S&P Global: Utilities to manage smart meters' grid impact
S&P Global Ratings' latest report highlights the impact smart meters may have on the American grid.
Smart meters now constitute nearly half of the 125 million meters on the U.S. grid, with over 60 million installed as of January 2017. They primarily enable utilities to better manage costs by streamlining billing, meter reading and customer services, but are also likely to enable shifts in the regulatory policies that govern them. S&P Global expects states, including New York and California, to implement rate reforms that aim to reduce customers' energy consumption at peak times -- only made possible due to smart metering's proliferation.
Although this could impact utilities' favorable outlook, S&P believes U.S. investor- owned utilities have long been resilient to disruptive forces (deregulation, shifts in commodity prices, adverse weather) and should manage the effects of this technological advance. Especially given the effects are likely to be gradual, electric companies have headroom to adapt.
For more information, visit www.spglobal.com or call (212) 438-1000.
NEI: FERC must act now to value resilience of nuclear resources
The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) has reiterated its support for the goals of Energy Secretary Rick Perry's proposal directing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to initiate reforms on how organized markets compensate baseload electricity generating sources for the resiliency and reliability they provide to the national grid.
NEI urged FERC to prevent further premature nuclear plant closures by creating a cost-of-service mechanism, at least until other sustainable market structures are in place; directing regional transmission organizations to act on price formation reforms; and initiating proceedings to create a resiliency-based market product.
For more information, visit www.nei.org or call (202) 739-8000.
Project makes major gains in industrial carbon capture, storage
DOE has collaborated with industry in cost-sharing arrangements to advance the next generation of technologies that capture carbon from industrial sources and either store or beneficially reuse them. Some of these technologies have advanced to a scale that can be readily replicated and deployed into industry.
The overall objective of the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)- managed Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) project is to develop and deploy an integrated system for collecting CO2 from an ethanol production plant (the ADM ethanol plant in Decatur, Illinois) and geologically storing it in a deep underground sandstone reservoir.
To date, the ADM facility has successfully operated cost-effective carbon capture, compression, dehydration and injection technologies. Together, efforts from the ADM project will help bolster domestic fossil fuel production and support America's energy dominance.
For more information, visit www.netl.doe.gov or call (412) 386-4984.
Dominion takes step to secure power at North Anna, Surry
Dominion Energy Virginia, a unit of Dominion Energy Inc., has notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of its intent to relicense North Anna Power Station in Louisa County for an additional 20-year term.
The company informed NRC it expects to file a license renewal application for its twounit North Anna Power Station in 2020, with a similar application to renew the licenses of its two Surry Power Station units to be filed in the spring of 2019.
The letter of intent is necessary so the NRC can plan its staffing needs to support the license renewal effort. The company expects to invest up to $4 billion on upgrades to North Anna and Surry as part of the relicensing process.
After renewal, the respective licenses for North Anna and Surry will allow the units to operate to 2058 and 2060, and 2052 and 2053.
For more information, visit www. dominionenergy.com or call (804) 273-3825.
COP23 an important step in Paris Agreement implementation
For the past two decades, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has attended the annual United Nations (UN) Conference of Parties (COP) negotiations, underscoring that meeting common goals entails transforming energy systems.
At COP23, held in Bonn, Germany, IEA provided support with analysis, data and policy guidance to countries working to make their commitments under the Paris Agreement -- and their respective energy transitions -- a reality.
COP23 was a transitional meeting, paving the way for next year's COP24, when countries aim to finalize the rulebook supporting full implementation of the Paris Agreement, including their nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
For more information, visit www.iea.org or call +33 1 40 57 65 00.
