The Texas deep freeze was close to the sum of all fears for electric and gas utilities. If it could go wrong, it did go wrong, and Texans suffered. Clearly Texas must rethink, rebuild, and reprioritize. Everything in the state is on the table, from its electric isolation to whether it should be under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) umbrella with new interconnections to the national grid.
There is a growing overproduction of electricity from solar and wind, but solar in particular, especially in the Southwest. Utilities are in a rush to find ways of saving this electricity and balancing their systems. Batteries and other storage systems are all on the table, along with what may have the most promise: green hydrogen. This is hydrogen made by electrolysis, using surplus electricity.
Electric utilities are heavily dependent on sensors and growing interconnectivity. Smart meters, dispersed generation, variable generation -- like wind and solar -- require real-time data streams in order to make the split-second adjustments on the grid. Likewise in aberrant weather and other disaster scenarios, such as wildfires, uninterruptible communications are essential for utilities. How should they build communications systems that won't fail if the internet goes down, or if they are under cyberattack? How can utilities be sure that 5G won't make whatever system they decide to build obsolete?
During this virtual press briefing, our guests speakers gave insight on this new financial industry effort to measure the carbon impact of loans and investments as a building block for further climate action.
Energy storage co-located with fossil energy assets offers a suite of benefits to asset owners, the electricity grid, and society. To realize these benefits, the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has initiated a new program - the Advanced Energy Storage Program. This program will conduct research and development to advance energy storage technologies and integrate them with fossil assets to reduce barriers to wide-spread deployment.
This year, the Wyoming Legislature enacted a new law that applies CCUS requirements to power plants. The webinar will provide an overview of the law and related CCUS activities in Wyoming, and what these developments may mean for CCUS interests in the Rocky Mountain region.
Please join us in our inaugural “Women in Energy” luncheon series on Thursday, February 20, 2020. We will have a one-on-one with Jolene Cicci, the only female lineman in First Energy West Penn Power operating company. The luncheon will focus on how she has broken the gender barriers in a traditionally male role, her 29 years of experience working on the lines, and her participation in the utility's diversity and inclusion program. A casual brown bag lunch will be provided by USEA at 12:00 pm with a discussion with Ms. Cicci at 12:30 pm.
Many small towns in the western United States depend on coal mining and the production of coal fueled electricity for employment and tax revenue to sustain the provision of municipal services, including education. Mayor Nathan Duckett will discuss the importance of the coal economy to Farmington, New Mexico and how Enchant Energy’s proposed Carbon Capture Project at the San Juan Generation Station is a model for how to maintain the local coal economy in an environmentally sustainable manner.
In 2014, the State of Wyoming formed a private/public partnership with utilities to construct and operate a one-of-a-kind carbon research facility at Basin Electric Power Cooperative's Dry Fork Power Station, the Wyoming Integrated Test Center (ITC). Five years later, researchers are working on novel technologies to improve and commercialize carbon capture and utilization methods. Wyoming's multi-faceted, technology driven approach is advancing not only efforts in the U.S., but how carbon can be effectively managed across the globe.
