The study, The Road to Transportation Decarbonization: Readying the Grid for Electric Fleets, was conducted jointly by the grid operator and the tech major to investigate the significant impact this electrification will have on the grid.

Namely, for the US grid to accommadate the much needed electrificaiton of heavy duty transport such as buses, trucks and vans, the study touts five key findings:

1: Region-specific strategy needed

According to the study, certain regions will experience grid impacts from MHDV electrification in the near future. Specifically, multi-megawatt charging loads from fleet clusters, or even a single depot, will quickly strain grid capacity in these areas.

As large fleets or states establish clear electrification targets or mandates, early adopters of electric MHDVs will place significant demands on the grid.

Utilities and policymakers must anticipate and prepare for these near-term loads and grid impacts, employing strategies tailored to each specific region’s needs.

2: Future-minded strategic investment

The study underscores the importance of coordinated investments in areas with high forecast electrification to minimise long-term costs and expedite electrification.

Namely, data, tools and forecast methods should be used to identify priority investment areas as well as locations requiring minimal, or deferred, infrastructure upgrades; these areas can then be aligned with fleet electrification and utility investment plans.

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3: Updating regulation

The research highlights the necessity for evolving regulatory and planning structures to accommodate MHDV electrification.

According to the research, the majority of the electric load scenarios identified fall outside the scope of typical utility planning and regulatory processes. It is thus crucial to develop anticipatory planning and investment processes and regulatory mechanisms that can adapt to the rapidly evolving needs of electric MHDVs.

4: Grid infrastructure upgrades

According to the study, an optimal grid infrastructure strategy for MHDV electrification will vary by location.

Different infrastructure strategies, states the research, such as electric network reconfiguration, multi-value grid infrastructure upgrades, and non-wires solutions such as storage, can effectively support electric MHDVs depending on the unique circumstances and requirements of each location.

Stakeholders, it states, should thus consider the specific needs of each location when devising an infrastructure strategy, enabling utilities to invest in solutions that not only address immediate demands but also accommodate long-term charging growth.

5: Collaborative efforts

The study emphasizes the necessity for new forms of partnership and cooperation to facilitate the transition to electric MHDVs.

Such collaboration among fleet operators, MHDV manufacturers, utilities, and other stakeholders, states the research, will be crucial to coordinate investments, assess charging needs and overcome barriers to charging deployment.

NYSEG, a subsidiary of Avangrid, is to deploy LineVision’s non-contact LiDAR sensors to introduce dynamic line rating in the Hornell area of New York.

The goal of this ‘non-wires alternative’ is to reduce grid congestion with real-time data to enhance the capacity of the lines.

Traditionally, lines have been operated using ‘static’ line ratings based on fixed values.

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However, with the real-time data combining properties such as sag, temperature and the forecast weather conditions, the capacity can be determined on a ‘dynamic’ basis to enable increases in the capacity without potentially large and costly upgrades.

“We know that we have a critical role in building a smarter, more resilient network that will enable us to deliver clean energy to more customers,” commented Patricia Nilsen, president and CEO of NYSEG and RG&E.

“Investments in innovation like this are very exciting because it will benefit our customers in multiple ways.”

The sensors will be installed on two of the company’s transmission lines – one from Elma in Erie County to Strykersville in Wyoming County and the other from Warsaw to Perry in Wyoming County.

Funding for the project was awarded to Avangrid and LineVision through round two of NYSERDA’s Future Grid Challenge programme.

Capacity optimisation is crucial for the large-scale integration of renewable energies, with their potential for congestion.

New York state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) goals to achieve 70% renewable electricity by 2030 call for an additional 10,000MW solar capacity and 9,000MW offshore wind capacity.

Such an increase would likely cause significant congestion on transmission lines.

The funding forms part of US President Biden’s Investing in America agenda; selected communities form the sixth cohort of the Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants to help modernise the electric grid in the face of climate-driven extreme weather and natural disasters.

“From remote and rural communities to urban centres, it is essential that every pocket of America has a strong and reliable energy grid that can deploy cleaner, cheaper power to homes and businesses, said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.

“Thanks to the transformative investments in grid infrastructure under President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are preparing the nation for a more resilient, clean energy future.”

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The following states were selected for funding:

• Alaska will receive $22 million to reduce the likelihood and consequences of natural hazard events like winter storms, extreme temperatures and landslides causing disruption to normal grid operations and critical facilities.

• Utah will receive $12 million to reduce the overall negative impacts of disruptive events on Utah’s residential and commercial power end users.

• Virginia will receive $11 million to conduct enhanced grid modelling for transmission and distribution planning to reduce disruptions by informing strategic investment and deployment of innovative technologies. Grant funds will be used to address outdated or failing energy infrastructure equipment and materials like power lines, power poles, transformers and bucket trucks serving Virginia communities.

The following tribal communities were selected for funding:

• Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation will receive $458,123 to decrease the frequency and duration of electrical outages on the Reservation and address the energy burden experienced by low-income tribal members and disadvantaged communities.

• Chalkyitsik Village will receive $112,439 to support a continuous supply of power in the system and will improve grid reliability by decreasing the number of outages and improving the ability to recover after severe weather events. The grant funding will also be used to develop battery energy storage for critical facilities.

• Citizen Potawatomi Nation will receive $1.3 million to decrease the frequency and duration of electrical outages on the Reservation and address the energy burden experienced by low-income tribal members and disadvantaged communities.

• Fort Sill Apache Tribe will receive $684,000 to ensure critical tribal facilities are not impacted by disruptive events such as extreme weather and will implement improved controls, automation and communication technology to enhance local grid operations and control.

• Galena Village, otherwise known as aka Louden Village, will receive $112,894 to support a continuous supply of power to consumers, reduce outage risks, develop projects and approaches for backup power and advance partnerships with utilities to develop clean energy.

• Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians will receive $183,155 to ensure critical tribal community facilities are not impacted by extreme weather and other disruptive events and address the energy burden faced by the tribal community.

• Native Village of Port Graham will receive $181,493 to support battery storage for critical facilities, maintain a continuous supply of power that is acceptable to consumers and reduce outage risks and improve the ability to recover from disruptive events.

• Seneca Nation of Indians will receive $479,021 to modernise the electric grid, ensure critical community facilities are not impacted by extreme weather events and address the energy burden experienced by low-income tribal members.

• Summit Lake Paiute Tribe will receive $115,833 to enable investments in grid modernisation, ensure critical facilities are not impacted by disruptive events by providing backup power to enhance system adaptive capacity and reduce disruptions to grid operations from extreme weather events.

