April 2010

Backup Generators (BUGS): The Next Smart Grid Peak Resource

Steve Pullins, President, Horizon Energy Group, Principal Investigator

Tomorrow’s smart grid will accommodate and enable a wide variety of generation and storage options. Today, there is a large untapped resource on the consumer side of the meter at many commercial and industrial customer facilities. Consumer backup generators (BUGS), which are distributed generation (DG) units for either emergency or standby applications, are plentiful and well distributed. BUGS can play a significant role in flattening the utility load profile to the economic and environmental benefit of utilities, consumers, and society. Properly integrated, BUGS can have an environmental as well as economic benefit because they are well distributed, quick to startup and shutdown, close to the point of consumption, and more responsive than large, traditional power sources.

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West Virginia Smart Grid Implementation Plan

Steve Pullins, President, Horizon Energy Group, Principal Investigator

The West Virginia Smart Grid team examined the current state of the West Virginia (WV) electricity grid and the likely future state of that grid necessary to support the development of the 21st century economy in WV. This examination revealed several gaps that must be addressed in order to establish a resilient and reliable energy infrastructure supportive of West Virginia‘s future economic development.

The Convergence of Renewables and the Smart Grid

Steve Pullins, President, Horizon Energy Group

NRECA New Emerging Technologies Conference

There are many drivers today for implementing renewable solutions in the electric generation fleet. With many of the renewable solutions being variable in nature, deep penetration brings a new challenge at the transmission and distribution voltages in the US. A Smart Grid becomes a necessary strategy to address this challenge.

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Smart Grid: Enabling the 21st Century Economy

Steve Pullins, President, Horizon Energy Group

West Virginia Governor's Energy Summit

In a changing world, it will be important to enable a wider variety of generation sources and load management solutions. All of this must be in keeping with state and societal goals for economic stability, jobs, environmental stewardship, and efficient use of resources. The Smart Grid is a key enabler of the future.

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Investing in Energy Efficiency - Smart Grids

Steve Pullins, President, Horizon Energy Group

Renewable Energy Finance & Investment Summit

The investment community is primed for clean tech ventures in energy efficiency. An technology area primed for innovation is the Smart Grid as a key enabler to energy efficiency at the micro and macro levels in the electric system.

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The Smart Grid: Infrastructure Strategy for the Low Carbon Society

Steven Pullins, President, Horizon Energy Group

Significant changes to the electricity industry have begun as emerging national issues drive a very different probable future state linked to energy. Energy independence is increasing in importance for supporting a stable economy for any country on any continent. Finding sustainable domestic resources of energy that reduce the Carbon footprint is one key to sustained energy independence. Providing reliable, broad, seamless access is another key to sustained energy independence.

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V2G Primer for Utilities

Alex Zheng, Research Associate, Horizon Energy Group

The Vehicle to Grid (V2G) concept uses vehicles as electrical storage, buying and selling power from the grid. Proposed by Amory Lovins in 1995 and further developed by William Kempton at the University of Delaware, the concept has recently gained momentum. Driven by the popularity of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and advances in battery technology, V2G has caught the interest of several utilities and several startup companies.

Read Full Article:  http://www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/article_206.html

Smart Grid Characteristic: Enables Active Participation by Consumers

Steven Pullins, President, Horizon Energy Group

In the Modern Grid, consumers will be an integral part of the electric system. They will help balance supply and demand and ensure reliability by modifying the way they use and purchase electricity. These modifications will come as a result of consumers having choices that will motivate different purchasing patterns and behaviors. These choices will involve new technologies, new information about their electricity use, and new forms of electricity pricing and incentives.

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Smart Grid Characteristic: Accommodates All Generation and Storage Options

Joe Miller, Sr. Vice President, Horizon Energy Group

One of the drivers that has enabled the U.S. economy to grow is the quality of our power generation and delivery system. Today, our electricity grid is powered primarily by large, centralized generation facilities with only a small amount provided by distributed energy resources. The modern grid must accommodate not only large, centralized power plants but also the wide range of distributed energy resources (DER) that will enable many of the benefits expected in a modern grid. These distributed resources will be diverse and widespread, including renewables, distributed generation, and energy storage. And they will increase rapidly all along the value chain, from suppliers to marketers to consumers. This characteristic of the modern grid will enable the generation portfolio to move toward a more decentralized model yielding a balanced portfolio of large, centralized nuclear and fossil fuel plants and DER.

Our Favorite Links

http://www.netl.doe.gov/smartgrid/

http://collaborate.nist.gov/twiki-sggrid/bin/view/SmartGrid.SGIP

http://osgug.ucaiug.org/

http://www.sgiclearinghouse.org/

http://intelligrid.epri.com/

http://www.smartgrids.eu/

http://www.smartgridnews.com/

http://www.intelligentutility.com/

http://www.gridweek.com/2010/