The Texas electric power market is designed to give energy companies incentive to sell electricity at the lowest possible cost. That focus helps explain why it collapsed during a historic cold wave.
Icicles on a bush in downtown Houston, Feb. 15, 2021.
Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images
Heat waves, droughts and deep freezes can all strain the electric grid, leading utilities to impose rolling blackouts. Climate change is likely to make these events more common.
Distributed power generation, such as this fuel cell installation, requires new ventures to work with energy regulators.
Business Wire
Many Americans have been unable to pay their electric bills during the COVID-19 pandemic, racking up billions of dollars in delinquent bills. Where will the money come from?
The COVID-19 recession has made it harder for many Americans to pay their energy bills.
Getty Images
Many Americans had trouble paying their energy bills before COVID-19, and the current recession is making the problem worse.
Methane bubbles form in a pit digester on a dairy farm as bacteria break down cow manure. The methane can be collected and used as an energy source.
Edwin Remsburg/VW Pics via Getty Images
Nuclear threats are serious – but officials, the media and the public keep a close eye on them. There’s less attention to the dangers of cyberattacks, which could cripple key utilities.
In a power outage, some lights are on, but others are not.
Felix Lipov/Shutterstock.com
Electric utilities have a right to make money on their government-granted monopolies, but customers also have a right to know what cyber-protections they would get if they paid more.
On the hook: California utility PG&E declared bankruptcy due to liabilities linked to power lines and wildfires.
AP Photo/Ben Margot
The electric utility is seeing rapid changes and threats that affect consumers, from more wind and solar to wildfires. How they react depends in large part on regulators.
This is what a 5-megawatt, lithium-ion energy storage system looks like.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Taking millions of gallons of water permanently out of the Colorado River amid a prolonged drought would surely start an interstate fight.
Homes surrounded by water from the flooded Brazos River in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Freeport, Texas, Sept. 1, 2017.
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
Many people board up their houses and stay in place during disasters – but often they aren’t prepared to go without water, power or transportation for days or weeks afterward.
A man reads the newspaper by flashlight during the Northeast Blackout in August 2003.
AP Photo/Joe Kohen
As South American countries recover from a massive blackout, the US isn’t immune: The Northeast Blackout of 2003 cut power to 50 million people, and many threats to the electricity grid remain.
The high-voltage lines carrying electricity across the U.S. aren’t the only potential targets.
Rolypolyman
Power utilities’ cybersecurity practices may be effective, but need to evolve over time. And all companies operating elements of the grid – even the small ones – should step up.
Who’s in control of what’s flowing in these wires?
D Sharon Pruitt
Experts explain the task of securing the electrical grid against cyberattacks, and discuss potential solutions and the risk of failure.
“No Linky” posters in Montreuil, near Paris. The first one reads “Linky: You can say no.” The second reads “Linky spies on your private life.” Some residents fear data surveillance rather than looking at possible advantages of smart meters.
Carole Salères
A recent study suggests that smart meters can help households reduce their electricity use by as much as 5%. Are France’s anti-Linky households listening?
Block Island Wind, the first offshore wind energy project in the U.S., started operation in 2016.
Ionna22
A recent survey of electric utility leaders finds that Trump administration efforts to promote coal energy and roll back air pollution regulations have had little impact on their long-range plans.
Hackers can interfere with everyday efforts to keep the lights on.
pan denim/Shutterstock.com