Smart Grid

This week, the COMPETE Coalition welcomed Tendril, Inc., the Energy Platform company, to the COMPETE Coalition Board of Directors.

 
Today’s Baltimore Sun features an op-ed by COMPETE Co-Chairman Federico Pena. His column highlights, among other things, the myriad benefits Maryland’s competitive electricity market has delivered to the state – from efficiency, innovation and reliability to greater customer choice and competitive prices. Since introducing competition in the late 1990s, Maryland has been one of the greatest success stories around the country. The full column, which details that success, follows…
 

A new study shows that electricity pricing policies may become a major obstacle to electric vehicle (EV) affordability, but time-of-use pricing – a hallmark of competitive markets – could be the solution.
 

The age of the smart grid is dawning, with millions of smart meters already installed across the country. But some utilities have encountered opposition to smart-meter pilot programs, and the question of how to communicate benefits to consumers complicates the picture.
 

Maine’s competitive electricity market is thriving, evidenced by several recently announced economic and environmental initiatives creating benefits for the state’s consumers.
 

Competitive electricity markets will stimulate plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle (PHEV) technology, facilitate integration of PHEVs with the power grid, and unlock consumer benefits. This message emerged during a conference sponsored by COMPETE and the University of Illinois-Springfield that explored the future of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and the smart grid.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming featured a discussion on the role of competition in helping to move the United States toward a clean energy economy.
 
Committee Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA), cited the virtues of competition, calling it a “positive force” for advancing clean energy and suggesting it “will be the reason solar energy becomes equitable with the grid system.” Markey’s comments helped highlight the role competition plays in fostering innovation. “The kind of innovation that has been driving down the cost of electricity…is available only in America,” said Markey. “Technology always triumphs.”
 

The COMPETE Coalition will sponsor a day-long conference October 5th to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing national electric vehicle deployment, grid modernization and how they tie into America’s Smart Grid future.
 
The free conference – Electric Vehicle Technology and Grid Modernization: How PHEVs and Smart Grid Come Together – takes place at the Phoenix Park Hotel in Washington, D.C., and is co-sponsored by the Center for Business and Regulation, College of Business and Management, University of Illinois-Springfield.
 

The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) credited competitive markets with reducing air pollution by attracting investment in power plant efficiency and clean energy sources, according to a report in Restructuring Today and Platts Electric Power Daily.
 
Stephen Whitely, NYISO’s CEO, stated that competition has combined with carbon control programs like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to sharply lower emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide.

“Competition in wholesale electricity markets has stimulated investments in cleaner generation, increased the use of renewable resources – such as wind power – and encouraged operating changes to improve the overall efficiency of power plants,” said Whitely. 

Smart meter technology, considered a lynchpin to widespread smart grid success, has taken a major step forward with the conclusion of a Washington, D.C. pilot program. PowerCentsDC, a two-year program, tested how consumers reacted to a variety of time-of-use price signal and rate programs.