Over the next five years, the Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants will distribute a total of $2.3 billion to States, Territories, and federally recognised tribes based on a formula that includes factors such as population size, land area, probability and severity of disruptive events, and a locality’s historical expenditures on mitigation efforts.

The States, Territories, and tribes will then award these funds to complete a diverse set of projects, with priority given to efforts that generate the greatest community benefit while providing clean, affordable and reliable energy.

Since May of this year, DOE has distributed more than $455.5 million in Grid Resilience Formula Grants due to the Investing in America Agenda.

Agora Policy said that the “centrality of adequate and reliable electricity supply to individual welfare, economic growth and overall national development cannot be over-emphasised.” 

“This message is not lost on Nigeria. However, various initiatives and reforms aimed at creating an optimal power sector for the country have fallen short.” 

The organisation said there is a need for the government to stop thinking of installed generation capacity and start to think in terms of the amount of electricity delivered. 

It should also consider an increase in megawatt-hours delivered to electricity customers. This could be achieved “if there is a seamless conversion and flow of energy from the natural gas fields to the generation stations…”

“This is an important paradigm shift with positive impact for government, as having such policy mindset changes the prioritisation and allocation of public and private resources to projects, interventions and initiatives across the electricity value chain that will increase the energy output, availability, reliability and quality of electricity delivered to end-users.” 

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Citing data from the World Bank, the think-tank said Nigeria has the largest energy access deficit in the world – 85 million Nigerians, representing 43% of the country’s population, don’t have access to grid electricity. 

“In comparison, 85% of Ghana’s population have access to electricity, while 70% of Senegal’s population have electricity access.” 

The World Bank estimates that the lack of reliable power costs the Nigerian economy over $26.2 billion which is equivalent to about 2% of Nigeria’s GDP.

“This is not to say that Nigeria has not made some progress in the power sector since 1999. For instance, in 1999, Nigeria had nine power generating stations – three hydro and six thermal stations – with a total installed on-grid generation capacity of 5,906MW, but with available generation below 1,500MW.

Nigeria’s energy mix still dominated by fossil fuels 

“Today, Nigeria has up to 26 on-grid generation stations with a total installed capacity above 13,000MW. However, available generation capacity hovers around 4,000MW, with average daily energy output of about 100,000MWh.” 

Agora Policy said the little progress that has been made in the power sector since 1999 is “neither at par with our population growth nor adequate for the energy needs necessary to achieve our economic potential.”

“For reference purposes, Nigeria’s energy consumption per capita at 140kWh is relatively low and is three times lower than the average for Sub-Saharan Africa.”

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In terms of Nigeria’s energy mix, the report said it consists of fossil fuel and renewable energy sources, mainly hydropower generation and increasingly generation from solar energy. 

“However, our energy mix is still dominated by fossil fuel – natural gas and diesel/petrol (largely for self-generation). This is understandable as Nigeria has Africa’s largest crude oil and natural gas resources. 

“However, this presents a problem for Nigeria as the world moves to cut fossil fuel consumption in order to achieve carbon neutrality (net-zero CO2 emission).”

Renewable energy sector needs to be harnessed and fed into the national grid

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference event in Glasgow (COP 26), Nigeria committed to carbon neutrality by 2060, and to this effect has unveiled its Energy Transition Plan (ETP). 

“It is reassuring that the World Bank in a recent publication recognises that natural gas can be a transition clean fuel for developing countries like Nigeria with vast natural gas resources and existing natural gas generation plants.

“Consequently, the in-coming administration must continue the implementation of the ETP to achieve a faster transition to carbon neutrality by 2060.” 

Agora Policy said there needs to be targeted new investments in additional power generation.

“At the moment, there is no solar energy generation into the national grid – and for obvious reasons ranging from grid connection, grid instability, existing stranded generation and payment assurances for the power to be produced.”

See the full policy memo here

Originally published by Yunus Kemp on ESI-Africa.

The Electricity System Operator’s (ESO) analysis shows that only 30-40% of transmission projects in the queue make it to fruition, but the queue operates on a first-come-first-served basis.

This can result in projects further up the queue holding back those that are more readily able to supply the UK with needed energy, even if those further up the queue are not ready to plug in.

The plan is the ESO’s resolution for the short term, a five-point plan to speed up connections as follows:

1. Operating a Transmission Entry Capacity Amnesty until April 2023, allowing developers to terminate their connection contracts without incurring liabilities, freeing up capacity in the queue.
2. Updating modelling assumptions to reflect current connection rates and reducing the assumption that most projects in the queue will connect.
3. Changing the treatment of storage, including batteries, on the network to allow them to connect faster and free up capacity for other projects.
4. Developing new contractual terms for connection contracts to manage the queue more efficiently so that those projects that are progressing can connect and those that are not can leave the queue.
5. A ‘soon-to-be-made’ offer of an interim option for storage projects to connect to the network sooner, but with the caveat that they may be required to turn off more frequently when the system is under stress without initially being paid to do so.  

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This, however, is a short-term resolution.

The existing connections process in the UK was designed 20 years ago for a time when connection applications were made by a small number of large fossil fuel generators.

The country’s progress on decarbonisation has led to a large volume of applications to connect to the electricity transmission system.

Connections applications now come from a diverse range of generation and storage projects at varying sizes and scales across Great Britain. Therefore, there is a need for wider reform.

Julian Leslie, ESO Head of Networks and Chief Engineer, said: “We recognise the frustration some of our connections customers are experiencing and through this package of short-term initiatives and longer-term reforms we are determined to address the challenges with the current process which was not designed to operate the sheer scale of applications we are receiving today.”

The ESO has begun a programme of longer-term reform as part of its Connections Reform Project. The project is now in the design phase to identify longer-term solutions, to be set out in the coming months before implementation later this year.

The Germany-based electric utility company is aiming to ensure that essential components of critical infrastructure remain connected, even during catastrophic events.

The announcement sees E.ON as the first company to sign a framework agreement on the nationwide use of radio services with 450connect, the operator of the 450MHz radio network. The agreement covers the procurement of radio services with a total contract value of around €500 million ($527.7 million) until 2040.

Under the terms of the agreement, E.ON’s network companies will be able to use the radio services for crisis communication as well as day-to-day operations starting in 2023. This will make key parts of the critical infrastructure independent of public fixed or mobile networks, which may not be available after a power failure or in other crisis situations.

