In this newsletter, I am excited to share that on June 27, 2022, UL enterprise revealed new brands for three organizations – UL Research Institutes, UL Standards & Engagement and UL Solutions. In the press release, we present how these brands reflect and clarify the unique roles that each organization plays in carrying forward our shared mission of working for a safer world — a mission that has guided us for 128 years.
While this change marks a significant moment in the history of our organization, our customers remain our central focus. Our day-to-day work with you will not change. UL Solutions will continue to deliver testing, inspection and certification services, together with software products and advisory offerings, that support your product innovation and business growth. I believe this represents our ongoing commitment to the important work we do together to turn your business challenges into opportunities.
Grid reliability is featured in two articles highlighting the need for microgrids to provide power when large grids can’t. Although this issue affects the U.S. and Africa, reliability manifests itself differently in each country. In the U.S., many of the problems stem from climate change. Hydro energy, heat spells, tornado damage and massively destructive wildfires are all expected to impact reliable power supply. Our second article describes the risk of power outages this summer in more detail.
In Africa, the problems stem from the poor financial condition of most utilities. Tariffs are set too low for adequate system maintenance. As a result, utility customers often experience daily outages that may last several hours. Minigrids have long been proposed as a solution when there is no access to grid power, but now we are seeing minigrids developed in urban areas where the grid exists but lacks the needed reliability. These are also demonstrating that customers are willing to pay substantially more for reliable power.
We’re pleased to offer you the opportunity to watch an educational webinar on utility-scale energy storage, produced by the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA) and hosted by UL Solutions.