Utilities

The Black & Veatch 2017 Strategic Directions: Smart City/Smart Utility Report investigates the progress made by communities and utilities as they continue their evolution toward smarter infrastructure. Around the globe, cities and utilities are beginning to see tangible results from preliminary efforts and are gaining confidence in what a smart city can be.

Cities and utilities are increasingly relying on data analytics tools to advance their smart systems, even as municipal leaders grapple with how to pay for these upgrades. Fulfilling the smart city promise will require integrating communication technology and increasing stakeholder engagement. This combination will help transform cities and infrastructure, according to Black & Veatch’s just-released 2017 Strategic Directions: Smart City/Smart Utility Report.

Black & Veatch announced today a new tool aimed at helping utilities deploy large-scale grid modernization projects. The company’s cloud-based Spatial Engineering Knowledge Optimization Immersive Analysis system – SEKOIA – is a central hub for all project management and design-build applications.

Over 1,300 places of worship and nonprofit organizations across Michigan will save at least $1.5 million on their energy bills next year, benefitting from a 4-year-old campaign by Consumers Energy to help them put more money toward helping those in need.

Modernization of the U.S. power grid will not only require replacement of old components with new ones, it will also need to account for larger amounts of renewable energy and distributed generation. This movement is causing utilities to consider microgrids as a part of the solution.

Every organization has a mix of assets on its balance sheet. These probably include infrastructure, human resources, financial assets, as well as some “intangibles.” The key to an organization’s success is getting the most value out of each one.

SCS Global Services (SCS) has certified CTC Global's ACCC conductor for reducing CO2 emissions associated with transmission line losses by 27 to 31 percent under certain design conditions compared to the conventional ACSR conductor. The use of ACCC can achieve CO2 emission reduction goals and advance climate action plans.

Utility regulators in some U.S. states are considering the adoption of performance-based regulation to replace the traditional cost of service regulation. Under this model, the utility’s revenues would not be based on the total costs of providing service, but rather on a broad economic measure such as the Consumer Price Index in conjunction with a set of specific performance metrics related to the utility’s operations.

Many parts of Africa that were never linked to an electric grid are skipping that bit and racing ahead with the solar revolution, thanks to off-grid solar. Several companies, including Off Grid Electric, Bboxx, Azuri Technologies and M-Kopa, have built a massive customer base that is bringing sustainable progress to that part of the world.

Harnessing the sun to generate clean, homegrown electricity is brilliant. We know it is an important piece of a balanced energy portfolio. But after conversations with customers and other stakeholders, it has become clear to me that we mustn’t be blinded by the benefits of solar energy – it must still be affordable and accessible to all.