Dive Brief:
Agilitas Energy has announced plans to install a 3 MW/9 MWh battery energy storage project for the Pascoag Utility District in Rhode Island, replacing a more costly transmission line reconstruction project.
The lithium-ion battery, set to be commercially operable by the second quarter of 2022, will be used for peak shaving during summer months. In other times, the battery will be used to provide ancillary service to ISO-New England.
According to Mike Kirkwood, general manager of the Pascoag Utility District, installing the battery will cost $1.4 million, compared to transmission line repairs that would have cost between $6 million and $12 million. Storage really became the most cost-beneficial solution to what could have been a costly problem, Kirkwood said.
TSA s role in pipeline security looks like a weak link to some in government and industry
By Justin Katz
Lawmakers and government officials are re-examining the Transportation Security Administration s place in regulating the cybersecurity of the country s natural gas pipelines in the wake of the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline s business systems. The office responsible for those policies is historically short staffed and the agency has yet to address several issues brought up by government auditors in December 2018.
In this instance, Colonial Pipeline faced a crippling attack on its IT system, but the fallout from the event has regulators and lawmakers worried about how the U.S. is prepared to confront an assault on the industrial control systems that manage energy pipelines.
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
2:13 P.M. EDT
MS. PSAKI: Hi, everyone. Good afternoon. We have three guests joining us today: Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and Deputy Security of Energy David Turk.
I since Secretary Granholm and Mayorkas have been here before, I will skip their introductions. But I do want to note that Deputy Secretary Turk was previously the Deputy Executive Director of the International Energy Agency during the Obama-Biden administration. He coordinated international technology and clean energy efforts at DOE, and served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director at the National Security Council.
Courtesy Colorado Springs Utilities
Colorado Springs Utilities announced it will join Southwest Power Poolâs Western Energy Imbalance Service Market in April 2022 and will join other western utilities in evaluating membership in SPPâs regional transmission organization.
According to a Utilities-issued news release, SPP Inc. is a regional transmission organization: a not-for-profit corporation mandated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure reliable supplies of power, adequate transmission infrastructure and competitive wholesale electricity prices on behalf of its members. SPP manages the electric grid across 17 central and western U.S. states and provides energy services on a contract basis to customers in both the Eastern and Western Interconnections. The companyâs headquarters are in Little Rock, Arkansas.
$15M penalty assessed for Michigan hydro project violations
April 15, 2021 GMT
MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) A federal agency Thursday assessed a $15 million civil penalty against a company for safety violations at three Michigan hydroelectric projects, including a dam that collapsed last year and contributed to flooding that forced evacuation of about 10,000 people.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission took the action against Boyce Hydro Power LLC, which filed for bankruptcy protection amid numerous lawsuits after its Edenville and Sanford dams failed in May 2020 during steady rain.
The failure drained man-made Wixom Lake on the Tittabawassee River, which then overwhelmed the Sanford dam about 140 miles (225 kilometers) north of Detroit. The village of Sanford and part Midland were flooded, damaging roads and destroying numerous homes.