On site power generation changing the Utilities

WSJ reports on companies adding on site power generation is changing the Utilities behaviors.

 

Companies Unplug From the Electric Grid, Delivering a Jolt to Utilities

 

 

[image]Michal Czerwonka for The Wall Street Journal

At Kroger’s food-distribution center in Compton, Calif., a tank system converts organic waste into biogas to produce electricity used by the facility

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a hill overlooking the Susquehanna River, two big wind turbines crank out electricity for Kroger Co.’s KR +2.19% Turkey Hill Dairy in rural Lancaster County, Pa., allowing it to save 25% on its power bill for the past two years.

 

Google and Apple are mentioned in the article and their servers in data centers.

Almost overnight, that niche market has gone decidedly mainstream. Six years ago,Google Inc. GOOG -0.19% attracted attention by installing big solar arrays atop its Silicon Valley complex in California. Other tech companies followed suit, worried about ensuring power supplies for energy-hungry server farms and achieving sustainability objectives.

Apple Inc. AAPL +1.14% now gets 16% of its electricity from solar panels and fuel cells that run on biogas. Apple’s data center in Maiden, N.C., makes all the power it consumes, a company spokeswoman said.