted on June 13, 2018
Rebutting assertions made in a whitepaper published by the Edison Electric Institute, a coalition of entities representing consumer interests argues that there is no need to alter the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approach to setting the return on equity component of electric transmission rates through the use of a two-step discounted cash flow, or DCF, method.
Project at NYPA will test new lithium-ion technology
By Peter Maloney
APPA Author
Posted on June 12, 2018
Cadenza Innovation was awarded $1 million in funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for a project that will demonstrate a behind-the-meter energy storage system using an innovation in lithium-ion battery technology.