QUICK NEWS, July 23: THE GRID AND NEW ENERGY; CALIF SHOWS SUN THE WAY; UTILITIES AND U.S. RATEPAYERS

THE GRID AND NEW ENERGY Putting more wind power on the grid; Wind farms should get a big share in the energy development zones in the Mojave and Colorado deserts.

Editorial, July 23, 2013 (LA Times)

“Wind turbines tend to be overshadowed by solar power projects, which get most of the attention from the public and policymakers. That's the case again in a new government plan for renewable energy projects in the California desert. Though the wind industry shouldn't get all the land it wants, the desert master plan should provide more and better space for wind farms…[W]ind is a much bigger producer of electricity than solar…[with] 3.5 percent of the nation's electricity supply…[and] has been the fastest-growing producer of electricity worldwide over the last decade, largely because better-designed turbines have reduced costs by 80% over the last 20 years…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet

CALIF SHOWS SUN THE WAY CPUC Report Demonstrates California’s Continued Solar Success

July 2013 (California Public Utilities Commission)

“The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)… annual report on the progress of the California Solar Initiative…[shows] the program has installed 66 percent of its total goal, with another 19 percent reserved in pending projects. This equals an estimated 1,629 megawatts (MW) of installed solar capacity at 167,878 customer sites in the investor-owned utility territories through the end of the first quarter of 2013, enough to power approximately 150,000 homes and avoid building three power plants…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet

UTILITIES AND U.S. RATEPAYERS Congratulations, Utilities! Customer Satisfaction Is Way Up In The U.S.

July 17, 2013 (Renew Grid)

“Despite ongoing severe weather across the U.S. resulting in longer outage periods per event, customer satisfaction with residential electric utilities has increased substantially from 2012 driven primarily by improvements in billing/payment, price and outage communications, according to a new report from J.D. Power…Editor's note: A recent study from Accenture reported that more than two-thirds of consumers did not "trust" their utilities. That study was taken globally, while the J.P. Power report focuses only on the U.S…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet