For this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, host John Farrell and CEO of OhmConnect Cisco DeVries discuss demand response and the 550 megawatt Resi-Station “virtual power plant.”… Read More
For this episode of the Local Energy Rules podcast, host John Farrell and Vote Solar’s Thad Culley discuss a net metering settlement underway in the Carolinas: a compromise benefitting the utility, customer-generators, and the electric grid.… Read More
With financial rewards tied to building big, utilities overlook distributed energy resources like rooftop solar. This essay, written to advise utility regulators in Michigan, has implications for utility resource planning nationwide.… Read More
In November 2015, Jon Wellinghoff, former chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, spoke to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission about the grid of the future. In particular, he addressed the issue of giving customers meaningful choices within a monopoly grid model, present in Minnesota and 34 other states. In the following video, he outlines the … Read More
Unfortunately for utilities, new technology and commercial opportunities in the coming years will only increase the threat to the 1.0 business model. Solar energy is growing exponentially as costs have fallen 28% per year from 2009-2013, and electricity from rooftops is approaching or passing parity with utility prices.63 This is the third of four parts of ILSR’s … Read More
This week in democratic energy, media reports discussed everything from net metering to the installation of a solar photovoltaic system in a New York county jail. Elisa Woods of GreenBiz reports that New Hampshire may be the next state to adopt electric grid modernization, including microgrids, to increase grid resiliency and economic efficiency: “The advisory agency … Read More
