Lawmakers fear Russian influence on energy markets

collected by :Victor Alphen

As it stated in Lawmakers are expressing concerns following a new House committee report detailing how Russians attempted to use social media platforms to manipulate U.S. energy markets. Blumenthal is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has examined Russian meddling efforts on social media. "We are in effect inviting them to a social media buffet of options to interfere with our Democracy and undermine our way of life without adequate response," he said. Russia's energy success is intrinsically linked to the U.S., a likely cause for the social media behavior. The report is the latest effort from members of Congress to probe Russian meddling in the U.S. via social media.

German minister: 'Strong neighbours' in Europe can create better energy markets

At this week's Energy Storage Europe event, Energy-Storage.News heard from German politician Thorsten Herdan that strong cooperation with other countries in Europe is vital for creating smarter, reliable and cost-effective energy networks. With energy storage still an early stage market, Herdan said he feels many questions still remain unanswered, despite the rapidly maturing technologies available. Market design changes across the continent could follow German modelIn the US, regulator FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) has begun a process of allowing energy storage to participate in wholesale markets. "We are going for the next big step in the Energy Union where we are going to open up markets all around Europe. "We have this problem in Germany that our interconnectors from the North to South are not strong enough to transport for instance wind energy to the South.

Proposed Texas rule highlights storage's challenges in bridging competitive, regulated energy markets

according to The joint filing was submitted by the Alliance for Retail Markets, Calpine, Luminant Energy, NRG Energy, the Office of Public Utility Counsel, the Texas Energy Association for Marketers, Texas Competitive Power Advocates, Texas Industrial Energy Consumers and TXU Energy Retail. We don't want to see fossil fuel capacity come online" when energy storage could serve the same role. In 2014, Oncor Electric proposed spending up to $5.2 billion on energy storage projects, requiring a change in state law. In AEP Texas' initial filing, environmental advocates such as Environment Texas and the Sierra Club backed the company's proposal. We don't want to see fossil fuel capacity come online" when energy storage could serve the same role, Shelley said.