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E.ON aims to read more than one million smart meters using 450MHz technology by 2040. In addition, the company plans to connect some 28,000 digital local network stations via the 450MHz frequency band by the end of 2026.

According to E.ON, as a flexible communication channel, the 450MHz band can also be used during regular grid operation and will make an important contribution to the digitalisation of the German energy landscape.

Frederik Giessing, managing director of 450connect, said: “We are delighted to have signed this framework agreement with E.ON as the largest distribution grid operator in Germany. Ensuring a highly available and secure 450MHz radio network for operators of critical infrastructures is a joint task.

“Since 2016, 450connect has been laying the groundwork for this in cooperation with regional energy suppliers. The new framework agreement with E.ON as a customer marks an important milestone in the nationwide expansion and provision of fail-safe radio services, which will be completed by 2025.”

Thomas König, E.ON management board member responsible for energy networks, emphasised the importance of the critical network infrastructure: “As the largest distribution system operator, we have a special responsibility for security of supply in Germany. With the envisaged use of 450MHz frequency band throughout Germany, we are creating the conditions for even more resilient crisis communication and the continued digitalisation of the electricity grids.

“And this is where regulation has an important part to play, because in order to promote the consistent use of 450MHz technology throughout the energy sector, distribution network operators have to have their costs recognised without much delay by the regulator.”

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) announced their partnership during COP27 for the financing of green energy transition and renewable energy projects, in both the public and private sectors.

The partnership will enhance assistance in areas such as co-financing operations and private capital mobilisation.

Capital will be directed to countries eligible to AIIB’s financing activities and that meet the Multilateral Development Bank’s (MDB’s) strategies and policies, while also being areas of GEAPP activity in alignment with and advancement of GEAPP’s objectives.

Simon Harford, CEO of GEAPP stated: “Last year, clean energy generation grew by 522TWh, about a quarter of what is needed to end energy poverty. However, most of this generation occurred in developed countries.

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“As a global MDB, AIIB has the capital, convening power and commitment to invest in innovative, clean energy projects across developing countries, which makes the Bank an ideal partner to join GEAPP. Together we will deliver transformational projects that accelerate and scale the energy transition for communities in Asia and beyond.”

AIIB President Jin Liqun remarked upon the significance of the partnership: “Despite challenges last year, AIIB achieved a 48% climate finance share of total approvals in 2021. Through our timely collaboration, AIIB will continue striving to find new ways to provide our members with access to additional capital and resources.”

Sir Danny Alexander, Vice-President of AIIB, added: “Our participation in GEAPP marks yet another step forwards for our bank, in unlocking new resources through co-financing measures, to meet our ambitious climate targets and deliver value to those most in need.

“As a climate-driven, partnerships bank, our joint work will be focused on project collaboration, and AIIB is delighted to join the alliance of GEAPP as an investment partner in financing a greener, more sustainable future.”

An exchange of Letters of Intent (LoI) was completed at a signing ceremony in Sharm El-Sheik. AIIB’s vice-president of policy and strategy, Sir Danny Alexander, and GEAPP’s CEO, Simon Harford, signed the documentation and were joined by Jin Liqun, president of AIIB; dr. Rajiv Shah, president of The Rockefeller Foundation; Per Heggenes, CEO of IKEA Foundation; and dr. Andrew Steer, president and CEO of Bezos Earth Fund. 

The partnership follows prior cooperation between AIIB and GEAPP over the past year and is the first time AIIB has partnered with a global philanthropic foundations-led initiative.

The contract will see Vattenfall deliver grid connection infrastructure for the Norfolk Boreas Offshore Wind Farm off the British coast.

As part of the contract, Siemens Energy and Aker Solutions will be responsible for engineering, procurement, construction and installation of the HVDC onshore and offshore substations and connection to the National Grid.

Helene Biström, head of business area wind at Vattenfall, stated on the project, “We are very proud of this deal, which is an important step forward to fossil free living within one generation and a major opportunity for supply chain companies to contribute to one of the largest offshore wind zones in the world.”

Hauke Jürgensen, senior vice president high voltage grids at Siemens Energy, added: “The expansion of renewable energy is more important than ever – in order to achieve the energy transition, and to curb the threats of climate change, but also to increase energy security. We look forward [to working] with Vattenfall and Aker Solutions to accelerate the development of offshore wind”.

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Norfolk Boreas

Located 47km off the Norfolk coast in south east Britain, with an installed capacity of 1.4GW, Norfolk Boreas is the first phase of Vattenfall’s Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone. It will deliver its first power in 2027.

Once complete, the Zone can produce renewable energy equivalent to the needs of over four million households and save up to six million tons of carbon dioxide.

Kenneth Simonsen, senior vice president of offshore wind energy at Aker Solutions, said: “The development of Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone could require up to three HVDC platforms in succession, which would provide more long-term predictability and positive repeat effects and standardisation for the supplier industry.

“We are proud to support a project which meets the dual objective of developing local content while delivering low cost, green electricity to homes and businesses across the UK.”

According to Vattenfall, HVDC technology offers one of the most efficient means of transmitting large amounts of power over long distances.

The states include Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, California, Connecticut, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Washington D.C.

The project, which is set to run until mid-June, seeks to connect 300 families’ homes to the electric grid for the first time. Project sponsors are the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) with support from the American Public Power Association (APPA).

“Working together is how things get done. NTUA and the APPA have demonstrated that through the successful electrification of hundreds of homes for Navajo families through Light Up Navajo,” stated Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez.

Four crews work each week at different locations throughout the Navajo Nation.

“We commend the NTUA and the APPA for leading this project to help improve the standard of life for our families. Financing the cost to construct electric service can be a burden for many, so the Light Up Navajo initiative will serve as the foundation to allow people to connect to the internet and modernise a way of living,” stated speaker Seth Damon (Bááhaalí, Chichiltah, Manuelito, Red Rock, Rock Springs, Tséyatoh).

“The Navajo people are grateful for all the volunteer line workers and the utility companies involved to make this happen.”

First launched in 2019, the LUN project represents a partnership between a tribal utility company and APPA, which represents 2,000 community-owned electric utility companies in the United States.

“Public power utilities have shown over the years that they are incredible at stepping up to help each other,” said APPA President & CEO Joy Ditto.

“We are well practiced in sending aid in the wake of natural disasters, and we are leveraging these skills to help bring power to those who still don’t have it in our country in the year 2022, a situation that must be rectified.

SRP experience

It took four weeks of up to 16-hour workdays, but Salt River Project (SRP) linemen successfully connected more than 50 Navajo families to electric service despite rough terrain, high winds, snow and mud in unfamiliar land, the utility said on May 11.

