OEB proposes cost revisions to renewable grid connections
The proposed amendments would, if enacted, reduce the costs renewable generators would have to pay to connect their generation to a distribution system by:
- Making distributors responsible for the costs of "renewable enabling improvements" - investments made by a distributor to enhance the technical ability of a distribution system to accommodate increased levels of renewable generation.
- Sharing the cost of any expansions of the distribution system between the distributor and generator, so that only those generators requiring expansions which are costly relative to their size bear some of the costs.
The amendments also clarify that generators would continue to be responsible for the cost of dedicated connection facilities to the distributor's main distribution system.
This project is part of a series of initiatives the Board is undertaking to facilitate the timely connection of renewable generation in Ontario.
This integrated approach to investment, planning, and cost allocation will lay the framework for appropriate and reliable electricity infrastructure development consistent with the Board's objectives, including its new objectives under the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009.
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LONDON - The University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) studies the burgeoning business of cryptocurrencies.
It calculates that Bitcoin's total energy consumption is somewhere between 40 and 445 annualised terawatt hours (TWh), with a central estimate of about 130 terawatt hours.
The UK's electricity consumption is a little over 300 TWh a year, while Argentina uses around the same amount of power as the CCAF's best guess for Bitcoin.
And the electricity the Bitcoin miners use overwhelmingly comes from polluting sources.
The CCAF team surveys the people who manage the Bitcoin network around the world on their energy use and found that…
