Southern Company’s Post

ICYMI: We had a stellar discussion yesterday with our panel of industry & economic development leaders about all things utility scale solar in Virginia, including the opportunities it brings, misconceptions, and the political landscape. Check it out! https://bit.ly/42OZMAT

Sharing this article to my power and utility communities on Five ways to tackle the industry's largest opportunities & challenges: affordability, EV-readiness, growth of solar, putting data to good use, and partnering with customers. A heartful thanks to Hanna Grene, Bilal Khursheed, Patrick Lo, Miki Usyak, Jung C. This article is not possible without your help and support.

Interesting article about grid orchestration to tackle energy utilities opportunities and challenges. Take a look.

Catch Derek discussing the #communitysolar in California, and the benefits the proposed Net Value Billing Tariff can offer!

Is there an error in my train of thought or are there better thoughts on how we reach carbon neutrality by 2050? Paradox: Renewable energy has a meager marginal cost, close to zero. As per EU legislation*, bids are allowed at marginal pricing**. However, considering the goal of being fully carbon-neutral by 2050, all electricity would have to be offered to the market for free. This situation raises concerns regarding long-term investments and how we can achieve our goals without them. Is upgrading the market design necessary? According to the existing rules of the electricity market: market rules shall deliver appropriate investment incentives for generation, in particular for long-term investments in a decarbonised and sustainable electricity system, energy storage, energy efficiency and demand response to meet market needs, and shall facilitate fair competition thus ensuring security of supply. In my view we do not have to upgrade the market design, we just need to reconsider our interpretation of "fair competition“ and „market-based". What does that mean? Let’s organise a fair competition for necessary capacities (in addition to energy). What would be the difficulties? To solve the problems efficiently, it is best to use the principle of least total cost. This may require more resources from responsible authorities, at least in some member-states, but it will be considerably less expensive than other alternatives. When should we start? It is crucial to act urgently and avoid making costly transitional decisions by solving each problem separately. *REMIT ** for experts: with some exceptions regarding opportunity costs

On June 3rd a retrofit forum will be hosted by Nisga’a Nation, on their Homeland, in partnership with Community Energy Association. Now, we coordinate dozens of training and capacity building events - in fact, over the past couple of years, we have had 700 participants engage in training which has spanned from mechanical system, house-as-a-system, envelope-first, and more. This Nisga’a event is unique. It is the manifestation of our intention to walk with, learn from, and co-create projects that support the priorities of Indigenous communities while building local capacity and fostering long-term resilience. I’m bursting with pride. 🍃Gaëtane, from our Relationships and Reconciliation team, has been spending impactful time in community over the past year and has already successfully secured funding to ensure Nisga’a staff have capacity to support a major retrofit project in development. 🍃Led by Capital Project manager Eric Nyce, we are proceeding with a 40 home deep energy retrofit pilot. 10 homes per Nisga’a community. Their ambition is to address 500 homes over the next few years. 🍃BC’s top trainers and energy retrofit experts are on board and the training is coming to community. They include: Nuxalk hereditary chief, and independent First Nations consultant, Richard Hall, thinkbright Homes owner and committed sustainability expert Meredith Hamstead, President of CHBA BC Mark Bernhardt, Rob Pope of Ecolighten Energy Solutions, James Bourget of RDH and high performance builder Shawn Wiebe. 🍃The case study of a multi-year retrofit initiative at Akisqnuk First Nation will be shared - a project that demonstrated the value of aggregated planning and implementation for deep energy retrofits (more to come on that!!) This project is built on trust and relationships. Not only between CEA and Nisga’a, but with the funders who recognize the value of two-way learning, community-led design and the importance of building local capacity for long-term impact. Thanks to Real Estate Foundation of BC, Canadian Home Builders' Association Northern BC, BC Hydro, FortisBC and the Province of BC.

Our Chief Strategist, Allie Detrio spoke on a panel today at RE+ highlighting the importance of Microgrids for Community Energy while acknowledging the urgency to break down systemic barriers hindering microgrid development. RE+ did a great job bringing powerful and insightful voices to the table. Big thanks to Jeff Morris the Senior Director of State Government Relations for Schneider Electric, Jennifer Chamberlin the Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs with ENGIE, Jose Torre-Bueno the Executive Director of Center for Community Energy, and Jared Leader the Senior Director of Smart Electric Power Alliance, for all participating in the panel this morning! Microgrids are the key to unlocking Community Energy. Conversations, like the one this morning at RE+, are going to be the pillar for true systemic change and barrier demolition. It's time we #reimagine the power sector and get more Microgrids deployed throughout CA to help enable Community Energy! #ReimaginePower #microgrids #Community #energy

The River Mersey is our pride and joy, it's why Liverpool exists, the lifeblood of why we live, work or play here, and at the moment it's without doubt the most underutilised asset in our entire region This is due to the river having one of largest tidal ranges in Europe, extensive mud flats at low tide, and dangerously fast tides. The barrier can change these restrictions for the better. This would be a huge game changer for the region, opening up the River Mersey "behind the barrage" to multiple use case beneficial opportunities. These use cases could include: • Local waterborne freight / last mile logistics. • New fast, multi-node, commuter ferry services along the banks of the Mersey, including Liverpool airport. These would not only reduce the number of vehicles on our already clogged up roads, bridges & tunnels, but would also reduce GHG emissions in our region. • Tourism. We are a hot destination, ranking regularly in the world top 10 places for tourism. The barrage adds a whole new dimension to our offering, in particular the leisure and sailing industries, with a plethora of options to introduce new waterborne & shore based infrastructure to support on-water activities with exponential potential, including: ○ marinas ○ retail ○ hospitality ○ housing These opportunities would all utilise our best asset, the River Mersey, and would benefit coastal communities along the Wirral, Liverpool, Halton, and Cheshire banks of the Mersey. As Nike once said....Just do it! #riverfront #infrastructure #coastalcommunities #coastalrealestate #marinas #yachting #boatlife #leisureindustry #waterbornetransport #transport #decarbonisation #greenenergy #greenarchitecture #tidalenergy #smartcities #liverpoolcityregion #justdoit

In the latest episode of "Out There with the Mayor," you'll get a sneak peek at what it takes for Denton Municipal Electric to have one of the top power restoration times in the nation and to provide reliable, 100% renewable energy straight to you everyday! https://lnkd.in/g-bzBsdi