August 25, 2010

Juggling four bowling pins is difficult enough, even for the polished entertainer.

But add four more pins to the mix, then light one or two on fire, and you might grasp a clearer understanding of the daunting demands facing California's investor-owned utilities as they navigate toward the smart grid of the next decade.

"If you look at all of the policies and directives, 2020 is a really important year for us," said Mike Montoya, director of grid advancement at Southern California Edison (SCE). "We're going to have to do a lot of things differently than we are today. It's going to be a challenge."

August 23, 2010

Hydropower may be green energy's forgotten cousin. But industry representatives are keen to push it hard now that the U.S. Congress is grappling with energy legislation. They say that hydro holds great potential, noting that despite being an emissions-free source only 3 percent of 79,000 U.S. dams are capable of producing such energy.

Producing electricity from dams is one way to increase the hydro sector's prominence. Generating power from smaller hydro units is another way. Such facilities are less disruptive environmentally but useful in supplying electricity to remote areas. All told, researchers say that almost 60 percent of the nation's water energy resources are potentially available for development using new technologies.

August 20, 2010

Efforts to enact legislation that would limit carbon emissions have seemingly stalled. So it would appear that new standards to make the transmission wires more amenable to transporting green electrons are untimely. But those who are in charge of ensuring the dependency of the electric grid say that such measures are vital.

The essence of the argument presented by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. is that climate change initiatives are ongoing and that utilities are already incorporating those standards into their business plans. As such, if greenhouse gas emissions are to be cut, then it would require those power companies to diversify their generation portfolios and to offer more sustainable energy.

Below are a few letters received at EnergyBiz Insider on topics that appeared in the past few weeks. They capture the essence of how many readers say they feel.

________________________________________

August 18, 2010

The renewable movement has gotten the green light. Now it's a matter of crafting the right policies to ensure that projects get built in a cost-effective and consumer-friendly way. Californians think they have the answer.

After getting tested by their domestic utilities, the California Public Utility Commission has come up with a "marketplace tariff" that fits with national laws. Basically, California's utilities have to buy green energy to meet the states renewable portfolio standards. But they don't have to do it at state-controlled prices. Instead, producers will bid into a system -- one that requires those utilities to buy at the lowest cost.