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In all, 56 families on Arizona’s Navajo Nation now have electricity powering their homes for the very first time.

“The first home we connected was the most touching for me. It was a mom who was living in a trailer with her children, and they had no power or running water. They had gotten sick with COVID-19 and had to quarantine at home. They were excited (to get power) and telling us how tough it had been the last few months,” described Art Peralta, SRP construction crew foreman, who resides in Mesa.

The SRP line crews returned home on May 8 after working on the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona since early April.

SRP line crews constructed about 12 miles of distribution lines. SRP crews also set 193 poles, strung 13 miles of overhead wire and worked 4,500 hours of donated man-hours. It marks the second time SRP line workers, based out of the Tempe Service Centre, volunteered to participate in LUN.

When the project wraps during the third week in June, a total of 200 Native American families are expected to have electricity in their homes.

SRP is a community-based, not-for-profit public power utility and the largest electricity provider in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, serving approximately 1.1 million customers.

Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans have restored a combined 457,000 customers out of the 902,000 that lost service, according to an Entergy statement. Entergy New Orleans has restored nearly 70% of customers impacted.

The damage from Ida’s historic intensity caused severe damage across the Entergy system in southeast Louisiana. The eye wall, which brings the most damaging winds and rainfall, caused damage to 30,679 poles, 36,469 spans of wire and 5,959 transformers.

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“We have made significant progress in getting the lights back on for our customers in spite of all the challenges we are facing,” said John Hawkins, Entergy’s vice president of distribution operations.

“Our crews are encountering massive damage – particularly in the hardest-hit areas. We have assembled a storm team of nearly 26,000 people who will not stop until the last light is back on. I want to thank our customers for their patience as we work to restore power to our communities.”

Restoration efforts were made easier due to fortified levees and floodgates that were launched after Hurricane Katrina successfully protected New Orleans from maximum flooding.

Read more about the levee system: New Orleans levees passed their first major test

The $14 billion Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System strengthened 133 miles of perimeter around New Orleans and surrounding areas to protect it from storm surge and pump out excess water.

The other members of the consortium are the French multidisciplinary consultancy Application Européenne de Technologies et de Services (AETS) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) from India.

The 13 month project under the leadership of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is aimed to deliver a long term vision and action plan with pilot project proposals that can be implemented to drive the initiative forward.

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OSOWOG is a proposal from India’s prime minister Narendra Modi to create an inter-continental grid, drawing on the mantra that ‘the sun never sets’ and at any given time is present at some geographical location.

India, through the OSOWOG initiative, plans to take another leap towards building a global ecosystem of interconnected renewable energy resources that are seamlessly shared for mutual benefits and global sustainability, according to the project RFP document.

The initiative is planned across three phases. In phase one, India would interconnect with the Middle East and South and South East Asia grids. Phase two would see this first phase interconnection interconnected to the African power pools and other solar and renewable rich areas. Then in phase three the interconnections would be extended globally.

The RFP document envisages that two or three cross-border interconnections could be initiated within one to two years, preferably one each with the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa regions, considering India as the grid ‘fulcrum’.

The consortium also is required to deliver an institutional framework for international co-operation, steering arrangements and governance.

India is the not the first to consider a global grid and OSOWOG would appear to be its answer to China’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiative, which has made very similar proposals from an energy perspective.

Europe’s Joint Research Centre has made studies on interconnections out of Europe west to North America and east to China. The China study found that the technology is mature enough for interconnection from Europe to be built but that the benefits needed to be envisaged. The cost was estimated between €15-28 billion depending on the route and numbers of countries crossed.

The North America interconnection study found that a 4,000MW submarine cable could bring an annual socio-economic benefit of €177 million in 2030 and that the benefits are sufficient to cover the investment costs, which were estimated at €1.6 trillion.

This new technology will enable Uniper to deliver grid stability services to British energy system operator National Grid ESO, through generating inertia which helps balance grid frequency, without generating power.

This follows Uniper being awarded four six-year contracts by National Grid ESO earlier this year, to provide inertia services and voltage control to the grid under phase 1 of its Stability Pathfinder.

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Two steam turbine generators will be repurposed and flywheels installed at the Killingholme site, and two new synchronous condenser units will be built on the site of the old oil-fired power station at Grain. These units will be connected to the existing grid connections at each site. Siemens Energy will be responsible for installing and commissioning synchronous condenser units at both facilities.

The services provided by Uniper through this innovative solution will make an important contribution by keeping the power system stable and the electricity supply at the required frequency as more renewable generation comes online.

Traditionally, inertia has been provided as a by-product of generating electricity at thermal power stations with large synchronous spinning generators. However, as many of these facilities reach retirement, the job of managing grid stability has become more challenging for National Grid ESO, as renewable generation is not connected to the grid in the same way and cannot provide inertia.

Working together with Siemens Energy, Uniper has developed a custom designed solution for each of the facilities that will provide the same grid stabilising services to National Grid ESO without the need to generate power – this is a significant step forward in helping to deliver a net zero future for the UK.

Mike Lockett, Uniper UK country chairman and group chief commercial officer power, commented: “I’m delighted that we’ve been able to work closely with Siemens Energy to create a bespoke solution that meets the needs of National Grid ESO, and which is the right fit for our Killingholme and Grain facilities.

“The services provided by Uniper will make an important contribution in supporting the energy transition by maintaining grid stability and security of supplies whilst enabling more renewables to be integrated into the energy system. Creating these innovative solutions based at our sites, puts Uniper at the forefront of this market, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to meeting the challenge of a zero-carbon future.”

“As the energy transition in Great Britain continues along a path toward a zero-carbon future, innovative products and solutions such as these are taking center-stage,” said Karim Amin, executive vice president, generation, Siemens Energy. “And as GB’s electricity generation system moves to more decentralized, renewable power, projects like this which provide inertia without generating any power, will be even more important for the energy system of the future. We salute Uniper for their commitment to a more sustainable energy future.”

Uniper will be the biggest provider of dedicated inertia and voltage control, and will deliver services at both Killingholme and Grain up to 2026.

Work to build the synchronous condenser units at both facilities is due to start later this year with contracted services to begin from 2021.

Even if you are aware of security events, you can be missing important indicators of attack, simply because they are lost in the background of low-level threat indicators and false positives. Common responses are to log everything or log nothing. In either case, you are unable to spot the key indicators that would allow you to adopt a modified security posture in response to a threat or react to block an attack or limit its impact.

Grid watch adds detection and response capabilities to established smart meter security layers. It strengthens the ability to prevent, detect, and respond to misuse of grid assets and malicious behavior through a unique intrusion detection system.

Advanced technologies are no more just new high-tech systems to be installed and implemented; they are business models. They represent crucial economic and corporate transition into a truly digitally integrated workplace.

CDOs, CTO’s, CIO’s all have emphasised that the main challenge of advanced tech like AI, ML and advanced analytics, is the requirement of comprehensive system and organisational integration, in order to successfully implement it into the core operations and business models of the energy sector.

PRICE: USD 4,090
SERVICE TYPE: Virtual workshop
SOLUTION AREA(S): Industry insights; IT architecture; cloud technologies; IoT, AI, machine learning, advanced analytics
SPEAKER(S):

Thorsten Heller, CEO & Chief Innovator at Greenbird Integration Technologies, Thought Leader for Digital Technologies driving the Energy Transition

Sign up now

LEARNING GOALS

Get an overview and understanding of innovative utility use cases from around the world driving the energy transition. Learn from others to create ideas for your own utility.

AGENDA

• Introduction global trends within utilities and the energy sector
• Deep dive deep into 5 preselected topics
• Overview of emerging technologies
• Further reading and information sources
• Q&A / Discussions

SELECT 5 DEEP DIVE WORKSHOP TOPICS:

Use cases for utilities or energy companies

• Platform operator and provider of mission-critical compute power
• Citizen Data Scientist
• Smart City Convergence

Use cases for DSOs, Retailers or Power Generators

• Intelligent Grid Operations
• Asset Health & Predictive Maintenance
• OT Analytics
• Energy Loss Analytics
• Peak shaving, peak load/demand forecasting
• Grid Edge analytics
• VPP and DER integration, redispatch, Microgrid management
• OT Analytics
• Energy Efficiency Management
• Personalized Energy Tariffs, energy flat rate (“all you can eat”)
• Smart Building and Property Management

DELIVERABLES

After the workshop, we will provide you with the following:

• Seminar documentation and slide deck
• Recommended readings-list
• Recording of the online workshop

WORKSHOP DETAILS

The workshops will offer a deep dive into the technical trends and opportunities of Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Microservices, IT architecture & Cloud Technologies. Schedule a short meeting with us to find out the full details and the requirements of each workshop.

Greenbird offers out-of-the-box system integration for utilities. We are a true DevOps company, delivering unique time-to-market and reliability. We were named a Gartner ‘Cool Vendor’ in 2018 because of our domain-specific and flexible integration capabilities, crucial for creating easy-to-consume integrated solutions. Utilihive empowers utilities to manage their data flow faster and smoother than traditional system integration models while accelerating the journey towards the energy revolution. Greenbird is based in Oslo, Norway.

Follow Greenbird on: LinkedIn & Twitter.

The project is one of four of UK government-sponsored Innovate UK pilot projects to be built over the next 3 years. It uses local partners to develop replicable, scalable, distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) to deliver integrated intelligent local systems to deliver power, heat and mobility more efficiently across social housing, transport, infrastructure and private residential and commercial properties.

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The project will also see as many as 350 smart solar panel and battery systems installed at social homes, schools, businesses and the local public sector in West Sussex. Up to 250 electric vehicle charging points to support the transition to low carbon transport will also be installed.

Innovate UK is part of the government’s UK Research and Innovation programme.

Their ‘Prospering from the Energy Revolution’ challenge is an overall £102.5 million investment from the government to develop smart systems that can support the global move to renewable energy.

The SmartHubs VPP will use smart grid technology provider Moixa’s GridShare technology to aggregate and manage the fleet of hybrid systems across transport, heat and power to deliver flexibility services into ancillary markets to help ensure system reliability.

“SmartHubs is a massive project for a massive challenge, working with a local authority committed to both the Climate Change Agenda and supporting SME scale up,” said Matthew Lumsden, Connected Energy CEO and Chair of the SmartHubs Steering Committee. “Bringing together innovative technologies and integrating them on this scale is an exciting proposition and one we are keen to see replicated up and down the country to help manage the climate emergency we’re facing. Working on a project like this during a global pandemic is a challenge but it’s more important than ever that we can create a replicable model for the rest of the UK to follow.” 

“The technologies involved in the project have differing degrees of maturity and therefore are attractive to different types of investors–part of the challenge when bringing together energy systems is not only the physical integration of the technologies, it is also to find appropriate investors to co-fund the project and understand the holistic nature of it,” said Matthew.

Partners will each contribute separately in the form of new project and service delivery, with the following expected in coming months:

• Lead partner Connected Energy will deliver a 12 MW in-front-of-the-meter battery energy storage system in Sompting West Sussex, as well as up to nine 300 kW behind-the-meter battery systems across the region, and up to five EV charging hubs with integrated photovoltaics and battery energy storage. These systems will use over 1,000 second-life electric vehicle batteries and add grid balancing, grid load management and resilience services to the project. The 12 MW system alone has a total capacity of 14.4 MWh, the energy equivalent of powering 1,695 average homes for a whole day.

• Interseasonal heat transfer firm ICAX is designing and installing a marine source heat pump to transfer heat from the sea water in Shoreham Harbour to heat adjacent buildings of the Shoreham Port Authority using a district heating system.

• PassivSystems will install 250 air source heat pumps (ASHP) with smart controls in domestic social and private residences both on and off gas grid. Learning algorithms analyse multiple data points within the homes to learn their thermal properties. Weather information and user behaviour will then be overlaid to predict user demand; this is then used to optimise the efficiency of the heating system and will enable aggregation to respond to demand side response (DSR) opportunities. Throughout the life of SmartHubs PassivSystems will further develop its smart controls and operating platform to improve social landlord and tenant interfaces and enhance demand forecasting to support VPP outcomes.

• ITM Power will investigate the feasibility of integrating electrolyser based hydrogen refuelling systems into a localised energy system. Hydrogen generated from renewables can provide zero carbon fuel for transport and support the local energy system with a 2 MW load which can be switched on or off, enabling better management and control of the electricity system.

• Newcastle University’s Electrical Power Research Group’s socio-technical research will use mathematical methods in order to evaluate the whole series of network management techniques used in the project. The team will bring modelling expertise to SmartHubs, providing a detailed technical understanding of the performance parameters of each technology to be deployed.

Steve Read, Director of Environment and Public Protection at West Sussex County Council said: “We are delighted to be part of the SmartHubs project. This is an exciting opportunity and recognition of our growing reputation for delivering successful, pioneering energy projects such as our solar farms, battery storage projects and Solar Power for Schools programme.

