Electrical grid

Light-duty EVs in the US used more electricity than rail systems for the first time in 2023, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

US grid operators haven’t been practicing long-term transmission planning, but for the first time, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) just made it mandatory.

The White House just debuted a plan to expand the grid’s capacity by upgrading 100,000 miles of transmission lines over the next five years. 

Hitachi Energy is investing $1.5 billion to ramp up transformer production to support electrification efforts worldwide.

The US Department of Energy has just released its first-ever roadmap to speed up the connection of more clean energy to the grid.

The US Department of the Interior has now permitted more than 25 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy projects – surpassing its original 25 GW by 2025 goal.

SunZia, a massive clean energy project in the US Southwest, has closed $11 billion non-recourse financing and launched full construction.

Power grid optimizer Heimdall Power paired up with weather intelligence tech company Meteomatics – and a 30% increase in power grids’ transmission capacity resulted.

Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L), which serves over 1 million customers in central and northern New Jersey, is going to make its largest power grid upgrade in company history.

PG&E, California’s largest utility, just brought its first renewable remote grid online, in a nature preserve in Sonoma County.

Clean Power Alliance, California’s fourth-largest electricity provider, is going to source power from SunZia, the US’s largest clean energy transmission project.

A first-of-its-kind study from the IEA finds that the world must improve or expand the equivalent of the entire existing global electricity grid in order to make the clean energy transition.

Three major automakers have come forward and announced an equally-owned company focused on creating a single, cost-effective platform to connect EV drivers, automakers, and utility companies. BMW Group, Ford Motor Company, and American Honda Motor Company have partnered up to create ChargeScape, LLC – potentially unlocking new value as an EV owners in North America.

Department of Energy researchers have figured out a way to help keep the grid resilient as the US rapidly electrifies.

Electrek spoke with Kam Mahdi, CEO of renewable engineering firm Clean Energy Technologies in Costa Mesa, California, about how extreme heat can impact the power grid and renewables, as well as what’s being done to keep them online.

Extreme record heat is expected in the US this summer – here’s how you can help keep the electrical grid balanced to avoid blackouts and brownouts.

SunZia, a massive wind power and transmission line project in the US Southwest, is now ready to start construction.

Copper Labs just launched a neighborhood-level detector that wirelessly unlocks data from utility meters at scale, without the need for retrofits. Consumers will be able to access that data in near real time so they can tailor their electricity use as they charge their EVs and increasingly electrify their homes in order to save money.

The Biden administration, through the US Department of Energy (DOE), today announced that applications are now open to states, tribes, and utilities to tap into $13 billion in new financing opportunities for the expansion and modernization of the US power grid.

LineVision, based in Somerville, Massachusetts, provides “electric utilities with the real-time monitoring and analytics needed to accelerate the net zero grid.” Here’s how this company is playing a crucial role in helping to upgrade the US and international grids to ensure that the electrification revolution is a success.

According to research teams and engineers at multiple US energy laboratories, the acceleration of EV adoption will not reach any sort of “tipping” point in which charging EVs will overwhelm the electrical grid. In fact, experts state that the entire industry is well aware of this imminent electrical load coming to the US grid and is adapting daily to support a future dominated by EVs.