Scaling DERs for reliability and resilience | Factor This Policycast
This episode of the Factor This Policycast explores how customer-sited technologies, including batteries, smart thermostats, backup generators, microgrids, rooftop solar, and flexible load, can be aggregated and operated as dependable grid assets.
6 min read
Powering awareness: Bringing the reality of the grid to the public
OATI CEO Dr. Sasan Mokhtari outlines how their Powering Independence campaign aims to enhance public understanding of energy complexities and grid management
9 min read
Hydropower licensing requirements have exploded. The industry says the grid could pay.
With more than 12 GW of hydropower facing relicensing over the next decade, NHA says rising regulatory requirements could threaten existing generation.
3 min read
The largest US solar manufacturer is changing fronts in its patent war
First Solar is recalibrating its patent enforcement strategy, withdrawing its Section 337 complaint, and continuing lawsuits against solar manufacturers.
3 min read
How can utilities best approach wildfire risk in the Northeast?
Utilities across the United States are adopting wildfire strategies that successfully adapt western wildfire risk models
6 min read
Harnessing the electricity supercycle to build US energy stability
Sustained disruption could provide the push needed to rebuild our energy systems faster, laying the groundwork for lasting stability, writes contributor Frédéric Godemel of Schneider Electric.
7 min read
Look what DERs can do: 580 MW sent to the grid in largest-ever VPP dispatch
During a heat wave on the evening of September 9, 2026, Sunrun and Tesla dispatched more than 580 megawatts to the California grid in the largest VPP demonstration to date.
4 min read
Not the worst time for an AI data center to spill 5,500 gallons of backup fuel into a tributary | Factor This Brief
An AI Data center dumps diesel fuel in New Jersey, Georgia Power starts operations on an Air Force base, Branch Energy raises $33M for its ‘grid-in-a-box,’ SRP approves the Marigold Energy Center, 38 Degrees North closes on community solar financing, and Excelsior sells two solar sites to Enel.
11 min read
Insights from the Wildfire & Weather Emergency Response Summit at DTECH Reliability & Resilience
Utilities are addressing newly addressing novel and severe wildfire risks through a variety of proactive strategies, mny of which emphasize data-driven approaches.
8 min read
Iran war energy crisis backs Bangladesh into a corner — This Week in Cleantech
On this episode of the This Week in Cleantech podcast, David Fickling from Bloomberg discusses how Bangladesh’s garment industry is coping with the Iran war’s disruption of the energy supply chain.
How academic research and utility partnerships can enable grid modernization and decarbonization
On this episode of the Factor This podcast, we caught up with Clarkson University’s Dr. Leo Jiang to get a sense of how utilities can leverage university research to modernize legacy assets, what it means to refine dynamic modeling, how to cultivate the technical talent needed for a resilient grid and much more.
DOE targets next-gen geothermal development with $99M for field-scale tests, exploration drilling
The U.S. Department of Energy announced over $99 million for 21 geothermal energy projects across the United States to advance technology and exploration.
6 min read
Hydropower licensing needs a refresh – could this new bill do the job?
The U.S. Senate passed the Hydropower Relicensing Transparency Act, aimed at improving hydropower licensing efficiency, now at the President’s desk.
4 min read
Is Trump’s EPA going too far? — This Week in Cleantech
On this episode of the This Week in Cleantech podcast, Jake Spring from The Washington Post discusses the EPA’s move to repeal Biden-era limits on carbon pollution from power plants.
1 min read
US solar advocacy closes ranks; SEIA and CCSA to consolidate
Leading renewable energy advocacy groups, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA), announced today that they will join forces, pending approval from each organization’s Board of Directors.
3 min read
Brazil’s São Simão hydro plant sees ‘accelerated’ modernization in GE Vernova project
SPIC Brasil and GE Vernova completed the modernization of Generating Unit 3 at the São Simão Hydroelectric Power Plant in Minas Gerais and Goiás.
4 min read
The U.S. is sitting on a gold mine of untapped hydropower potential
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory found that non-powered dams in the U.S. could generate 15.2 terawatt-hours of electricity annually.
3 min read
Rescuers pull trapped workers from a hydropower tunnel 9 days after Nepal floods
Rescuers in Nepal pulled two workers alive from an underground tunnel at a hydropower plant Friday, raising hopes of reaching dozens of others believed to be trapped nine days after deadly floods swept away villages and submerged the Himalayan region in mud and debris.
2 min read
BC Hydro relocates mystery island of Williston Reservoir
Canadian utility BC Hydro has relocated an island roughly the size of two football fields that was initially spotted about 100 kilometers from the W.A.C. Bennett Dam in British Columbia, Ontario.
4 min read
If you spot any new islands in its reservoirs, please let BC Hydro know
A vegetated island the size of two football fields may or may not still be floating around in a massive man-made lake in northern British Columbia, Canada. And nobody is quite sure how it wound up there- or where it went.
3 min read
Nepal floods expose risks to hydropower in a warming Himalayas
Rescuers in Nepal are searching for hundreds of workers trapped in tunnels at hydropower sites after catastrophic flooding, with over 950 dead.
7 min read
Energy Department will spend $2 billion to squeeze more electricity from the aging power grid
The Energy Department will invest nearly $2 billion in 31 projects across 26 states to enhance the power grid, increasing capacity by over 23 gigawatts.
4 min read
AMI-enabled grid edge intelligence improves affordability for utilities
AMI 2.0 closes the grid intelligence gap, helping utilities improve affordability, writes contributor Prasanna Venkatesan, CCO of Landis+Gyr.
6 min read
Winter storms Fern and Gianna tested the US power grid; 2027 could bring a bigger reliability challenge
Generators performed better and winterization paid off, but a multi-day cold event exposed fuel and supply chain strains that rising demand will only intensify.
5 min read
Flexible interconnection promises speed to power for utilities, data center developers | Q&A with Camus Energy
Camus Energy’s FlexConnect software promises to shave three to five years off typical interconnection wait times utilizing flexible operating limits within existing infrastructure.
7 min read
How dank are your weeds? Inside a Portland utility’s novel wildfire prevention plan
Portland General Electric is launching a “first of its kind” wildfire research program that involves measuring the moisture levels in live plants to learn how vegetation conditions can influence wildfire risk.
6 min read