“The lessons we learn will help the Government to plan ahead and adapt our national energy system to the fundamental changes taking place. These include the growth in renewable energy supply, increasing demand for energy from electric vehicles and other innovations and the challenge of balancing energy supply and demand.”

Enlit Europe will gather in Milan between 30 November and 02 December 2021 and will feature innovative companies accelerating decarbonisation at Europe’s largest gathering of companies driving and leading the energy transition. Are you going to be there?
Click here to join us in Milan.

The order went so far as to say that some equipment already in use may need to be stripped from the grid and replaced.

While the industry waits for clarity on those rules, there are certain preliminary steps that both utilities and the vendors that supply them can take now, according to Belton Zeigler, partner with Womble Bond Dickenson law firm in South Carolina. Zeigler is a senior member of Womble Bond Dickinson’s Data Management and Cybersecurity Team.

Take a look at your contracts

First, he said, both utilities and vendors need to look very carefully at their contracts to see where and how risks are being allocated. Many contracts include a “change of law” provision and he urges both utilities and vendors to re-examine them to make sure they understand what is and what isn’t protected. For example, if a utility has recently purchased a piece of switchgear, for example, but hasn’t installed it yet, it’s conceivable that the utility could receive a notice from the federal government at some point in the near future saying, ‘send it back,’ he said.

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“Are you comfortable that you know who bears that cost,” he said.

Further, he added that now that the order has been issued, a change of law has already occurred, “so as you are bidding on things after May 1, you can’t really rely on change of law,” he said. “Lawyers can fight about that.”

Understand that it’s an uncertain time for utilities to design, specify or purchase anything

Zeigler pointed out that major improvement projects on the bulk power system take place over a long time. “You have design where you will be specifying equipment typically, you have the procurement process where the pricing may be built around assumptions of particular equipment, and then you’ll have the actual physical manufacturing, shipment, delivery, and installation of the equipment,” he explained.

“There’s a possibility of disruption at any point,” he said.

“The regulations are conceivably very broad and that means a great deal of risk, which has to be considered at all stages in that procurement process in order for people to protect themselves,” he added.

Look at every single component in your product

For vendors, Zeigler recommends they look carefully at where they are sourcing each and every component in their products.

“You may have a piece of equipment which is 85-90% manufactured in a non-adversarial circumstance but if the electronic controls associated with that equipment are coming from an adversarial supplier, I would assume that the rules would apply to it,” he said.

He also recommends that vendors keep a close eye on the development of the regulations and rules “and what the possibilities are for receiving licenses, exemptions, or being whitelisted,” he said.

He also suggested they explore other possibilities for where they could source sensitive electronic equipment so that it would be in compliance if it is determined that the country from which they are sourcing now is a prohibited one.

Lingering questions

Zeigler pointed out a number of unanswered questions that utilities and vendors will need answers to in order to continue building out the grid of the future.

• What will the grandfathering or the effective date look like?
• How will DOE treat transactions in process?
• Which nations are going to be considered subject to this? (He added that he thinks everyone has their assumptions — Russia and China — but that it would be very helpful to know definitively.)
• How carefully will the regulations focus only on those electronic components because if that is the case, it may be possible to comply without changing all of the equipment, just a handful of the components. 

While 5 months might seem like a very long time to wait for clarity Zeigler pointed out that DOE is aware of and sensitive to just how disruptive this order will be to the utility industry.

“A 150-day window is fairly short from a regulatory standpoint,” he said, explaining that a lot of regulations take much longer than that to be finalized.

“Someone was saying ‘I think this has to be done quickly to minimize risk and uncertainty,’” said Zeigler.

This story first appeared on our sister site, Renewable Energy World.

Interestingly, grid-connected solar and wind additions will make up the lion’s share – about 65% of the total, whilst gas and coal combined will make up one-quarter of new capacity.

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It’s commonly accepted in organised power markets that as renewable penetration increases, wholesale prices decrease, in turn creating financing challenges for all generation types, but in emerging markets, these challenges are also met with additional constraints – both in terms of regulation and infrastructure.

IHS Markit predicts seven trends, stemming from three interconnected drivers that will influence the success of both government and private ambitions in 2020, namely, policy, technological developments and new business models that deliver new revenue streams.

1. Changing subsidies: Most markets have already shifted from feed-in-tariffs (FiTs), in pursuit of market-driven pricing through renewable auctions. Key markets such as China, Japan, and Vietnam will, however, sustain solar and wind FiTs or FiT caps into 2021. At the same time, seasoned-auction markets are going a step further by complementing technology-specific auctions with neutral and mixed- technology auctions. However, as direct support mechanisms see reductions, renewable quotas and green certificate programs continue to be launched or extended in growth markets.
2. Market reforms: Markets such as Brazil, Japan, Vietnam, India, and Belgium will continue to revise recently designed wholesale power markets or market designs to attract investment in the power sector and establish mechanisms to address the need for capacity and balancing services. These markets’ focus on capacity and ancillary services is partly driven by lessons learned in more established markets, which are undergoing their own changes to market design (e.g. Germany, France, and PJM).
3. Renewable cost improvements: Renewable costs will continue to decline in 2020 and convergence across markets and technologies will accelerate. As a result, IHS Markit expects renewables’ levelised cost of energy to be within the range of marginal fossil fuel costs in an increasing number of markets.
4. Emerging technologies: Bifacial solar panels are entering the mainstream for PV, the battery storage industry continues to grow rapidly, and floating offshore wind is taking off. As a result, solar, wind, and battery technologies continue to build scale and accelerate cost and performance improvements in 2020.
5. New market players: Over 200 companies have formally committed to RE100, a global corporate initiative to cover electricity usage with 100% renewables before 2050. Of the 211 members, over 50 joined in 2019, marking a record year. Corporate-driven renewable procurement matched target enthusiasm by more than doubling its activity in 2018 and hitting a record year in 2019. We expect corporate activities to continue and to see movement in retail competition in markets such as India, South Africa, and China, in 2020.
6. Utility adaptation strategies: Revenues streams for power generators are evolving as governments move toward competitive bids, renewable price cannibalization increases, and merchant power markets come under pressure as renewables penetration increases. As a result, utilities are adapting their business strategies to compete in this new environment and are aiming to capture new revenue streams generated by new stakeholders.
7. COVID-19 shock: The year 2020 will be remembered by the ripple effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19). IHS Markit expects the virus to decelerate power demand growth around the world, leading to intensified competition among generation technologies – coal, gas, nuclear, and renewables. For example, the load growth of the world’s largest power market, China, is projected to decrease to 3.1% in 2020 from the previous outlook of 4.1%. In terms of generation, coal will carry the brunt of the decline in China, but renewable capacity additions will be impacted as well. Globally, we expect to see a ripple effect of COVID-19 in markets near and far as demand shocks and fuel price reverberations impact competition in power generation.

