This piece was originally published in the May 2017 issue of electroindustry. Jack Lyons, Northeast Field Representative, NEMA For the past three years, I have been discussing energy storage system (ESS) matters with electricians and authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) up and down the Northeast corridor because of the growing interest in new battery technologies and their energy storage applications. Beyond the…
This piece was originally published in the April 2017 issue of electroindustry. John Vernacchia, Segment Manager for Renewable Energy Solutions, Eaton Recently expedited energy storage projects in California demonstrate an ability to dispatch stored electricity quickly. It all started with the 2015 Aliso Canyon natural gas storage leak outside of Los Angeles, which emitted an estimated 109,000 metric tons of methane…
This is the first in a series of articles on the coming wave of transmission-related innovations and its implications for the electricity sector. NEMA President & CEO Kevin J. Cosgriff When I think of someone turning up the air conditioning or powering a blow dryer, I envision a distant power plant ramping up incrementally to meet the increased demand. Energy…
This piece was originally published in the January 2017 issue of electroindustry. Charles Botsford, PE, Chemical Engineer, AeroVironment The electric grid has changed, but the change isn’t finished. With state and federal requirements to incorporate more renewable energy—primarily wind and solar—as part of our power generation mix, the grid must also incorporate a massive amount of energy storage to continue to…
Christine Coogle, Editor and Social Media Manager, NEMA This week, the NEMA government relations team and representatives from several member companies met with congressional staff involved in the House-Senate conference committee working to reach an agreement on the first broad energy bill in nearly a decade. We are advocating for the swift development and passage of a comprehensive energy bill…
This piece was originally published in the August 2016 issue of electroindustry. Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY) I had the opportunity to discuss the importance of energy storage and battery systems at the White House Summit on Scaling Renewable Energy and Storage with Smart Markets on June 16. Participants included leading utilities, state energy officials, energy storage developers, and demand response providers. At the…
This piece was originally published in the July 2016 issue of electroindustry. Steve Griffith, PMP, Industry Director, NEMA The application and use of energy storage systems (ESSs) has grown dramatically in grid-scale and building-based systems. These systems are capable of doing much more beyond storing power when there is less demand and helping smooth out supply-and-demand challenges. As a case in point, entities…
This piece was originally published in the April 2016 issue of ei, the magazine of the electroindustry. By Daniel Simounet, Director, Transportation Market Segment, North America, ABB Under a recent contract negotiated between ABB and Constellation, a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation, ABB will engineer, manufacture, and commission seven energy storage systems (ESSs) with lithium-ion battery storage from Saft America for the Southeastern Pennsylvania…
This piece was originally published in the March 2016 issue of ei, the magazine of the electroindustry. By Garrett Fitzgerald, PhD, Senior Associate, Rocky Mountain Institute With Tesla announcing a home battery that uses electricity generated from solar panels, the German company Sonnenbatterie entering the U.S. market, and massive grid-scale storage projects popping up in Hawaii and California, 2015 was the year…
In early 2012 NEMA produced a return on investment (ROI) whitepaper for Smart Grid; a document that was very well-received at the NARUC annual meeting in Washington, D.C. that year. In the whitepaper we cited a number of examples, one of which was a plan filed by the Duluth-based Minnesota Power company to connect a wind farm in North Dakota…