Smart Power Anniversary Edition
Smart Power Anniversary Edition

Author: Peter Fox-Penner

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2014-09-16

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781610915892

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Few industries in the U.S. are as stuck in the past as our utilities are. In the face of growing challenges from climate change and the need for energy security, a system and a business model that each took more than a century to evolve must now be extensively retooled in the span of a few decades. Despite the need, many of the technologies and institutions needed are still being designed or tested. It is like rebuilding our entire airplane fleet, along with our runways and air traffic control system, while the planes are all up in the air filled with passengers. In this accessible and insightful book, Peter Fox-Penner considers how utilities interact with customers and how the Smart Grid could revolutionize their relationship. Turning to the supply side, he considers the costs of, and tradeoffs between, large-scale power sources such as coal plants and small-scale power sources close to customers. Finally, he looks at how utilities can respond to all of these challenges and remain viable, while financing hundreds of billions of dollars of investment without much of an increase in sales. Upon publication, Smart Power was praised as an instant classic on the future of energy utilities. This Anniversary Edition includes up-to-date assessments of the industry by such leading energy experts as Daniel Estes and Jim Rogers, as well as a new afterword from the author. Anyone who is interested in our energy future will appreciate the clear explanations and the in-depth analysis it offers.

Future of Utilities - Utilities of the Future
Future of Utilities - Utilities of the Future

Author: Fereidoon Sioshansi

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2016-03-15

Total Pages: 494

ISBN-13: 0128043202

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Future of Utilities - Utilities of the Future: How technological innovations in distributed generation will reshape the electric power sector relates the latest information on the electric power sector its rapid transformation, particularly on the distribution network and customer side. Trends like the rapid rise of self-generation and distributed generation, microgrids, demand response, the dissemination of electric vehicles and zero-net energy buildings that promise to turn many consumers into prosumers are discussed. The book brings together authors from industry and academic backgrounds to present their original, cutting-edge and thought-provoking ideas on the challenges currently faced by electric utilities around the globe, the opportunities they present, and what the future might hold for both traditional players and new entrants to the sector. The book's first part lays out the present scenario, with concepts such as an integrated grid, microgrids, self-generation, customer-centric service, and pricing, while the second part focuses on how innovation, policy, regulation, and pricing models may come together to form a new electrical sector, exploring the reconfiguring of the current institutions, new rates design in light of changes to retail electricity markets and energy efficiency, and the cost and benefits of integration of distributed or intermittent generation, including coupling local renewable energy generation with electric vehicle fleets. The final section projects the future function and role of existing electrical utilities and newcomers to this sector, looking at new pathways for business and pricing models, consumer relations, technology, and innovation. - Contains discussions that help readers understand the underlying causes and drivers of change in the electrical sector, and what these changes mean in financial, operational, and regulatory terms - Provides thought-provoking ideas on the challenges currently faced by electric utilities around the globe, the opportunities they present, and what the future might hold for both traditional players and new entrants to the sector - Helps readers anticipate what developments are likely to define the function and role of the utility of the future

Electric Utility Resource Planning
Electric Utility Resource Planning

Author: Joe Ferrari

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2020-09-25

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0128198737

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Electric Utility Resource Planning: Past, Present and Future covers the balance of renewable costs, energy storage, and flexible backstop mechanisms needed in electric utility resource planning. In addition, it covers the optimization of planning methodologies and market design. The book argues that net load, ramping and volatility concerns associated with renewables call into question the validity of almost a century of planning approaches. Finally, it suggests that accounting for flexibility helps optimize the efficiency of the entire fleet of assets, minimizing costs and CO2 generation simultaneously, concluding that a flexible, independent backstop mechanism is needed, regardless of renewables or storage. Case studies provide a mix of hypothetical "what if" scenarios and analyses of real-life utility portfolios drawn from international examples. Examines how resource planners and policy specialists can plan to incorporate renewable generation technologies, thus uniting considerations of technology, methodology, business and policy Focuses on the reality of long-term decision-making and planning processes in working utilities Reviews novel approaches towards resource planning that yield lower costs and CO2 Emphasizes the need for flexible backstop mechanisms to maintain reliability

