Smart Grid Library

Intermittent renewables, energy storage, and management and analytics software applications are a triad of synergistic technologies.  Synergy happens when two or more things combined produce more than their separate efforts could produce.  The combination of these three technologies can deliver more reliable electricity and improve the flexibility and resiliency of transmission and distribution grids that [...]

American history buffs and foodies know the story of the three sisters of agriculture, a brilliant combinatorial planting technique practiced by Native Americans.  This uniquely American agricultural invention elegantly illustrates the concept of synergy.  Synergy is defined as the interactions of two or more things combined to produce something greater than their separate efforts could [...]

There are interesting synergies between renewable energy and energy storage that have profound implications for the Smart Grid and our energy and economic security.  Wind and solar are readily available domestic sources of clean renewable electricity and share a common characteristic of intermittency.  Wind tends to pick up at night, and we all know when [...]

The cards dealt to the energy storage industry are looking better now than in the past. Here are three of them, all played because of the growing presence of Smart Grid technologies that enable solutions and policies that encourage energy storage markets. One wild card is also listed here, and it could have significant influence [...]

An Independent Review Panel convened by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to study the causes of the September 9, 2010 gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, California released its findings late last week. This tragic event caused the loss of eight lives, and scores more were impacted with losses of property and displacement. The [...]

A school district in Silicon Valley is adding a 1.26 MW photovoltaic (PV) solar installation across several campuses to deliver about 45% of their annual electricity needs.  The ground-mounted facilities will be placed as canopies in school parking lots, so the shading provided by the panels can also reduce the air conditioning burden on the [...]

The United Nations Climate Change Conference is convening in Cancun, Mexico from November 29 to December 10 to discuss reduction strategies for global warming and funding for programs developing nations can put in place to mitigate the impacts of climate changes.   Can the Smart Grid solve climate change?  No, but it can reduce the amounts [...]

 There are two schools of thought about how the Smart Grid will evolve.  One promotes a “system of systems” view, in which the current centralized structure continues to be the dominant model, and the other focuses on an interconnected network of microgrids.  There are pros and cons to each approach, but just like the old [...]

My mother is writing a book.  She learned how to use a computer, and has been diligently crafting her story chapter by chapter.  If only the local electric grid would cooperate.  A single power disruption of a few seconds wiped out an entire chapter of her book.  Now she is reworking a previous version and [...]

The greatest environmental disaster in US history began on April 20, two days before Earth Day.  Even if a miracle occurred and the well stopped leaking now, the damage to the marine and coastal environments will need years to recover.  Who knows – any hurricane that whips up these oiled waters may deposit pollutants miles [...]