electricity grid

Northern Powergrid has announced a £1.9 million project to figure out how best to integrate distributed technologies into the electricity grid. The distribution company aims to eventually create a low carbon energy market where the 3.9 million homes it serves can make their own money from solar panels, electric vehicles and home batteries. It claims […]

Applications for drone technology across the global power and utilities industry could be worth up to $9.5 billion (£7.2bn) a year by 2021. That’s the forecast from PwC, which suggests the unmanned aerial vehicles could prove useful in a wide number of roles, for example conducting geospatial surveys, assessing levels of pollution and even using […]

E.ON is one of the first companies in Germany to control solar systems using smart meters. The energy supplier has developed a control box that can prevent grid congestion by flexibly controlling how much power the solar panels generate. Control boxes and smart meters can be used to reduce and increase output from a remote […]

Distributed generation (DG) poses a serious threat to utility revenues and network capacity. That’s according to a new survey from Accenture, which questioned more than 100 global utility leaders about the effects the new type of energy network could have on the sector. Among these executives, 58% said they believe DG will cause a drop in earnings for large […]

UK householders have spent around £180 million in the last three years on spare power capacity that was never used. That’s according to a new report from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), which refers to National Grid’s supplemental balancing reserve (SBR), under which power stations were put on standby during the winter since […]

The US Energy Department is spending more than $10 million (£5.94m) for software that will improve the efficiency of electricity grids. It is investing in six projects in five states – California, Hawaii, Missouri, North Carolina and Washington – to deploy advanced software that works with a technology called synchrophasor, which measures voltage, current and […]

The US Government is providing up to $7 million (£4.3m) for advanced technologies to improve the resilience of local grids in the face of extreme weather events and other potential disruptions. The Department of Energy is working with officials and communities to strengthen and modernise the nation’s energy infrastructure and help communities become more adaptive […]

Would you like to drive an electric car without having to fork out the cash? Do you wish you had the chance to trial one and see what the fuss is all about? If your answer is yes, this new programme might just be the one for you. Partly funded by Ofgem’s Low Carbon Network […]

The “first” electricity grid research facility in Europe was officially opened in Scotland yesterday. The £12.5 million Power Networks Demonstration Centre (PNDC) in Cumbernauld was built in response to the growing demand for secure, reliable and environmentally friendly power and uses a mini electricity grid system to test new technology. It will be home to […]

US researchers have developed a new “long-life” battery they claim could help solar and wind power become major suppliers to the electricity grid. Wind and solar currently provide intermittent power and the electricity grid cannot tolerate large and sudden power fluctuations, according to the researchers at the US Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory […]