Ryan Quint

The Colorado Energy Office (CEO) and the Department of Local Affairs have released the Colorado Microgrid Roadmap! NORESCO aided the CEO and S&C Electric Company in the facilitation of stakeholder engagement and development of this report. The roadmap resource explains the definitions, benefits, and challenges of microgrids in Colorado. It also explores opportunities within the state, especially from the perspective of vulnerable populations and regions most at risk for outages. Read the CEO’s press release: https://lnkd.in/eGk7HMPT For more about NORESCO’s involvement with microgrids, visit our website at https://lnkd.in/eFK35QRC #ColoradoEnergyOffice #microgrids #codesandstandards #energyresiliency #renewableenergy

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A bipartisan permitting reform bill was released on Monday. The proposed legislation supports FERC's authority to approve transmission lines and paves the way to require interregional transmission planning. If passed, the law would also require planners to consider advanced conductors and reconductoring in order to maximize current transmission capabilities. Read more about the new bill and the industry response in the article below. ⬇️ #FERC #Transmission #USEnergy #KinectSolar

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The forecast for electricity needs in the Pacific Northwest points to rapid growth and increased demand. While more renewable energy is coming online, the existing transmission system also needs to be expanded. Learn more about the plans for the Northwest power grid at https://lnkd.in/gwM2HTj3

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Additional stress being placed on grid transformers is contributing to outages and higher distribution charges as utilities are forced to upgrade and replace transformers. Studies have found that sub-metering behind the meter results in 35% less usage; and transformer monitoring can result in intelligent transformer maintenance preventing outages.

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The California Energy Commission has launched an RFP for "Distributed Energy and Electrification Analysis" using the LF Energy Arras project. The goal of the initiative is "to buildout the state’s electric distribution grid model to support the CEC in assessing various electrification and distributed energy resource (DER) adoption scenarios." Learn more about the RFP and how to submit a proposal at https://hubs.la/Q02TtnTR0 #lfenergy #energy #utilities #arras #energytransition #der #climatetech

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Thanks to PJM Interconnection teams for this insightful #RTEP report showcasing your strategy towards: ➡ optimizing infrastructure investment ➡ fostering transmission and #interconnection planning ➡ strengthening regional planning to benefit consumers #powergrids Manu Asthana

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The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) has greenlit 488 new #transmissionprojects with a $30 billion investment through its Long Range Transmission Planning Tranche 2.1. These projects promise: ⚡ 5,053 miles of new transmission to support #cleanenergy expansion 🌐 Improved interregional connections for stronger grid reliability 💡 $8.1 billion in energy production savings through more efficient electricity dispatch 🌱 A 115 GW buildout of new energy resources 🔋 Reduced energy curtailment by 11.2% (27.1 MWh) This marks a huge leap toward a sustainable, reliable, and cost-effective energy future for the Midwest. 🌎✨ Read here: https://loom.ly/Qn4V9I4

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To receive federal GRIP grants from the DOE, utilities must follow strict rules and create new processes. Utilities need to make sure they have proper policies in place to meet these requirements. Adapting internal systems, training staff, and using new tools are crucial to stay compliant and successful. By using solutions like Adlib’s document automation, utilities can streamline reporting, track progress accurately, and manage compliance documentation efficiently, ensuring successful project execution. https://lnkd.in/gdd2PpBh #DOE #GRIP #grants #compliance #utilities #documentautomation

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Starting your 2025 sales plan for major overhead and underground HV and EHV transmission projects? Look here, but remember routing and permitting lead times for some of these projects have been over 10 years. We need better policy and technical solutions to expedite the build out. Federal policies break down quickly on a state by state and local basis. We engineers should offer solutions built around technologies like underground, super conductors, advanced (composite core) conductors , DLR, rigorous FERC 881 compliance and compact designs (like BOLD). More capacity from existing rights-of-way is a megatrend and the solution for our immediate transmission needs. Do you agree? Thanks. Mike #pdi2 #innovation #transmission

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Interregional transmission can provide many benefits -- yet power markets and grid operating practices are not set up to fully capture these benefits. This new report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the DOE Grid Deployment Office lays out the barriers that need to be addressed to realize the full value of existing and new interregional transmission: https://lnkd.in/ekzximcU One of the necessary steps to improve seams-related inefficiencies is "intertie optimization," which we addressed here: https://lnkd.in/ew3QtcpQ and here: https://lnkd.in/dptXMG3t Great work by Christina Simeone, PhD and Amy Rose! #gridmodernization

