The Word of the Day – Blackout
Utility companies in the United States are good at their job – so good that Americans can largely take for granted that, when they flip a switch, their lights will come on. But, if extensive investments are not made over the coming decade, the nation might soon use “blackout” as its mot du jor. If one lived in a different country – for example, India or El Salvador – an assumption of... Read More
California Jail Transformed into Modern Microgrid
The Santa Rita jail can’t afford to lose power. With the safety of thousands of inmates and facility staff at stake, the jail requires that large amounts of electricity be constantly available. This is why, over the past decade, the facility has teamed up with private and public organizations to successfully transform the 113-acre mega-jail into a modern microgrid. The current Santa Rita jail... Read More
(A Lack of Good) Electricity Outage Data
When attempting to evaluate the overall health of the U.S. electric grid, one potentially important metric relates to outages – how often and how long customers are without power. But, data related to disruptions in electricity service are largely unavailable. In fact, many states do not require utilities to report data related to the impact of electricity outages. The end result is a limited dataset... Read More
The U.S. Now Uses More Corn For Fuel Than For Feed
For every 10 ears of corn that are grown in the United States today, only 2 are consumed directly by humans as food. The remaining 8 are used in almost equal shares for animal feed and for ethanol. And, for the 12 months from August 2011 to 2012, the U.S. biofuels industry used morecorn for fuel than domestic farmers did for livestock feed – a first for the industry. This significant milestone... Read More
5 Million Without Power in the Southwest
On Thursday afternoon, almost 5 million people found themselves without power when routine maintenance at a Yuma, Arizona substation led to a blackout that quickly spread through parts of Arizona, Southern California, and Northern Mexico. The widespread power outage started at approximately 3:30pm, when theNorth Gila-Hassayampa 500 kV transmission was accidentally tripped offline. The cascading... Read More
Routine Maintenance Plunges Southern California into Darkness
Yesterday morning, power was restored to almost 4 million residents in Arizona, Southern California, and northern Mexico after a major blackout swept through the area Thursday afternoon. The blackout lasted for approximately 12 hours. It not only forced San Diego’s airport to close, but also caused the automatic shutdown of two nuclear power plants – San Onofre (near San Diego) andDiablo Canyon (near... Read More
Integrating Renewables by Increasing Grid Flexibility
Wind and solar are variable resources – meaning that the availability of their fuel sources changes with time, season, etc. The wind blows faster and slower throughout the day and (in most parts of the world) the sun sets every evening. While these changes are usually slow – a ramp up or down in wind speeds, or a shift in the sun’s relative position in the sky – they still make it necessary... Read More
The U.S. Electric Grid vs. Extreme Weather
On Sunday, Hurricane Irene weakened to become Tropical Storm Irene – but not before leaving at least 4 million homes without power and causing fuel shortages along the United State’s Atlantic coast. This hurricane brought on-land wind speeds of more than 85 mph in the continental United States, and maintained its hurricane status through most of its trek north. Though the storm had diminished... Read More
Integrating Renewables Into the U.S. Electric Grid – a Discussion with Dr. Paul Denholm
This post was originally posted on 8/24/2011 on Scientific American’s Plugged In. Earlier this month, I attended at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Energy Sustainability Conference in Washington, DC. During the conference, I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Paul Denholm, a senior analyst at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado.... Read More
Do we have a “dumb” grid? Yes and no…
Last week, Obama Administration Officials outlined federal plans for continued support of electric grid modernization in the United States. This “smart grid” would incorporate modern communication technologies into the existing grid, helping to enable real-time, two-way communication between electricity providers and users. These enhanced communication abilities make the grid “smart”... Read More
