Coast to Coast and Across the Electric System, Microgrids Provide Benefits to All
At the most obvious level, microgrids could disrupt today’s utilities and their regulated-monopoly business model, because they challenge the centralized paradigm. In a nutshell, microgrids are localized power grids that have the ability to disconnect from the main, centralized grid to operate…
Germany's Powerhouse Feels Pinch of Merkel’s Shift to Renewables
North Rhine-Westphalia, the German state that’s home to utilities RWE AG and EON SE, is losing its standing as the country’s powerhouse as wind and solar energy begin to displace conventional sources. Electricity consumers in the western state, which has one-third of Germany’s installed…
UK Conservative Victory Sparks Climate and Renewable Energy Concerns
The surprise Conservative victory in the recent UK elections have some worrying about the future of renewable and climate progress, but officials are now calming those fears.
Carbon Market Overhaul Closer After EU Lawmakers Approve Plan
European Union negotiators are endorsing an accelerated overhaul of the bloc’s carbon market after the price of emission rights fell to levels that fail to deter polluters.
The New Normal? Renewables, Efficiency, And “Too Much Electricity”
Just over a decade ago, the state of California faced serious concerns about whether its utilities could generate and/or buy enough power to assure that the world’s seventh-largest economy could keep the lights on. The infamous California energy crisis, which affected several other western states…
Summers’ Law Strikes Again
Lawrence Summers famously wrote, “there are idiots, look around” in an attack on the theory that markets are rational. What some have called “Summers’ Law” certainly applies to the markets’ response to the slide in the price of oil as it relates to stocks of renewable energy companies.
Value Trapped: Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2015, April Update
My Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2015 model portfolio held on to first quarter gains in April, despite a 29 percent fall for one of the stocks. (For details on that decline, see the Power REIT (NYSE:PW) section below.)
Engineering Possibilities Versus Practical Implementation: Utility Portfolios and Business Models
Europe’s utilities are re-evaluating their business models due to the energy transition. Members of POWER-GEN Europe’s Advisory Board consider how a reliance on fossil fuels is no longer politically desirable, forcing utilities to transform their portfolios to adapt to radical change.
8.4-MW Cogeneration Plant to Power Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) has opened its new 75,000 square foot, $438 million Central Utilities Plant (CUP).
What Drives Alternative Energy Stocks?
04/02/2019Opinion & Commentary,Hydropower,SolarFeatured,Bioenergy,Solar,Baseload,Storage,StorageFeatured,Energy Efficiency,Wind Power,Geothermal,Renewable Energy Translations
Alternative energy became a serious market player after the turn of the millennium. Since that time, solar, wind, smart grid and other alternative energy stocks have experienced both strong up and down trends. The forces at work driving these markets are complex, counterintuitive, and sometimes…