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Upcoming Conferences: Clemson Power Systems Conference 2008

The Clemson PSC has grown over the past several years to become one of the country’s most important university sponsored electric power conferences. With active participation from electrical equipment suppliers such as Areva, Elster, GE, Itron, Quanta, SEL and Siemens, and with a nice mix of speakers from utilities, industry and academia, the conference fills the need for improved person-to-person communications among all participants in looking ahead and planning for the power industry of the future.

Chuck Newton will be participating in the upcoming Clemson Power System Conference being held at South Carolina’s Clemson University from March 11 to March 14 this year, serving as a panelist and presenter on the March 12 afternoon discussion entitled, “Integrating Advanced Metering with Distribution Systems Operations.”

Other topical discussions include Integrating Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles with Distribution Systems; Renewable Energy Challenges: Present and Future Directions; Renewable Energy in Power Systems; Syncrophasors: Principles, Application and Implementation; Utility of the Future; Advances in Digital Protection.

Keynote speakers during the week will include: Larry Sollecito, GM of General Electric Digital Systems; Dr. Ed Schweitzer, CEO of Schweitzer Engineering Labs; Jim Hicks, CEO of Shaw Engineering Services; and Matt Smith of Duke Energy.

Additional information on the Clemson PSC program can be found in the link listed on the trade events page on our website.

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Interim Study Findings from 2008 SCADA study

As of February 26, Newton-Evans Research has provided its report clients with an interim 22 page report summary on the North American portion of the new EMS, SCADA and DMS study well underway here at Newton-Evans Research. If any of our readers have an interest in ordering the reports prior to March 15, we will continue to provide the 10% discount that had been limited to early-bird subscribers. Click here for an order form.

The interim summary is based on tabulations of the first 95 North American utilities participating in our new study. These 95 utilities represent about 28% of North American T&D assets. We anticipate participation from many additional North American sites during March. The information being gathered from a control center perspective will certainly be useful for our clients’ mid-range product and market planning activities. We will be preparing another interim report for report clients in March, based on tabulated international survey findings. Delivery of the final reports will be underway by mid-April.

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Sustainable Energy Security and Energy Independence

We have all seen the headlines that appeared recently with the signing into legislation of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. While many of us are still confronting the realities of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, this new legislation has an even more important impact on the electric power community.

The headlines that emerged from the enactment of the new legislation revolved around mandates for improvements in automobile mileage, more use of ethanol, efficient light bulbs and efficient buildings. That is all well and good and represents meaningful progress toward at least a measure of energy independence. However, little attention was given to Title Nine, hidden in the latter sections of the 300-plus page bill, signed into law in December, 2007. This new legislation includes some notable and progressive items including a statement of purposes for the Energy Independence Act as set forth in the preamble:

To move the United States toward greater energy independence and security, to
increase the production of clean renewable fuels, to protect consumers, to increase
the efficiency of products, buildings, and vehicles, to promote research on and
deploy greenhouse gas capture and storage options, and to improve the energy
performance of the Federal Government, and for other purposes.

Click here to read the rest of the article (.PDF opens in a new window.)

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The Washington Energy Track – Looking in from the Outside

Over the past few weeks, Newton-Evans Research in the person of the author has been represented at two Washington D.C. energy-related conferences dealing with energy policy issues. The U.S. Energy Association (USEA) was the sponsor of the Fourth Annual State of the Energy Industry conference held at the National Press Club on January 16th (link to video opens in a new window). USEA was also a co-sponsor for the February 5th Powering Our Low Carbon Future conference along with the U.S. Department of Commerce. Three more upcoming Washington conferences also appear to merit our attention and we will be reporting on each of these conferences.

Next week, I will report to our readers following the 2008 National Electricity Delivery Conference sponsored by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions (NARUC). Early in March, Newton-Evans will report from the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference. In early April, the Department of Energy�s Energy Information Administration (EIA) will sponsor its Annual Energy Conference and Newton-Evans will be represented as well at this important DoE analyst conference.

Click here to read the rest of the article (.PDF opens in a new window.)

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Interim Findings from SCADA Study

Some of the interim findings of Newton-Evans’ North American EMS/SCADA/DMA study have been cited in an article published by www.metering.com. The article, titled, Significant activities underway to develop smart grid components, highlights the Automated Metering Infrastructure and Outage Management System portions of our study. Click here to read the article (Article opens in a new window.)

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Significant Activities Underway to Develop Smart Grid Components

Early Findings from 2008 Newton-Evans Study of Electric Power Control Center Officials Indicate Significant Activities Underway to Develop Smart Grid Components and Strengthen Security Measures. System Reliability Issues Leading to Increased Spending on Energy Management and SCADA Systems Upgrades. Click here to read the full news release (Adobe .pdf opens in a new window.)

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Utility Automation & Engineering T&D Article

Newton-Evans was recently cited in the January 2008 edition of Utility Automation & Engineering T&D Magazine, which is available online here (link opens in a new window.) The article, titled “Getting Equipped: No Single Bullet Wounded the World Transformer Market,” discusses the reasons for increasing transformer costs in the electric power industry.

We invite visitors to our website to place orders on our “Services and Reports” page through our new secure, online credit card payment gateway provided by GoEmerchant – a company that has provided secure online payment services since 1995.

You can also order these reports and request more information by calling us toll free at 1-800-222-2856 or via email to info@newton-evans.com