Enlit Europe will gather in Milan between 30 November and 02 December 2021 and will feature innovative companies accelerating decarbonisation at Europe’s largest gathering of companies driving and leading the energy transition. Are you going to be there?
Click here to join us in Milan.

India decided to work with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United States Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop a comprehensive grid integration study identifying operational pathways that would enable India to efficiently meet its renewable energy target.

Now NREL’s grid integration experts are making the processes and best practices from India and other grid integration studies accessible in the form of a new guidebook, produced through the USAID-NREL Partnership’s Greening the Grid platform, that can be used by power system planners and decision makers across the globe. The guidebook, Variable Renewable Energy Grid Integration Studies: A Guidebook for PractitionersPDF, synthesizes the past decade of lessons learned and approaches for conducting high-quality grid integration studies.

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“This guidebook will inform the next generation of grid integration studies,” said Ilya Chernyakhovskiy, NREL researcher and one of the guidebook’s authors.

It will help teams and project leaders to build on NREL’s experience delivering high-quality analysis and insights, and to build consensus among in-country stakeholders around ambitious renewable energy targets.”

Grid integration studies focus on system-level issues that affect delivering variable renewable energy sources to a power grid and identify the least-cost methods to do so. Studies may involve several types of technical analyses, including:

• Identifying future generation and transmission portfolios
• Simulating power system operations under different scenarios and timescales
• Identifying system reliability constraints
• Determining the relative costs and benefits of different actions

While any one grid integration study is inherently system-specific, the guidebook demonstrates how all studies involve similar tools, obstacles, and coordination efforts. Additionally, the guidebook devotes special attention to the process of translating a study into actionable results, policies, and operational upgrades.

Chernyakhovskiy further underscored the impact of this guidebook’s release by emphasizing the breadth of experience it draws from. “This publication is a major milestone in the Greening the Grid platform,” he said. “It is the culmination of several years of effort, and the resources provided will be useful to a wide swath of stakeholders internationally.”

The energy transition and renewable energy are hot topics disrupting the utility industry in India and will be a key focus at the POWERGEN INDIA and Indian Utility Week summit which takes place in New Delhi.
For more details visit powergen-india.com or indian-utility-week.com

Infrastructure projects including roadways, water pipes, gas lines and mines are subject to federal approval, but this looks set to change, and critics say the changes will effectively relax efforts to combat climate change, and speed the development of potentially environmentally-harmful infrastructure.

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President Trump said: “In the past, many … of America’s most critical infrastructure projects have been tied up and bogged down by an outrageously slow and burdensome federal approval process. And I’ve been talking about it for a long time — where it takes many, many years to get something built — get something built — done in any way. The builders are not happy. Nobody is happy. It takes 20 years. It takes 30 years. It takes numbers that nobody would even believe.

“These endless delays waste money, keep projects from breaking ground, and deny jobs to our nation’s incredible workers.”

Similar reasoning saw the US announce its withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement in the second half of 2019.

11h00 New York | 15h00 GMT | 16h00 London | 17h00 Johannesburg | 17h00 Paris | 20h30 New Delhi| 00h00 Tokyo

Solar, wind and other renewables, on-site battery storage, and microgrids are the future, not fads. They’re becoming reality as governments and regulators incentivise grid defection, with seemingly scant regard for the utilities that enable this change.

Are you feeling the weight of this, and are you ready to seize the opportunities it holds?

Our webinar, “Grid Defection – prosumer pain or pure profit?” sees leading global experts answer the industry’s burning questions, such as: 

• Is Power becoming decentralised?
• How do utilities maximise the opportunities of grid defection for higher profits now and in the future?
• How to manage associated asset redundancies, without major investment?
• Emerging trends in the Prosumer market.
• State-of-the-art programmes and consumer options that are shaping the grid, and safeguarding the future.
  

Make up your own mind – informed with insights into a more certain future.

Speakers:

Dr. Eric Hittinger: Associate Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology

Dr. Hittinger is an Associate Professor in Public Policy and Affiliated Faculty at the Golisano Institute for Sustainability at Rochester Institute of Technology, and regularly consults for energy storage manufacturers and developers. He holds a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University and a MS in Macromolecular Science from Case Western Reserve University. Professor Hittinger has a background in electricity system policy, operation, and economics, with a focus on understanding the benefits and limitations of energy storage and renewable electricity sources. Before entering the energy field, he was a Project Management Engineer for the US Army, with extensive travel to support military operations abroad.

Jamie Mandel – Managing Director – Rocky Mountain Institute

Jamie Mandel is Managing Director of RMI’s Buildings Program.  RMI’s Buildings Program focuses on cost-effective and market-based solutions to decarbonize the built environment.  The program comprises initiatives focused on net-zero energy district design in the US, China, and India; portfolio energy optimization from an investment perspective; accelerating electrified and net zero retrofits in multifamily affordable housing; and helping cities adopt aggressive energy efficiency codes and policies.

Technologies including local renewables, battery storage, electric vehicles (EV’s) and demand-side management will be explored.

The project, expected to run for three years, was granted £13.8 million by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as well as £26 million of private partner-funding.

Project LEO aims to replicate and trial demonstration system operator models being researched by the UK government, industry, and the country’s energy regulator via the Energy Networks Association’s Open Networks Project.

The trial will also look to balance real-world demand and supply, whilst testing markets and investment models in an effort to glen the benefits of increased flexibility.

The Oxfordshire council has already started energy-saving street lighting, waste reduction and solar school projects, which, along with the levels of constraint on the grid in the area, and the forward-thinking approach of both local authorities.

Project partners include Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) as project leaders, in partnership with the local city and county councils, the Universities of Oxford and Oxford Brookes, EDF Energy, Nuvve, Low Carbon Hub, Open Utility and Origami Energy.

The new project will support Oxfordshire’s target to reduce city-wide emissions by 40% by 2020, which means it must generate 58% of its electricity demand from renewable sources.