Electrify
Electrify

Author: Saul Griffith

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2021-10-12

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 0262046237

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An optimistic--but realistic and feasible--action plan for fighting climate change while creating new jobs and a healthier environment: electrify everything. Climate change is a planetary emergency. We have to do something now—but what? Saul Griffith has a plan. In Electrify, Griffith lays out a detailed blueprint—optimistic but feasible—for fighting climate change while creating millions of new jobs and a healthier environment. Griffith’s plan can be summed up simply: electrify everything. He explains exactly what it would take to transform our infrastructure, update our grid, and adapt our households to make this possible. Billionaires may contemplate escaping our worn-out planet on a private rocket ship to Mars, but the rest of us, Griffith says, will stay and fight for the future. Griffith, an engineer and inventor, calls for grid neutrality, ensuring that households, businesses, and utilities operate as equals; we will have to rewrite regulations that were created for a fossil-fueled world, mobilize industry as we did in World War II, and offer low-interest “climate loans.” Griffith’s plan doesn’t rely on big, not-yet-invented innovations, but on thousands of little inventions and cost reductions. We can still have our cars and our houses—but the cars will be electric and solar panels will cover our roofs. For a world trying to bounce back from a pandemic and economic crisis, there is no other project that would create as many jobs—up to twenty-five million, according to one economic analysis. Is this politically possible? We can change politics along with everything else.

Lessons in Business Model Transformation
Lessons in Business Model Transformation

Author: John Manshreck

Publisher:

Published: 2021-10-25

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 9783110713947

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Following a historic look at the dominant business models of the utilities industry, we look at the factors impacting the industry today, "the three D's: decentralization, decarbonization and digitization". Decentralization describes what is happening, decarbonization describes why, and digitization helps explain how. To this, we add a fourth D: financial decline. After considering the impact of these factors, we look to the future. The book examines business model transformation through the study of an industry at the center of today's efforts to combat climate change: electrical utilities. When change comes to be the dominant business model of a mature industry, the pattern of change often occurs in recognizable ways. Often, radical change will occur in one element of an industry's business model, forcing a period of disruption, followed by innovation in other aspects of the business model as it adjusts to the new competitive environment. Following a historic look at the dominant utility business models and how we got to where we are, we look at how technology and climate change are impacting the industry today and "the three D's: decentralization, decarbonization and digitization". Although clichéd, the term is a useful framework to describe the big drivers of change moving through the industry. Decentralization describes what is happening, decarbonization describes why, and digitization helps explain how. To this, we add a fourth phenomenon striking at the financial stability of many utilities: financial decline. After considering the impact of these factors, we look to the future. Part 1 introduces the concept of business model transformation in mature firms. Part 2 describes the history of utility business model transformation from the 1880's. Part 3 illustrates stresses of decarbonization and technology on today's utility model. Part 4 describes the roadblocks to change encountered by mature firms, and strategies to bypass them. The basis of this book is research completed for a Doctoral dissertation completed and defended in 2019.

Enhancing the Resilience of the Nation's Electricity System
Enhancing the Resilience of the Nation's Electricity System

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-10-25

Total Pages: 171

ISBN-13: 0309463076

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Americans' safety, productivity, comfort, and convenience depend on the reliable supply of electric power. The electric power system is a complex "cyber-physical" system composed of a network of millions of components spread out across the continent. These components are owned, operated, and regulated by thousands of different entities. Power system operators work hard to assure safe and reliable service, but large outages occasionally happen. Given the nature of the system, there is simply no way that outages can be completely avoided, no matter how much time and money is devoted to such an effort. The system's reliability and resilience can be improved but never made perfect. Thus, system owners, operators, and regulators must prioritize their investments based on potential benefits. Enhancing the Resilience of the Nation's Electricity System focuses on identifying, developing, and implementing strategies to increase the power system's resilience in the face of events that can cause large-area, long-duration outages: blackouts that extend over multiple service areas and last several days or longer. Resilience is not just about lessening the likelihood that these outages will occur. It is also about limiting the scope and impact of outages when they do occur, restoring power rapidly afterwards, and learning from these experiences to better deal with events in the future.

Understanding Electric Utilities and De-Regulation
Understanding Electric Utilities and De-Regulation

Author: H. Lee Willis

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2018-10-03

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13: 142002826X

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Power interruptions of the scale of the North American Blackout of 2003 are rare, but they still loom as a possibility. Will the aging infrastructure fail because deregulated monopolies have no financial incentives to upgrade? Is centralized planning becoming subordinate to market forces? Understanding Electric Utilities and De-Regulation, Second Edition provides an updated, non-technical description that sheds light on the nature of the industry and the issues involved in its transition away from a regulated environment. The book begins by broadly surveying the industry, from a regulated utility structure to the major concepts of de-regulation to the history of electricity, the technical aspects, and the business of power. Then, the authors delve into the technologies and functions on which the industry operates; the many ways that power is used; and the various means of power generation, including central generating stations, renewable energy, and single-household size generators. The authors then devote considerable attention to the details of regulation and de-regulation. To conclude, one new chapter examines aging infrastructures and reliability of service, while another explores the causes of blackouts and how they can be prevented. Based on the authors' extensive experience, Understanding Electric Utilities and De-Regulation, Second Edition offers an up-to-date perspective on the major issues impacting the daily operations as well as the long-term future of the electric utilities industry.

