Electricity Policy

Southern nears NRC call on Vogtle 3-4

Southern Co. is poised to end a three-decade freeze on nuclear development as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission considers granting it the first license to build new reactors since the Three Mile Island accident.

Atlanta-based Southern has more at stake than its bottom line and reputation, Chief Executive Officer Thomas Fanning said during two interviews. If there is to be a nuclear revival in the US, Southern, the largest US power company, must deliver the $14 billion project on-time and on-budget, he said.

“We’ve got to be successful,” Fanning said during an interview at Bloomberg headquarters in New York. “This is the first, best shot for the nuclear renaissance in America.”

Fla. group fights nuclear expansion

A Florida group is fighting back against a law that allows Juno Beach-based Florida Power & Light and other electric utilities to collect money from customers for new nuclear plants regardless of whether the plants are ever launched. FPL customers are facing additional charges for improvements at FPL’s nuclear plants as well as costs for future upgrades.

Barry White, vice president of Citizens Allied for Safe Energy in Miami, said the group’s goal is to flood the Florida Public Service Commission with 10,000 letters, emails, faxes and phone calls before an Oct. 24 vote.

That’s when the commission is scheduled to decide whether to authorize FPL to spend another $196 million on its nuclear projects in 2012.

Schneider to do solar microgrid for DC

Schneider Electric, a Paris-based global specialist in energy management, today announced the launch of a fully-functioning micro-grid solution within the solar village at the US Department of Energy’s 2011 Solar Decathlon, a challenge to 19 international collegiate teams to design, build and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient and attractive.

The micro-grid, which connects solar homes to the Washington, D.C.-area utility, Pepco, allows the village to feed excess solar energy back into the regional electric grid -- providing a glimpse of what future smart communities leveraging renewable energy and microgrid technologies could look like. Since the village’s launch on September 22, it has produced 1,444 kWh of solar power, of which the carbon impact (versus leveraging traditional coal and gas-powered electricity) equates to the planting of 26 trees. For the first year ever, the accessibility of this constantly changing information is publicly available live at the event and online via intelligent, web-based energy consumption monitoring software.

NRG Energy, PJM, view eV2g

It’s been said that utilities see electric vehicles as batteries on wheels. A university project to use electric cars to stabilize the grid has brought utility NRG to put that idea to the test.

NRG Energy said Monday that it will partner with eV2g, a project developed at the University of Delawareto earn EV drivers money by providing services to grid operators. The technology behind the system is being developed by University of Delaware professor Willett Kempton.

University officials on Monday signed an agreement with utility operator NRG Energy to commercialize the technology.

On the same day, the PJM Interconnection said it welcomed a new project to promote technology that can use battery power from electric vehicles to smooth peaks and troughs in grid demand. PJM has been involved in discussions with UD and is enthusiastic about the technology which has the potential to smooth power supply, said PJM spokesman Ray Dotter.