With a major heat wave bearing down on California, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has declared a statewide Flex Alert, under which consumers are urged to reduce their energy usage, from today through Aug. 12. via Renew Grid: CAISO Declares Weekend Flex Alert Throughout California.
Washington, America’s power center, recently experienced life without power—the kind that gets generated, not the kind that gets wielded. After a nasty storm knocked out the Beltway’s electricity for days during a heat wave, power brokers of the political type complained: Didn’t President Obama promise a smarter, more reliable grid? Yes, he did. And the Continue reading →
Recent power outages across the East Coast, some lasting more than a week during the height of a debilitating heat wave, have exposed the soft underbelly of the North American electrical grid. Old Gray Mare, she ain’t what she used to be, and it’s going to take oodles of money to give her a much-needed Continue reading →
For one hundred plus years, our grid and the utilities that operate it have worked like a loyal plow horse, getting the job done, even as we hardly noticed the tremendous value they created and maintained daily. Sure, occasionally we’d suffer an outage, but we could always count on the lights coming back on in Continue reading →
Last week, a powerful “derecho” storm hammered the mid-Atlantic region, snuffing out power during the peak of a sweltering heat wave for nearly a week in some homes. Days later, our science correspondent Miles O’Brien traveled to Austin, Tex. to look at a neighborhood that operates on a smart grid. That means it’s much less Continue reading →
A large portion of the U.S. has been blanketed by a heat wave that has brought record-setting temperatures, and to make matters worse, the effects of a previous storm have left thousands across the country without power. According to the Globe and Mail, more than 300,000 houses and businesses lost power in Michigan after one Continue reading →
It’s all over the news – power lines wiped out by fallen trees, massive outages, no air conditioning and a record heat wave. There were plenty of smart meters that notified local utilities that they were losing power but that didn’t help much. The problem is not lack of digitized, smart grid-able information. The problem Continue reading →
In 2003, America had one of our worst electricity blackouts ever. The outages reached into Canada and affected an estimated 45 million people in the northeastern United States. Now, some parts of the United States are facing the same thing. A recent spat of severe storms and a daunting heat wave have rolled through the mid-Atlantic region Continue reading →
The future of energy and the Smart Grid is dependent on smarter buildings that use disruptive technologies such as energy storage and building automation to be more efficient. Demand on our power grid continues to rise. Last summer, the East Coast experienced a massive heat wave that set record high temperatures in multiple states and Continue reading →
Demand on our power grid continues to rise. Last summer, the East Coast experienced a massive heat wave that set record high temperatures in multiple states and caused over thirty heat-related deaths. Record high temperatures naturally led to increased use of air-conditioning, and a major strain on utilities up and down the Atlantic Coast. The Continue reading →
A 7.0 earthquake rocks the west coast. A category 5 hurricane hits the south. A sweltering record heat wave melts the plains states. Paralyzing snowstorms slam the northeast. During the recovery, electricity is down, natural gas stops flowing, and the nation’s energy system is severely strained. Rapid reallocation of energy resources is critical in these Continue reading →
Two of the four Texas power plants that are being brought out of mothballs to handle the state’s record-breaking summer electric demand are online today, ready to backstop a grid that was stretched nearly to its breaking point this month. via Fuel Fix » Help for Texas power grid comes online.
I live in Dallas, TX, and it’s been hot this year — scorching hot — not unlike many other cities across the U.S. As people crank up their air conditioners in attempt to find relief, the utility’s solution for preventing rolling blackouts has been a simple request to customers: “please turn off your electronics.” Good Continue reading →
As this summer’s sizzling heat shatters records across the U.S., consumers may find that their energy bills are even higher than the temperature. There seems to be no relief in sight for the heat, but now people can manage their energy usage smarter and better to ease the pressure on their wallets. via Smarter Energy: Continue reading →
Comverge, Inc. COMV -11.77% , a leading provider of Intelligent Energy Management solutions for Residential and Commercial + Industrial customers, today announced it has helped local utilities and grid operators in Texas minimize the impact of an extreme heat wave that has placed record breaking demand on the electricity grid. With almost 40 consecutive days Continue reading →
Hot summers are certainly not novel in Texas, but for the electric grid, the triple digits recently pushed capacity to new levels. Texas’ power grid set record level power use for three consecutive days last week. The high demand topped off at 68,294 megawatts on Wednesday. The near-peak electricity use continued through the end of Continue reading →
Record high temperatures and months of drought in Texas have driven peak demand for electricity, setting the stage for NI Week’s Industry Experts Panel. With temperatures of 106 degrees, not only did the first week of August break records for Austin, TX, home of automation and instrumentation vendor National Instruments, but local demand for electricity Continue reading →
As blistering heat bakes the United States this month, it has been megawatts and “negawatts” to the rescue. Power generation plants of all sorts have been able to keep air conditioners running. But last Friday, under the assault of a record heat wave, they were helped by demand response programs that were activated to raise Continue reading →
With record-setting heat roiling the U.S. this summer, air conditioners are working overtime to keep everyone cool. That spike in electricity demand can overwhelm “the grid:” the wires, transformers, meters, power plants and everything in between. But thanks to ongoing innovations in wireless communications and power systems structure, the grid is getting better at handling Continue reading →
A record-breaking heat wave is causing record-breaking electricity demand in several parts of the country. Those utilities with demand response capabilities are seeing them put to the test for real. For instance, the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO) is proposing a permanent approach for demand response for sustained periods of high demand. via Smart Continue reading →
