The future of electric utilities – change and disruption ahead
The utilities industry has typically been change averse, and often for good reasons, but with the technological advances of the past few years, the low carbon imperative, and pressure from customers, utilities are going to have to figure out how to disrupt their business, or they will themselves be disrupted. I gave the opening keynote […]
What do we do in a world where energy is in abundance?
The cost of solar power is falling in direct relation to the amount of solar power modules being produced. With no end in sight to this price reduction, we should soon be in a world where energy is in abundance. Moore’s Law, the law that says the number of transistors in computers doubles every two […]
Here comes the sun… IBM and solar forecasting
For decades now electricity grids have been architected in the same way with large centralised generation facilities pumping out electricity to large numbers of distributed consumers. Generation has been controlled, and predictable. This model is breaking down fast. In the last decade we have seen a massive upsurge in the amount of renewable generation making […]
SunSpec Alliance setting standards for the solar industry
Photo credit Tom Raftery (Me!)
Sunspec.org is an alliance of renewable industry companies whose aim is to define communication standards data monitoring for the solar power industry.
Up until now there haven’t been any standards agreed around data communication in the solar power industry which added huge cost and complexity to the monitoring and management of […]
Is there really any need for baseload power?
Photo credit wonderferret The electricity grid may not need “baseload” generation sources like coal and nuclear to backup the variability of supply from renewables. Jon Wellinghof is the Chairman of the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC is an independent agency that amongst other things, regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and […]
DIY Solar
I’ve been thinking about installing a solar system on our home but the costs, even with tax incentives, are pretty significant when you take into account the rate at which you will pay back the original investment. While we have no intention of selling our home in the near future, it could happen and I’m […]
The Coming Green Sprawl
As the U.S. moves to energy policy that emphasizes renewable energy development, we would be wise to consider the impacts on land use and agriculture policy as well as recognize that the relationship between state and federal governments cannot and should not be trampled in process.
