An EPRI study concluded that a high-altitude nuclear explosion could cause a multi-state outage but not the lengthy blackout some observers have feared.

The NATF, EPRI and NERC gathered reps from utilities, RTOs, regional entities and government agencies to discuss improving the bulk electric system.

RTOs and ISOs will take part in 15 research and development projects awarded almost $38 million in funding by the Energy Department.

The Electric Power Research Institute will lead an educational session on smart inverters March 31 as the Planning Committee begins work on developing standards for the devices.

Company briefs on some of the companies doing business in PJM: PPL, FirstEnergy and Pepco, as well as news from the Electric Power Research Institute.

Advanced energy storage is ready to move beyond pilot projects and into day-to-day operations. But it will take rule changes and cost reductions for the technologies to reach their potential.