2013 was a momentous year. The EPA proposed carbon emission standards for new power plants, California enacted a historic energy storage mandate and Arizona set the first rooftop solar fee in the U.S.
But it was also the year that a National Grid worker was caught urinating on a disgruntled customer's house (see #3).
And so, in the spirit of everything that makes absolutely no sense, we've put together a list of the craziest energy stories we saw this year. So you can look back on 2013 and remember it right.
From crazy to craziest, these are the 10 stories we won't be forgetting anytime soon.
10. Man arrested for charging electric vehicle
As his 11-year-old son played tennis at Chamblee Middle School in Georgia, Kaveh Kamooneh charged his Nissan Leaf through an electrical outlet by the school. But then the police was called to the scene. The officer approached the charging electric vehicle and, not finding its owner, opened the unlocked car and found a piece of mail addressed to Kamooneh.
11 days later, Kamooneh left his home in handcuffs, charged with stealing electricity. According to reports, Kamooneh had stolen $0.05 of electricity after charging his car for 20 minutes. When Sgt. Ernesto Ford of the Chamblee Police Department was asked if it was a little absurd to arrest Kamooneh for stealing five cents-worth of power, he responded, “It doesn't matter. He broke the law. He stole something that wasn't his. … A theft is a theft.”
9. Sierra Club, Tea Party form "unholy" alliance
It sounds more absurd than it really is: Tea Party groups across America have teamed up with the Sierra Club to advocate for solar rights and defeat utility efforts to eliminate net metering.
“Some people have called this an unholy alliance,” said Debby Dooley, founder of the Green Tea Coalition and co-founder of the Atlanta Tea Party Patriots. “We agree on the need to develop clean energy, but not much else.”
8. The anti-smart meter movie
You've heard of the anti-smart meter movement, but have you seen the movie?
It's called "Take Back Your Power."
7. The advent of urine-tricity
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a charity that's taking on "tough challenges" such as "extreme poverty and poor health in developing countries, and the failures of America’s education system," according to its website. But it's also tackling the problem of clean and sustainable energy.
And never was this goal more clear than when the foundation invested £500,000 into research on "urine-tricity." That is, using urine as a fuel source to generate electricity through microbial fuel cells.
Urine-tricity "is about as eco as it gets," says Dr. Ioannis Ieropoulos, the lead researcher on the project. “One product that we can be sure of an unending supply is our own urine."
6. Jellyfish invade nuclear plant
A swarm of jellyfish forced the shutdown of a Swedish nuclear plant for two days earlier this year. Moon jellyfish "clogged the pipes that feed cool water to the unit's turbines," according to Utility Dive's Rod Kuckro.
That may be absurd in and of itself (although it's apparently rather common), but nothing compares to this hilarious animation of the "invasion."
5. Donald Trump threatens to sue Florida Power & Light
In early October, Donald Trump kicked off one what may be the greatest feud in the history of the utility industry:
In my opinion, one of the worst utility companies in the country is Florida Power and Light.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2013
But Trump wasn't done.
Florida Power & Light has disgusting rotting utility poles outside Doral in Miami. They should put in new ones or will be sued.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2013
Not even close.
I pay millions of $’s a year to Florida Power & Light & they can’t give us what we want. Maybe a major class action suit against them?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 9, 2013
While any reasonable person would prize safety and reliability over the aesthetics of utility poles, Trump has made a career out of being entirely unreasonable.
But this is far from the first time that Donald Trump has threatened to sue someone if he doesn't get what he wants. If you type "Donald Trump threatens to sue" into Google search, it can quickly auto-fill your search with Bill Maher, Mac Miller or Miss Pennsylvania. Of course, few of these have actually turned into lawsuits, so perhaps Florida Light & Power can rest easy. As always, the Donald just wants our undivided attention.
4. Southern California Edison "hates rooftop solar"
As the California legislature was debating an electricity rate reform bill (which originally sought to add a $10/month fixed charge for rooftop solar owners), solar advocacy groups aired a commercial on TV. But the commercial wasn't for them. It was "for" Southern California Edison.
3. National Grid worker urinates on a disgruntled customer's lawn
LIPA has upset many people in Long Island over the years, but perhaps none more so than Dennis Napolitan of Levittown. He had called the utility many times (and left angry voicemails) to set up a wire test so he could put in a pool in his yard, but they never came.
One day, Napolitan comes home and his neighbor is saying a LIPA truck came to his home. Napolitan is surprised because there was no scheduled appointment for that day. He then rewinds the video on his home security system and watches as the LIPA truck rolls up to his home, a utility worker gets out and proceeds to urinate on his fence and home. Well, let's just say that Napolitan could not have been more pissed.
2. The Arkansas grid attacks
On August 21, a power line support tower was dismantled in Cabot, Arkansas. The power line then fell onto a nearby railroad track, where it was severed by a passing train. The severed line cut power to about 10,000 customers.
On September 29, an Entergy substation in Lonoke Country was set on fire, causing $2 million worth of damage. The attacker carved the following into a control panel:
On October 6, a tractor was allegedly stolen and used to pull down a power pole, while another one was cut, ultimately resulting in the downing of a 115,000-volt transmission line.
This strange series of events ended in the arrest of Jason Woodring, a 37-year-old man with no readily discernible motive. Woodring has since been indicted on terrorism charges.
1. Royal baby causes demand drop
Who would have thought one person could be responsible for a drop-off in electricity demand? Well, when you're talking about royal babies, nothing really makes sense anymore.
On July 22, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge exited the hospital with the royal baby at 7:13 p.m. As the country watched on TV, National Grid noticed a 800 MW drop in electricity demand.
Minutes later, when the family went back inside the hospital, National Grid saw electricity usage increase by 300 MW. And at 7:22 p.m., with the baby now inside his Range Rover car seat, the family took off. Then, electricity demand rebounded by another 400MW.
Of course, none of this is new. TV events cause demand drops all the time. In the U.S., there is a demand drop on Super Bowl Sunday when compared to your average Sunday. This may seem counterintuitive considering the massive amount of viewers that are tuned in, but people typically gathered around a communal TV are less likely to be using other, more energy-intensive appliances.
So, royal baby birth, congratulations! You have been anointed... the craziest energy story of 2013.
Enjoyed what you read? You may also want to read Utility Dive's look at the state of the utility industry in 2013.