Electric vehicles (EVs) are expected to become an ever-increasing part of the Midcontinent region’s transportation mix. As the demand and utilization of EVs increases, so does the EV-specific demand for electricity, raising many important questions for electric utilities and state and local policymakers. Continue reading »
Utilities and regulators face an increasingly complex task when responding to the changing power generation mix. They must consider the impact of market rules, legislation, reliability, resilience, cost and environmental issues, just to name a few.
With that in mind, it’s vital to gather the key players, stakeholders, and thought leaders in this sector to discuss issues and generate solutions. That’s the purpose of the “Energy and Environmental Developments in the PJM Region,” event taking place in Washington, D.C. on May 2, 2018. Continue reading »
The continuing surge in electric vehicle (EV) use has utilities looking to future impacts on the existing grid structure. Now, a unique consortium of stakeholders has released a white paper that shows that grid transformation can not only meet EV demand, but it can simultaneously benefit utility customers, the economy, and the environment. Continue reading »
Combined heat and power (CHP) is a system that not only generates electricity, but also harnesses the thermal energy from power generation for heating and cooling applications (typically burning natural gas for electricity and capturing the exhaust for steam heat). By combining these two processes, some CHP systems can achieve thermal efficiencies of 60-80 percent, which is up to twice the efficiency of traditional power generation. Continue reading »
A recently published working paper by the Great Plains Institute (GPI), titled “Consumer Savings, Price, and Emissions Impacts of Increasing Demand Response in the Midcontinent Electricity Market,” explores the effects of increasing the use of demand response (DR) assets in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO) wholesale energy market. Continue reading »
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) recent article titled, “Today in energy: batteries perform many different functions on the power grid,” features new data on the progress of utility-scale batteries and a helpful breakdown of the roles such batteries can play on the power grid. Continue reading »
Important issues in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) were the focus of “Powering the Plains and Beyond: Energy Policy in America’s Heartland,” a workshop held in Austin, TX on December 11, 2017. Organized by the Great Plains Institute, this workshop gathered panels of experts to examine energy development and trends within the fourteen states in the SPP footprint and the potential expansion of SPP in the future. Continue reading »
In late October, 2017, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) released its third triennial review of the Multi-Value Project (MVP) electric transmission portfolio, which is an update of previous analyses performed to understand the how these 17 transmission lines, approved in 2011, continue to show benefits to the MISO region. The report describes how these projects, which cross multiple states in the Midwest, continue to deliver benefits above and beyond what was initially expected. Continue reading »
As states have increasingly moved to implement state-specific energy policies, tensions have grown between these states and the regional wholesale electricity markets that serve them. Although regional transmission organizations (RTOs) oversee the markets and manage the electricity grid, states’ right to pursue certain energy policies—such as renewable portfolio standards and tax incentives for preferred generation resources—is raising fundamental questions. Continue reading »
As states have increasingly moved to implement state-specific energy policies, tensions have grown between these states and the regional wholesale electricity markets that serve them. Continue reading »
