Grid Operators Manage Solar Eclipse RTO Insider, August 21, 2017 CAISO and other electric grid operators across the country managed large and rapid swings in solar generation output Monday during the first continent-wide total solar eclipse in nearly a century. ISOs and RTOs were well prepared for the event, especially in solar-heavy California where the … Read more
Lisa Markowski, ERS, for Zondits Whether last Monday’s solar eclipse lived up to the surrounding hype is a matter of widely varying opinion, but it clearly fell short in terms of predicted power demand. Grid operators and utility spokespeople expected increased electricity demand to fill the gap left by the temporary lack of the sun … Read more
America’s Electrical Grid Prepares For The Shock Of A Total Solar Eclipse Forbes, August 8, 2017 The solar eclipse that will occur on August 21st will have an interesting side effect of shutting off a lot of electricity production in America as it rolls across our ever-increasing number of solar arrays. The shadow from the … Read more
Ari Michelson, ERS, for Zondits In June 2017 the Clean Energy for Agriculture Task Force (CEATF), formed initially by Governor Andrew Cuomo, published a strategic plan for agriculture in New York State. The CEATF is co-managed by NYSERDA and the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and is an assembly of farmers, agricultural … Read more
Europe’s electric bus market in transformational growth mode Energy Storage News, July 17, 2017 The nascent electric bus industry is by far most developed in China: over 98% of the world’s approximately 173,000 e-buses in 2015 were driven on Chinese roads. Government subsidies and urban air quality targets have incentivised the market, as well as … Read more
Gita Subramony, ERS, for Zondits Zondits spoke with the team at Sustainable CUNY, of the City University of New York on their role in streamlining solar and solar + storage installations in NYC. Sustainable CUNY has been working on reducing barriers to solar installations in NYC since 2006 and is also working to incorporate energy … Read more
Mark D’Antonio, ERS, for Zondits As the demands on the electric grid continually evolve and as there is greater consideration of temporal and locational capacity needs, distributed energy resources (DER) and energy storage (ES) systems are increasingly being considered for a multitude of applications on either side of the meter. Capacity deferral, generation mix, demand … Read more
Mathew Gard, ERS, for Zondits For a few hours on May 13, 2017, 67% of the electricity passing through the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) was from renewable sources. The ISO serves electricity to 80% of the state of California and parts of Nevada. Over the course of the entire day on May 13, 42% … Read more
From Beer, A Better Battery? The plan came together — where else? — at the bar. Last April, over pints at Backcountry Pizza in Boulder, Tyler Huggins (PhDCivEngr’16) and Justin Whiteley (PhDMechEngr’16) were honing their idea for “growing” a battery from beer — specifically, from the wastewater discharged by breweries. If successful, their invention would … Read more
Jesse Remillard, ERS, for Zondits A recent episode on the 99% Invisible podcast investigates how electric meters work and the origins of net metering, as well as the future of electricity markets. The 99% Invisible podcast is all about the things that largely go unnoticed but are essential to the modern world we live in. … Read more