Electricity Supply Systems of the Future
Electricity Supply Systems of the Future

Author: Nikos Hatziargyriou

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2020-08-07

Total Pages: 657

ISBN-13: 9783030444839

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This book offers a vision of the future of electricity supply systems and CIGRɒs views on the know-how that will be needed to manage the transition toward them. A variety of factors are driving a transition of electricity supply systems to new supply models, in particular the increasing use of renewable sources, environmental factors and developments in ICT technologies. These factors suggest that there are two possible models for power network development, and that those models are not necessarily exclusive: 1. An increasing importance of large networks for bulk transmission capable of interconnecting load regions and large centralized renewable generation resources, including offshore and of providing more interconnections between the various countries and energy markets. 2. An emergence of clusters of small, largely self-contained distribution networks, which include decentralized local generation, energy storage and active customer participation, intelligently managed so that they operate as active networks providing local active and reactive support. The electricity supply systems of the future will likely include a combination of the above two models, since additional bulk connections and active distribution networks are needed in order to reach ambitious environmental, economic and security-reliability targets. This concise yet comprehensive reference resource on technological developments for future electrical systems has been written and reviewed by experts and the chairs of the sixteen Study Committees that form the Technical Council of CIGRE.

Electric Utility Resource Planning
Electric Utility Resource Planning

Author: Steven Sim

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2011-12-15

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1439884072

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Most people—including many legislators, regulators, and other decision makers in the electric utility industry—have misconceptions about how electric utilities really "work" and plan for the future. This lack of understanding can lead to poorly informed decisions and policies that directly affect the choices utilities must make. Using easy-to-understand text and examples, Electric Utility Resource Planning: Economics, Reliability, and Decision-Making clarifies how utilities operate their systems and prepare for the future. This explanation will show readers that both expected and counterintuitive results can occur (i.e., conservation might result in higher air emissions, or lowering costs could lead to higher electric rates). Taking readers step by step through this process, the book (in the following order): "Creates" a hypothetical utility Explains how and why a utility operates its system of generating units Discusses the planning methods that a utility would (or should) use Guides readers through each stage of a planning analysis for the hypothetical utility, examining various resource options (conservation, new power plants, and solar) In addition, the author introduces four Fundamental Principles of Resource Planning that should guide utilities. He also offers opinions on how certain trends in utility regulation and legislation can hinder utility planners’ efforts to identify and select the best resources for the utility’s customers. With this book, author Dr. Steven Sim applies his experience and insights from more than two decades of resource planning for Florida Power and Light (FPL). As one of the largest utilities in the United States, FPL has faced a multitude of resource planning challenges, and Dr. Sim has performed and supervised thousands of analyses designed to meet these obstacles. He has also served as an FPL witness in regulatory hearings on a wide variety of topics, ranging from the economic implications of nuclear, conservation, coal, gas, and other resource options, to the non-economic impacts (air emissions, fuel usage, system reliability, etc.) they present.

The Power of Change
The Power of Change

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2016-09-30

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 0309371422

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Electricity, supplied reliably and affordably, is foundational to the U.S. economy and is utterly indispensable to modern society. However, emissions resulting from many forms of electricity generation create environmental risks that could have significant negative economic, security, and human health consequences. Large-scale installation of cleaner power generation has been generally hampered because greener technologies are more expensive than the technologies that currently produce most of our power. Rather than trade affordability and reliability for low emissions, is there a way to balance all three? The Power of Change: Innovation for Development and Deployment of Increasingly Clean Energy Technologies considers how to speed up innovations that would dramatically improve the performance and lower the cost of currently available technologies while also developing new advanced cleaner energy technologies. According to this report, there is an opportunity for the United States to continue to lead in the pursuit of increasingly clean, more efficient electricity through innovation in advanced technologies. The Power of Change: Innovation for Development and Deployment of Increasingly Clean Energy Technologies makes the case that America's advantagesâ€"world-class universities and national laboratories, a vibrant private sector, and innovative states, cities, and regions that are free to experiment with a variety of public policy approachesâ€"position the United States to create and lead a new clean energy revolution. This study focuses on five paths to accelerate the market adoption of increasing clean energy and efficiency technologies: (1) expanding the portfolio of cleaner energy technology options; (2) leveraging the advantages of energy efficiency; (3) facilitating the development of increasing clean technologies, including renewables, nuclear, and cleaner fossil; (4) improving the existing technologies, systems, and infrastructure; and (5) leveling the playing field for cleaner energy technologies. The Power of Change: Innovation for Development and Deployment of Increasingly Clean Energy Technologies is a call for leadership to transform the United States energy sector in order to both mitigate the risks of greenhouse gas and other pollutants and to spur future economic growth. This study's focus on science, technology, and economic policy makes it a valuable resource to guide support that produces innovation to meet energy challenges now and for the future.