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Commonwealth Associates, Inc. ®
Commonwealth provides traditional and renewable engineering, consulting, and design services. From IPPs to IOUs, to federal contracts, to city power and light, big or small, Commonwealth has you covered. With offices and experts across the country, Commonwealth is here to make a powerful difference for you. To learn more, visit www.cai-engr.com or call 517.788.3000.
 
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Burns & McDonnell
Meridian Cooperative
Alltricity Network Member Information
RMEL's trusted network is now accessible on Facebook, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter). These are forums intended for RMEL members only. Working side-by-side in a cooperative manner, RMEL members band together for the common goal of bettering the industry and improving service for utility customers. For more than 100 years, these key principles have proven successful and, more importantly, are tried-and-true methods for building strong business relationships.

 

RMEL Champions is a prestigious group of RMEL supporters with access to useful and beneficial promotional opportunities. Thank you, 2023 RMEL Champions!

Visit https://www.rmel.org/page/RMELChampions to view the full article online.

The game has changed from the traditional O&M model.
Black & Veatch Corporation®
Big Data helps owners detect issues before they become big problems. Prioritize field responses, balance the costs and benefits of maintenance activities, and generate the greatest ROI with these 4 key methods to optimize DER assets through data-driven O&M.
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Industry Information
  
Utility credit downgrades “directly related to physical risks have significantly increased” in the past six years, S&P said. And “the credit quality of utilities with physical risk exposure could come under even more pressure if comprehensive risk-reduction strategies are not effectively implemented.”

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/investor-owned-utilities-physical-climate-risks-downgrades-securitization/701968/ to view the full article online.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that coal-fired power plants will generate less electricity in 2024 (599 billion kwh) than the combined generation from solar and wind (688 billion kWh) for the first time on record.

Visit https://www.power-eng.com/renewables/eia-projects-wind-and-solar-to-outpace-coal-generation-for-the-first-time-in-2024/ to view the full article online.

  
While most regions should have sufficient electricity supply in normal weather, both the Northeast and Western half of the U.S. face an elevated risk of blackouts in extreme conditions. And parts of the Midwest and central South areas could see power supply shortfalls during normal peak operations.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/generator-retirements-threaten-grid-reliability-NERC/702504/ to view the full article online.

Per the report, the main drivers of this increase are investments in new manufacturing, industrial, and data center facilities. Since 2021, commitments for industrial and manufacturing facilities have totaled about $481 billion, and more than 200 manufacturing facilities have been announced this past year. Data center growth is forecasted to exceed $150 billion through 2028.

Visit https://www.power-eng.com/renewables/report-more-than-38-gw-of-peak-demand-growth-expected-through-2028/ to view the full article online.

  
While rooftop solar is struggling with new customer acquisition, offshore wind has taken a hit due to a crowded marketplace and a lack of differentiation. Hydrogen, meanwhile, has its own problems with cost effectiveness, according to the report.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/renewables-profit-margins-are-shrinking-alphasense/702743/ to view the full article online.

The electric power and natural gas sectors should collaborate on a “blackstart system restoration plan” to bring the grid back online in the event of a widespread blackout, a joint report released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and North American Electric Reliability Corp. recommended.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/electric-gas-coordination-planning-blackstart-FERC-NERC-grid-recovery/703181/ to view the full article online.

  
Clean energy is often now the least expensive, explaining some of the growth. Nations also adopted policies that support renewables, some citing energy security concerns, according to the International Energy Agency. These factors countered high interest rates and persistent challenges in getting materials and components in many places.

Visit https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/solar/the-year-in-clean-energy-wind-solar-and-batteries-grew-despite-economic-challenges/ to view the full article online.

  
Inverters with “grid-forming” capabilities, or GFM, are needed to support the growing penetration of inverter-based resources, or IBRs, like wind and solar, according to engineers with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC, and engineers with the Energy Systems Integration Group, or ESIG, which advocates for integrating and managing higher levels of renewables.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/grid-forming-inverters-vital-protect-the-grid-solar-wind-batteries/702892/ to view the full article online.

Rising concerns over climate change, trillions of dollars in government programs designed to force markets in competing directions and looming elections in the US, Great Britain and other countries promise to render 2024 one of the least predictable years in history where energy is concerned.

Visit https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2024/01/03/9-consequential-energy-predictions-for-2024/?ss=energy&sh=895caa75aeac to view the full article online.

Futura Systems, Inc
Member Announcements
Rural electricity consumers across four western states will benefit from reliable power and lower costs, with clean energy investment and greenhouse gas emissions reductions accelerated by federal funding, in a long-term strategy announced today by Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association. 

Visit https://tristate.coop/tri-state-accelerates-clean-energy-transition to view the full article online.

  
The Western Area Power Administration approved a single set of formula rates for four major transmission projects located in WAPA’s Desert Southwest region. The new formula rates are designed to combine the revenue requirement of each project and calculate a single rate for transmission service each year.

Visit https://www.wapa.gov/wapa-approves-one-transmission-rate-across-four-projects-in-desert-southwest/ to view the full article online.

  
Salt River Project (SRP) and NextEra Energy Resources, LLC have officially commissioned a 100-megawatt (MW) battery energy storage system to store the energy produced by the operating Saint Solar Energy Center in Coolidge, Arizona. The Saint Solar facility has been serving SRP commercial customers since the end of 2020 and is one of nine SRP-contracted solar resources delivering more than 650 MW of clean energy to SRP customers.

Visit https://media.srpnet.com/srp-and-nextera-energy-resources-commission-solar-charged-battery-system-storing-enough-clean-energy-to-power-nearly-23k-homes/ to view the full article online.


The episode featured interviews with Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon and University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources Executive Director Dr. Holly Krutka. During his interview, Gov. Gordon said he set a goal of making Wyoming not just carbon neutral when it comes to CO2 emissions, but eventually carbon negative. 

Visit https://www.basinelectric.com/News-Center/news-briefs/Advancements-in-carbon-capture-in-Wyomings-energy-sector-featured-on-60-Minutes to view the full article online.

  
PacifiCorp and its research partners are moving forward with a highly anticipated and ambitious study to evaluate the effects of painting a single wind turbine blade in black on 36 different turbines to reduce collision risks to birds flying near the wind turbines.

Visit https://www.pacificorp.com/about/newsroom/news-releases/bird-safety-wind-turbines.html to view the full article online.

White Paper
A research team has concluded that China will be the first country worldwide to become independent of the need to mine the raw materials which are essential for batteries. They have also established that this development could be accelerated in all the regions they looked at -- including the USA and Europe.

Visit https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/12/231208133034.htm to view the full article online.

Solar and wind power may be free, renewable fuels, but they also depend on natural processes that humans cannot control. It's one thing to acknowledge the risks that come with renewable energy: the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow, but what happens when the grid loses both of these energy sources at the same time?

Visit https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/12/231211200121.htm to view the full article online.

What would be the most effective use of a certain plot of land in terms of the climate crisis: planting a forest, which is a natural means of absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or erecting fields of solar panels, which reduce the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere? This dilemma has long been debated by decision-makers around the world. Now, for the first time -- based on findings from arid areas and on comprehensive measurements of the energy flow exchanged between the ground and the atmosphere -- we may have an answer to this question.  

Visit https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/12/231213112547.htm to view the full article online.