Southern Company and PowerSecure International, Inc. announced that the boards of directors of both companies have approved a definitive merger agreement through which Southern Company will acquire PowerSecure, with PowerSecure becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company.
Southern Company believes that the advancement of distributed infrastructure technologies - the very technologies in which PowerSecure specializes through its unique business model - helps meet customers' future energy needs as part of the full portfolio of energy resources. These technologies typically receive highest demand largely in markets outside of the Southeast, where distributed infrastructure investments tend to provide greater customer value.
“As energy technologies and customer expectations continue to evolve, the electric utility business model is increasingly expanding beyond the meter,e” Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Thomas A. Fanning
As Southern Company and PowerSecure prepare for tomorrow, the combination of one of America's leading energy companies with a successful, customer-focused provider of differentiated energy solutions and innovative energy infrastructure is designed to expand Southern Company's opportunities to provide customized energy products to customers.
"As energy technologies and customer expectations continue to evolve, the electric utility business model is increasingly expanding beyond the meter," said Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Thomas A. Fanning. "Today there is demand for distributed infrastructure solutions that best meet each customer's unique energy needs. With the addition of PowerSecure to Southern Company, we're extending our commitment to create America's energy future by tapping into industry-leading expertise to deliver cutting-edge solutions to energy consumers nationwide."
By acquiring a premier provider of distributed generation, energy efficiency and utility infrastructure solutions, Southern Company will be positioned to accelerate the ongoing expansion of energy product offerings that are intended to provide customers greater control of their energy use and will add complementary technical depth in customer-located reliability and efficiency technologies. continued…
first published week of: 03/28/2016
AGL Resources becomes Southern Company Gas
As Southern Company (NYSE: SO) expands its business model to increase its natural gas presence, the company today unveiled a new corporate brand. The company also announced that its newest subsidiary, AGL Resources, has been renamed Southern Company Gas.
"Southern Company's recent growth in natural gas has expanded our business beyond electricity, providing an excellent opportunity to review our brand," said Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Thomas A. Fanning. "By adding Southern Company Gas while developing the full energy portfolio, Southern Company has doubled its customer base, expanded its footprint and broadened the scope of our business. Today we are a leading national energy company that is better positioned to deliver real solutions for customers."
Southern Company's electric utilities have served customers and communities in the Southeast for more than a century. With the recent merger with Southern Company Gas, the Southern Company system now operates in 18 states, serving more than 9 million customers, with a continued focus on creating real energy solutions to deliver clean, safe, reliable and affordable power.
Southern Company Gas is helping the Southern Company system best meet customers' energy needs today while providing for the development of tomorrow's energy infrastructure. For communities, the combined company is expanding its customer-focused business model. And for investors, the merger created a unique platform that is well-positioned to compete for growth across the energy value chain.
In addition, Southern Company recently acquired PowerSecure, a leader in distributed infrastructure development that specializes in the kinds of customer-facing energy solutions that are becoming increasingly important to many customers across America.
Southern Company's new brand represents the first design change in more than 20 years and is the result of research conducted by engaging employees, company leaders and other stakeholders as part of an extensive brand review.
first published week of: 08/01/2016
The Supreme Court is being asked to make a quick decision on another of President Obama's far-reaching regulations and to put on hold climate-change rules that would force a 32% cutback in carbon emissions by 2030.
The Supreme Court is being asked to make a quick decision on another of President Obama's far-reaching regulations and to put on hold climate-change rules that would force a 32% cutback in carbon emissions by 2030.
Lawyers for West Virginia, Texas and 24 other mostly Republican states filed an emergency appeal Tuesday night with Chief Justice John G. Roberts that calls Obama's plan an "unprecedented power grab by the Environmental Protection Agency that seeks to reorder the nation's energy grid."
In particular, they say the Clean Power Plant rule, adopted last year, would force many states to shut down older coal-burning power plants and switch to wind and solar power.
The West Virginia-Texas state coalition urged Roberts and the high court to issue an order that puts the Obama initiative on hold for several years while its legality is fought out in the lower courts. They insist the 1970s Clean Air Act did not authorize a broad regulatory attack on climate change.
How the high court responds to the emergency request could prove crucial to both sides. If the justices agree with the state challengers, it would halt EPA's enforcement of its most significant climate change initiative until after Obama leaves office. continued…
first published week of: 02/01/2016
The unexpected death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia will likely prove to be a turning point in U.S. history, and no one will be immune—not oil, not coal, not natural gas, and not renewable energy. The future of the entire energy industry, which was already upended by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan, is now murkier than ever.
Just last week, the Supreme Court—at the time divided five to four—issued a temporary stay on the implementation of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan - a monstrosity of a plan at 1,560 pages—that would reduce carbon emissions from power plants in an effort, according to the EPA, to combat climate change. continued…
first published week of: 03/07/2016
When a family decides to put solar panels on the roof of its house, it relies on the rules for electricity charges that the state Public Utilities Commission has in place. There is an equipment cost, often financed through a solar panel installation company. Without assurance about what the charges and the savings will be during the system’s likely lifetime, a family can’t sensibly choose whether to make that investment.
In the two weeks before Christmas, Nevada’s PUC exploded the assurances Nevada families and businesses had relied upon, while California PUC Chairman Michael Picker forcefully refused to do so. Worse, Nevada appears to have made its decision retroactive. Picker’s proposal, by contrast, grandfathers in for 20 years the terms present solar panel owners were promised at the time they installed. He would, however, allow for a one-time hook-up charge for new solar customers.
The electric utility companies in each state had good arguments. An electric utility is obliged to provide all the electricity consumers are likely to need. The utilities build enough capacity, and buy enough power on long-term contracts, to handle expected average demands, not the absolute maximum that will be used at peak times. To build or contract for the maximum would result in much unused capacity most of the time.
