September 28, 2009

Global leaders have wrapped up their presentations to the United Nations. But the question before their respective constituencies is whether the fanfare that they created will carry forward.

While the UN's global warming experts are all pushing hard to force countries to tackle the reduction of heat-trapping emissions head on, the reality is that key countries are becoming ensnared in their own domestic issues. It likely means that the upcoming talks to take place in Copenhagen in December will result in a launch pad for more serious discussions to occur later as opposed to a time and place where the world made hard and firm commitments to resolve the matter.

September 25, 2009

The hype surrounding the intelligent utility is getting heaped onto consumers and regulators. But the real question is whether the technology will bear fruit or whether it will result in broken promises.

Grid modernization has long been the goal of utility techies. Such pursuits, though, will vary and can range from installing software so that system operators can detect outages before they would spread to beefing up the meters that reach directly into homes where they can signal consumers to curb usage. The early readings on most smart grid projects is that they have the ability to bring substantial benefits but at prohibitive costs.

September 23, 2009

Wisconsin's largest electric utility says that it will ask permission to build a 50-megawatt wood-burning power plant that would go into operation in 2013. It is part of the state's renewable energy mandate and it would be the third such biomass facility announced there this year in what could become a trend in certain regions.

Wood-burning power plants have some key advantages over types of renewable energy programs and namely that such generators are not subject to the whims of the weather -- that they can remain running as long as the wood gets shoveled into the furnace. And in many parts of the nation, such agricultural products are abundant.

September 21, 2009

It's taken five years. But the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin has given approval to American Transmission Co. to build a new 32-mile high voltage transmission line that will link two towns within the state and which will be complete by 2013. While obscure to most of the nation, the $215 million project may represent a gradual shift in how transmission is owned and permitted.

The demand for energy is expected to keep climbing and contributing value to most power facilities. In states that have restructured their electricity markets, that energy can be sold at market rates, giving well-run facilities the chance to earn superior returns. Transmission systems, however, will continue to be regulated, perhaps making the investments less attractive to certain utilities and more appealing to third party transmission owners.

September 18, 2009

The regulatory and financial maze surrounding the construction of new nuclear plants might be circumvented if some developers are able to commercialize smaller, less controversial reactors. Such efficient units could be built and shipped at a fraction of the time and money than the much bigger base-load facilities.

The focus is now on right-sized reactors that are typically between 100 megawatts and 300 megawatts. They would be mostly marketed to developing nations where the transmission grids cannot handle the larger, 1,000-3,000 megawatt systems. And while the concept may sound appealing, researchers must still prove that idea is doable. Once the projects are shown to be feasible, developers can then take the various components of the smaller facilities and use them to form base-load plants.