Marijuana grow houses boost Denver power demand, complicating efficiency plans

Nearly half of new electricity demand in the city is coming from businesses that grow pot. 

By Robert Walton • July 6, 2015

SolarCity adds Tesla battery to its new solar-plus-storage home product

The new offering will provide backup power now and be a grid services tool in the future, company officials say.

By Herman K. Trabish • July 6, 2015

Rumors of energy efficiency's demise have been greatly exaggerated

The media's in a tizzy over a study of a Michigan efficiency program, but the researchers who wrote it say the real takeaway is less dire.

By Robert Walton • July 1, 2015

What happened when NRG Energy disrupted its own business model

The country’s biggest independent power producer is going retail with rooftop solar, EV chargers, and connected consumer products.

By Herman K. Trabish • July 1, 2015

Experts see PJM's new performance rules boosting demand response

Observers expect capacity prices to rise under PJM's new performance standards, opening the door for more demand response opportunities.

By Robert Walton • July 1, 2015

Study: Energy efficiency saved US $800 billion last year

And looking ahead to 2050, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy believes there could be opportunities to reduce energy use by half compared to a base case.

By Robert Walton • July 1, 2015

Study: More than half of large US businesses generate power on site

Businesses are increasingly focused on keeping down energy costs, and a growing number are generating some portion of their own electricity needs.

By Robert Walton • June 30, 2015

Report: Indiana killed an effective efficiency program

Energizing Indiana was saving millions of megawatt-hours and creating thousands of jobs before state regulators nixed the efficiency program, according to a new report.

By Robert Walton • June 29, 2015

Minn. PUC approves Xcel-solar industry deal on community shared solar

State regulators limit co-located projects to 5 MW while Xcel promises to speed approvals.

By Herman K. Trabish • June 29, 2015

Grid Edge Live 2015: The trends behind the explosion in distributed resources

Billions will go to DERs in the next three years, driven by changing policies and new utility opportunities.

By Herman K. Trabish • June 29, 2015

New York utilities excited by REV, will file demonstration projects this week

The industry got a sneak peak last week at what may be on the table, including energy efficiency marketplaces, microgrids and community coordination concepts.

By Robert Walton • June 29, 2015

New York Gov. Cuomo releases REV roadmap, seeks deep GHG cuts

A new state energy plan would mandate 50% renewables and cut building energy use 23% by 2030.

By Herman K. Trabish • June 29, 2015

How California plans to integrate distributed resources into its ISO market

California’s ISO will be the first to open its market to rooftop PV, batteries and EVs, but there's much to do before the first bids can come in.

By Herman K. Trabish • June 24, 2015

Why BPA sees aggregation as the future of demand response

For years, the Bonneville Power Administration hasn't needed a lot of demand response resources. But as its system grows, the public power provider is seeking larger and more reliable loads it can use to reduce demand peaks and provide ancillary services.

By Robert Walton • June 24, 2015

NY regulators approve Central Hudson DR program, stall community solar proposal

Critics worried that the community solar program violated REV rules against utilities owning distributed generation, except for in special circumstances.

By Robert Walton • June 24, 2015

NY regulators order utilities to bring demand response to all retail customers

Despite some concerns over rushing into the project, regulators have directed utilities to offer dynamic load management programs to all customers.

By Robert Walton • June 24, 2015

Facing steep peak prices, Univ. of Georgia urges students to conserve

By shutting down computers, lights and altering heating and cooling, the university can save up to $15,000 a day.

By Robert Walton • June 23, 2015

Tucson Electric Power to expand efficiency offerings

The utility has filed an energy efficiency plan with state regulators, calling for a slate of new offerings and an expanded budget.

By Robert Walton • June 23, 2015

America's Power Plan: The top 5 trends in the US energy transformation

Sonia Aggarwal, director of strategy at Energy Innovation, outlines the findings of her initiative's energy policy blueprint.

By Sonia Aggarwal • June 22, 2015

Texas, Colorado set model for increased renewables integration under Clean Power Plan

A new report argues the two states show recent reliability concerns from renewables are overblown.

By Herman K. Trabish • June 19, 2015

Westar Energy ditches 3 energy efficiency proposals

The planned programs raised regulators' eyebrows over whether some customers would be subsidizing others. 

By Davide Savenije • June 18, 2015

New DOE report outlines how utilities can best manage & market time-of-use rates

Driven by the spread of advanced metering infrastructure, many believe time-of-use rates will soon be the standard for residential customers – as long as utilities design them well, and show customers how they can benefit.

By Robert Walton • June 17, 2015

Report: Florida has the potential to be a clean energy leader

Building efficiency leads the advanced energy sector in Florida, generating almost $3 billion in revenues last year.

By Robert Walton • June 16, 2015

IHS: Electric vehicle charging infrastructure poised to grow globally

There will be almost 13 million charging stations around the globe by 2020, opening a new load growth opportunity for utilities.

By Robert Walton • June 16, 2015

Report: Driven by carbon, reliability rules, energy service companies poised for growth

New analysis from Navigant predicts the U.S. market for energy service companies will reach $11.5 billion by 2024.

By Robert Walton • June 15, 2015