Electric Utility
June 5, 2019
Electric Vehicles are not air conditioners and why their load can’t be viewed the same way
Electric vehicles are not just another appliance on the horizon that will consume more energy. They can generate more demand than a house, their demand moves and their potential adoption rate is still unclear. What makes these challenges even more difficult for someone managing load is that there isn’t one standalone solution that will work for everyone. Every service territory is going to have[…]
November 21, 2018
Sustainability in the Electric Utility Industry; How Electric Companies Can Become Sustainable
Electric utility companies have generally been slow to adopt sustainable practices. In part, this is because their traditional business models have been firmly cemented in producing electricity, and completing capital projects to expand infrastructure. However, these models are now proving to be outdated and unsustainable, threatening to pull them into a downward spiral. What has led this to be the case, what are the[…]
October 31, 2018
How electric vehicles could be used to future-proof Floridas grid for extreme weather
Florida has witnessed an increase in extreme weather events as a result of the changing climate. When Hurricane Irma hit in September 2017, about 5.8 million homes and businesses were left without power, its residents staying in darkness and tropical heat with no air-conditioning, indoor temperatures reached the mid-90s. In some cases, it took twelve days before the power was fully restored. Managing power outages is[…]
August 20, 2018
How utilities can encourage electric vehicle adoption in their territory
Falling demand for electricity threatens utilities Since steam ceded its position as the main provider of mechanical power to electricity in the early 1900s, there has been one stable relationship; as a country’s output and economy has grown, so too has its consumption of electricity. Thanks to the electrification of factories, by the 1920s, American manufacturing productivity soared to far greater heights than ever[…]
June 6, 2018
Are EV fleets the answer to controllable loads and grid efficiency?
The adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is set to grow exponentially. Primarily driven by the reduction in cost compared to the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) counterparts and generous government incentives to encourage users to switch to EVs. However, increasing the EV fleet puts pressure on global electricity demand. EVs operate via a battery that requires electricity to run. Therefore, the more EVs on the[…]
May 2, 2018
Energy market schemes – how utilities make money from trading electricity
In the past, electric utilities were what economist would call natural monopolies, dominating all parts of the value chain from electricity production to retail supply. Energy service providers buy from a third party and sell electricity to individual households. While, energy marketers trade future contracts that enable power-hungry businesses to secure power at a fixed price, all of which has supported strong utility balance[…]
April 11, 2018
A look at which US utility companies are running EV programs
Electric vehicles are increasing in popularity. But is the electrical utility grid ready to adapt? By 2020, the EV market is expected to reach 3.8 billion. The prices are dropping, which will accelerate the adoption of the new type of vehicles even further. However, this raises some problems: How are utilities going to prepare for taking the extra load? What will happen during the[…]
February 26, 2018
The benefits of electric vehicle adoption for electric power utilities and distributors
Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) consume electricity. But when in a discharge mode, they can also export stored power back to the grid. The vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging services can be used during peak times when demand for power is the greatest, saving the grid from overload. By using electric vehicles as mobile energy storage units, utilities can potentially avoid costly infrastructure upgrades, such as building new power plants. Electric[…]
February 12, 2018
How are innovative utilities securing our nations electrical grid
A number of threats to our nations electrical grid are in desperate need of an answer. Current threats are not solely from wartime risks such as cyber attacks, an EMP weapon or conventional weapons. Other threats to the grid may come from natural disasters or solar flares. Some risks that our grid is facing come from the growth of the grid itself, service reliability and matching generation to supply are also concerns. Public and[…]
February 5, 2018
How clean is the electricity used for charging electric cars?
The focus of electrifying mobility is the zero carbon emissions created from the operation. However, understanding the total emissions produced from an electric vehicle (EV) lifecycle is somewhat minor. Transportation accounts for 14% of global emissions, according to the EPA. Warranted this does include road, rail, and marine transport, nonetheless, remains substantial and set to double by 2050. The Paris Climate Accord calls for[…]