Councillor Tom Hayes, board member for a Cleaner and Greener Environment at Oxford City Council said: “Project LEO will return power to the people so that we can generate clean energy for our own neighbourhoods. By creating opportunities for communities to trade the energy they generate, use and store at a local level, we hope that Project LEO will empower people, companies and local areas to build an energy system that works for people and planet.”

Ameren Illinois will use ABB Ability Ellipse Asset Performance Management to optimise asset management and increase power reliability for one million customers.

The software solution will allow the energy company to better predict and prevent the failure of mission-critical equipment under the firm’s multi-million dollar grid modernisation project.

The solution will eliminate manual regularly scheduled “check-ups” to maintain grid infrastructure.

The technology uses sensors, data and advanced analytics to constantly assess the real-time condition of assets, determine when they might need repair or replacement and alert the stakeholders. This allows utilities to prioritise short- and long-term maintenance needs and drive productivity, safety and return on investment from critical grid assets.

“We are investing significant resources to modernise the grid, improve reliability and deliver value for our customers,” said Ron Pate, senior vice president, operations and technical services, Ameren Illinois.

The solution will be complemented by existing ABB transformers, Ability Network Manager, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition/Advanced Distribution Management System, Ability Velocity Suite, ABB Ability PROMOD and ABB Ability distributed control systems, deployed by Ameren Illinois.

According to the report:

• Digital transformation is exposing companies to higher and more costly cyber risks.
• Firms whose cybersecurity practices do not keep pace with their digital transformation are more likely to see $1 million or more in cyberattack losses.
• Majority of attacks will shift from malware (81%), phishing (64%) and ransomware (63%) to from customers and vendors (247%), supply chains (+146%), denial of service (+144%), apps (+85%) and embedded systems (84%) in the next two years.

The survey was conducted on some 1,300 global firms by a consortium of research firms including ESI ThoughtLab, the Wall Street Journal, the Security Industry Association, Baker McKenzie, CyberCube, HP Inc., KnowBe4, Opus, Protiviti and Willis Towers Watson.

Don Erickson, CEO, SIA, said: “As validated by SIA’s just-released 2019 Security Megatrends – highlighting the top factors influencing both short- and long-term change in the global security industry – security companies see cybersecurity as the dominant trend shaping the industry.”

Lou Celi, CEO of ESI ThoughtLab and director of the study, added: “Cybersecurity should not be an afterthought. It needs to be integrated into the fabric of an organisation’s growth strategy.”

Surveyed firms are increasing cybersecurity investments by 7% this year and by 14% next year to cope with rising cyber risks.

Companies with revenue between $250 million and $1 billion will spend $2.9 million next year, $1-5 billion ($5.7 million), $5-$20 billion ($10.7 million) and $20+ billion ($16.8 million).

These companies say they will allocate 39.3% of their cybersecurity budgets to technology, 30.7% to process and 30% to people.

Technologies currently being used to improve security processes include multi-factor authentication (90%), blockchain (68%), the Internet of Things (62%) and artificial intelligence (44%).

Over the next two years, technologies that will see an increase in use include behavioral analytics (+1,735%), smart grid technologies (+831%), deception technology (+684%) and hardware security and resilience (+114%).

Countries with the highest maturity in cybersecurity include the United States (107.2), South Korea (104.7), Japan (102.6), France (101.9) and Australia (101.3).

Most of the lowest scoring companies were headquartered in emerging markets, including Brazil (88.6), Argentina (93.6) and India (93.7).

The funding will support research, development and demonstration of next-generation cybersecurity tools and technologies.

The funding is being issued via the Cybersecurity for Energy Delivery Systems Division of the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response to protect electric, oil and gas infrastructure.

Beneficiaries will partner to research and create innovative solutions to detect and mitigate current and future cyber attacks attacking energy delivery systems which are becoming vulnerable due to digitisation.

The eleven projects to benefit have demonstrated their ability to develop cybersecurity solutions meeting operational standards articulated in the DOE Multiyear Plan for Energy Sector Cybersecurity

US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, said:  “Protecting the Nation’s energy delivery systems from cyber-threats is a top national priority.

“These awards will spur the next level of innovation needed to advance cyber resilience, ensuring that the Nation’s critical energy infrastructure can withstand potential cyber attacks while also still keeping the lights on.”

The news follows the CEDS providing funding which has enabled the development and transitioning to the energy sector of 35 technologies.

If approved, the plan includes directing $2.9 billion towards developing new and upgrading existing energy efficiency, electric vehicle and energy storage infrastructure, as well as $2.5 billion to extend the utility’s Energy Strong programme.

Investing in EV infrastructure will be the utility’s first major investment towards the segment.

The investments will help the utility modernise its energy network and help New Jersey achieve clean energy goals.

However, the approval will pave the way for 8 to 10% annual growth in PSEG’s rate base.

The investments will be as follows:

• $2.5 billion for energy efficiency: This will help reduce energy use by 40 million MWh of electricity and 675 million therms of natural gas, reduce carbon emissions by 24 million tons, generate approximately 5,000 sustainable direct and indirect jobs over a period of six years.
• $300 million for building a “smart” electric vehicle infrastructure; and
• $100 million for utility-scale energy storage systems that will enable greater development of renewable resources and enhance resiliency.
• The Energy Strong programme will include enhancing the reliability and resiliency of the grid by hardening electric and gas facilities against storms. Phase one of the programme saw $1.2 billion in investment and will be completed by the end of 2018.
• In addition, $6 billion will be invested in upgrading aging infrastructure and enhancing reliability and resiliency and $3 billion in improving the reliability and safety of natural gas distribution systems under the Gas System Modernisation Programme

“This ambitious program is all about continuing the positive momentum that the people of PSEG have built over the last 115 years,” said Ralph Izzo, CEO at PSEG.

“It is the most significant investment programme in PSEG’s history, marking a strong commitment to modernisation of our infrastructure and a clean energy future. This will help meet growing consumer desire to use less energy, to ensure the energy they use is cleaner, and to lower bills.”

“Even as we have made significant investments in improving the gas, electric delivery and transmission systems, typical residential customer bills are about 21% lower that they were at the start of this decade,” Izzo added. “Lower natural gas prices and interest rates make this the ideal time to make these needed investments and still keep bills reasonable.”

The news comes as the utility continues to retire conventional energy generation portfolios.

PSEG’s subsidiary PSEG Power has retired approximately 4,000MW of less-efficient generation (coal and peakers) over the last five years.

“PSEG Power is helping combat climate change by preserving nuclear generation as a carbon-free resource and developing new highly efficient, combined-cycle plants to displace coal and older, less-efficient gas plants,”reiterated Izzo.