US Grid Improvement to Incorporate Renewables

The New York Times reports that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission unanimously approved a rule Thursday that establishes guidelines "for planning and paying for new power lines, part of a long-term policy effort to help the nation's electricity grid grow enough to meet the demands of renewable energy and a competitive electricity market." The rule "is intended to push the organizations that manage the grid into cooperating with one another, so that developers can build power lines across several states and multiple electrical jurisdictions." However, it "does not specify what the formula should be for allocating costs, or precisely how new lines should be planned."

The Wall Street Journal published that FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff said Thursday that the new order will benefit wind and solar energy projects in particular, because they are often located in remote areas and lack access to existing interstate transmission lines. The rule will allow companies other than local utilities to take part in transmission projects, with the hope that the removal of such barriers will increase competition and lower costs.

US Power Grid

“Let’s see if anyone complains if we eliminate it,” Joe McClelland, head of electric reliability for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

To accomodate the variability of renewable power sources like wind and solar, the FERC is considering frequency variations. Now, who keeps time by the grid?

"A lot of people are going to have things break and they're not going to know why," said Demetrios Matsakis, head of the time service department at the U.S. Naval Observatory, one of two official timekeeping agencies in the federal government.

Details here.

Power's Impact on Behavior

For CPG companies such as P&G and Unilever, whose shopper is mostly a woman, the concept of empowerment to purchase for the household is an important topic.  Also, retailers large and small look at the buying "power" of the geo- and demo- graphics to price in their locale, for example.  So, what is the impact of "power" on the individual.

Here are a few strategic insights from the work of Adam Galinsky, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (details here) and Joris Lammers, Tilburg University (details here) in their work "Illegitimacy Moderates the Effects of Power on Approach", download here.

"“Power activates a person’s behavioral approach system and underlies our motivation to act, while powerlessness activates our behavioral inhibition system to restrict action and risk-taking,” said Galinsky.

“But, in illegitimate power scenarios, the powerless are more likely to act without direction in an attempt to change the situation, and the powerful may inhibit their actions for fear of losing their undeserved seat at the top.”"

Another study from them published in the Psychological Science here, "Power Increases Hypocrisy, Moralizing in Reasoning, Immorality in Behavior" sheds light on a few interesting conclusions.  Following are excerpts from a review in the Economist:

"...powerful people who have been caught out often show little sign of contrition. It is not just that they abuse the system; they also seem to feel entitled to abuse it."

Dr. Lammers and Dr. Galinsky introduce a new term "hypercrisy":

"...an intriguing characteristic emerged among participants in high-power states who felt they did not deserve their elevated positions. These people showed a similar tendency to that found in low-power individuals—to be harsh on themselves and less harsh on others—but the effect was considerably more dramatic. They felt that others warranted a lenient 6.0 on the morality scale when stealing a bike but assigned a highly immoral 3.9 if they took it themselves."

The research linked above and the Economist's conclusion paint a bleak picture though:

"Perhaps the lesson, then, is that corruption and hypocrisy are the price that societies pay for being led by alpha males (and, in some cases, alpha females). The alternative, though cleaner, is leadership by wimps."

Desertec: Solar and Wind Energy

A project to generate energy for Europe from North Africa is being initiated by Desertec, see here.  Financial Times writes:

"... the most ambitious solar project is in north Africa. The Desertec Industrial Initiative is a plan to build a vast network of solar power plants and wind farms, covering the desert and stretching for hundreds of miles, and connected to an advanced electricity grid that will carry power generated round or under the Mediterranean sea to feed Europe’s appetite for energy.

Desertec – backed by a coalition of more than 10 big name companies, including Munich Re, the German insurer, Deutsche Bank, utilities RWE and Eon and Siemens – is likely to cost about $400bn (€302bn, £262bn). If successful, the project could supply as much as 15 per cent of Europe’s electricity needs by 2050."

What I found interesting is Desertec's request for donations for the project via the web, see here.  Desertec is empowering the individual to act through a validated message of need, yet the value needs to be made clear for the "call to action" to be advocated.