RMEL eNews

 

 

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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?

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.