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The PJM Board of Managers has informed stakeholders of its support for undertaking immediate actions to provide for resource adequacy in light of the continuing and rapid tightening of grid power supplies versus growing demand for electricity. A capacity shortage may affect the PJM system as early as the 2026/2027 Delivery Year, when the 2025 Long-Term Load Forecast is taken into account, PJM Board Chair Mark Takahashi noted in a Dec. 9 letter to stakeholders. As outlined in the letter, this imbalance of future electricity supply and demand is being driven by the following trends: - Electrification coupled with the proliferation of high-demand data centers resulting in material forecasted load growth for the foreseeable future - Retirement of thermal generators at a rapid pace due to policy and economic pressures - Slow new entry of replacement generation resources due to a combination of industry forces, including siting, permitting and supply chain constraints  - The significant volume of resources in the new services queue that are being processed pursuant to FERC’s order on PJM’s interconnection process reform, with a high proportion of intermittent resources that don’t have the same capacity value and operational characteristics as the retiring thermal generating fleet Read more at PJM Inside Lines. https://lnkd.in/eE9twfWd

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Another missed opportunity to improve resilience and community good will. This Puget Sound Energy 230kV line upgrade was very controversial https://lnkd.in/epSUBNTV with the utility claiming a “critical need” as far back as 2013. The neighborhoods wanted the line underground….not to be. In time, utilities will start to evaluate “the total cost of ownership” of transmission and distribution lines that might include the lost revenue customers have during extended outages, the internal costs of YEARS of fighting with your franchise granting communities, and the significant advances in UG technology that reduces construction costs and, according to FERC 1 https://lnkd.in/etxbWdA6 reports filed by all IOU’s, has lower O&M costs. Planners, engineers and data scientists take note. Be sure to evaluate all your options. Thanks. Mike #pdi2 #underground #totalcostofownership

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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued Orders 1920 and 1977 to help clear the path for regional transmission development, while Congress is considering a long-awaited federal permitting reform plan. Can these policies change transmission's trajectory? This POWERGRID webinar tomorrow will feature perspectives from transmission utilities, developers, and regional grid planners 👉 https://ow.ly/2IFc50UiZuw #Transmission #FERC #EnergyWebinar #energyreliability #PowerGrid

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NERC recommends adding 35,000 MW of interregional transmission capacity as "prudent additions" to address grid resiliency needs! Note that this assessment solely focuses on energy adequacy and the level of assistance likely available from neighboring regions during resiliency challenges, such as winter storms. The study does not, for example, consider: 1️⃣ Resilience support available from regions beyond the immediate neighbors (such as PJM's exports to SPP during winter storm Elliot). 2️⃣ A multi-value perspective that takes into account the added economic and public-policy benefits of interregional transmission, which often justify expanding interregional transmission beyond these NERC results (as DOE's National Transmission Planning Study has most recently shown). NERC report: https://lnkd.in/e_GuKkAk Utility Dive summary: https://lnkd.in/eW3U_E34 North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) #gridmodernization

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ICYMI: Issue Brief from Julie Cohn, “What Does Success Look Like? An Update on Efforts to Ensure a Smooth Transition to the Next-Generation Power Grid.” What is the future of the energy grid? As the world undergoes an energy transition, the energy grid faces new challenges. “While one way to describe our current transition is from fossil-fuel-based resources to renewables, another is from control by physics to control by electronics. We do not yet know how to ensure that an electronics-controlled grid is stable, reliable, and resilient,” writes Julie Cohn. Read this issue brief published last week from Julie Cohn, a nonresident scholar at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy Center for Energy Studies, and learn how the grid will adapt. ⤵️ https://lnkd.in/gsNW2hPH #BakerEnergy #ERCOT #PowerGrid

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Great article from Sara Baldwin. Power Demand Reduction (DR) on the consumer side is a critical component to balancing our growing grid power needs. But we must go beyond traditional DR that curtails power and give the customers a means to reduce their own peak power behind-the-meter. Affordable, high-power energy storage is the key.

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