Arriving at the proper percentage of the maximum use for which permanent supply sources are arranged requires delicate estimation. continued…
first published week of: 01/04/2016
The Internet of Things (IoT) is making our world more connected, but it's also opening us up to more threats.
More information has come to light about a situation on December 23 that caused a power outage for more than 230,000 people in Ukraine for a few hours after hackers accessed the computers of three regional control centers of a Ukrainian power utility. This was the first time a hack had ever taken down a power grid.
An investigation into this hack has revealed that the hackers actually started their campaign months before the actual attack on December 23. They combed through the utility's networks and stole multiple employee access credentials, according to WIRED.
After this, the hackers infiltrated the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) network that controls the power grid. This network did not require multi-factor authentication for workers to log on remotely, which let the hackers metaphorically walk right in the door. continued…
first published week of: 03/21/2016
Trimble introduced Trimble GasOps™ solution for natural gas utilities. The cloud-based, integrated mobile asset data collection solution enables natural gas distribution operators to improve data quality, export collected data to systems of record and streamline regulatory reporting and compliance with U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) rules. Through an easy-to-use web interface and complementary mobile data collection app, Trimble GasOps allows utilities to reduce operational costs and data errors, standardize the field data collection process across multiple contractors and support regulatory reporting requirements with compliance data that is trackable, traceable and verifiable.
Whether it's their crews or contractors, natural gas utilities can now quickly and accurately capture field data for construction, inspection and maintenance activities, regardless of which organization is performing the tasks or what Android mobile devices is being used Ben Mallen, business area director for Trimble Energy Americas Division
Trimble GasOps currently operates on Android smart phones and tablets, and high-accuracy Trimble GNSS receivers, providing data collection flexibility based on regulatory or natural gas utility-specific location accuracy requirements. Location accuracy can be confirmed through real-time corrections via VRS network, single base station, Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) and Trimble RTX™ correction services. Trimble GasOps also has the capability to quickly scan industry-based ASTM F2897 barcode standards and auto-populate form fields, reducing user input errors that are inherent in paper-based data collection tasks.
"Whether it's their crews or contractors, natural gas utilities can now quickly and accurately capture field data for construction, inspection and maintenance activities, regardless of which organization is performing the tasks or what Android mobile devices is being used," said Ben Mallen, business area director for Trimble Energy Americas Division. "Trimble GasOps is the latest release in our suite of software applications designed to transform natural gas utility operations by integrating field and back office systems, along with automating workflows across the enterprise."
Trimble GasOps features a standard template library for data collection forms in support of common natural gas utility workflows such as pipe construction and pipe replacement, inspection, maintenance, fusion traceability, gas inspections, gas leak survey and meter changeout. These forms are easily configurable and deliver a number of business intelligence fields that include required and conditional fields, digital photos and signature capture. In addition, a Trimble GasOps proximity function allows work to be completed when a field user is within a specific proximity to an asset. As a result, field workers can more efficiently perform tasks using predefined workflows and intuitive data entry forms that automatically associate to the asset. For additional information on Trimble GasOps, visit: http://energy.trimble.com/trimble-gasops.html. For additional information on Trimble GasOps, visit: energy.trimble.com/trimble-gasops.html
first published week of: 07/25/2016
While the U.S. still has a long way to go with alternative energy, a new statistic has given us incredible hope for the future. For the first time in a century, energy consumption in U.S. homes has dropped. Since electricity first entered the home in the 1910’s, residential energy use has been steadily on the rise, but thanks to new developments in alternative technologies, our dependence on electricity is becoming more sustainable than ever before. From small changes, like the rise of circuit breakers and panels, to huge innovations like solar panels and home automation, the road to a cleaner, greener future has been a long — but worthwhile — process. Check out this fascinating infographic below to see how energy consumption has changed over the years. continued…
first published week of: 02/08/2016
Power companies take advantage of government incentives that let them sell renewable electricity to other utilities at higher prices
Large U.S. utilities are taking advantage of government subsidies to buy and produce more renewable energy in anticipation of tougher new regulations on carbon emissions.
Duke Energy Corp., Southern Co. and the energy unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. are among the utility companies that are investing more in solar and wind farms and ramping up purchases of clean power, spurred by renewable–energy mandates in more than half the nation’s states and expected federal limits on greenhouse–gas emissions.
The utilities continue to burn coal—and increasingly natural gas—to provide the bulk of their power. But power companies are investing in more wind and solar farms because they can sell renewable electricity to other utilities at higher prices than conventional coal and natural gas–fired plants, under contracts up to 25 years long. And federal renewable–energy tax credits reduce the cost of buying or building a new wind or solar power facility, as well as help offset corporate taxes, utility executives say. continued…
first published week of: 05/16/2016
A malware attack on a Ukrainian electrical utility that cut power for several hours to 1.4 million people just before Christmas is a wake-up call to the industry, says the CIRO of a Canadian hydro supplier.
“It confirms our suspicions this sort of thing can happen,” Robert Wong, vice-president and chief information and risk officer at Toronto Hydro said in an interview today. “It it’s a call to action that we should take this thing very seriously and we need to act now and try to enhance our security postures.”
According to researchers at security vendor ESET, the Prykarpattya Oblenergo utility was the victim of the BlackEnergy trojan, which typically infects an enterprise through a phishing attack that carries a document with an infected Microsoft Word macro. From there malware would try to be used to find a way onto the utility’s SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) network, which controls electrical systems.
While it may come as a surprise that a Word macro could lead to the failure of a power grid, Wong says it can happen if a utility hasn’t separated its enterprise network from the electrical operational network. continued…
first published week of: 01/11/2016