Opinion

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  The offshore wind lease auction process needs a desperate fix

  The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's process restricts open competition and increases costs regionally, the author maintains

  Dean Koujak • Aug. 03, 2021

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  As climate risk disclosures loom, US utilities must not evade accountability

  U.S. utilities, through their trade groups, are pressing the SEC for weak climate disclosure policies that contradict advice from leading authorities, the authors write.

  Howard Crystal and Ilana Cohen • Aug. 02, 2021

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  Ensuring electricity reliability must be job number one for FERC

  With a rapidly changing climate and a nationwide move toward renewables, the message should be clear: now is the time to redouble the focus on grid reliability, a former U.S. congressman writes.

  Rick Boucher • July 29, 2021

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  A brighter day for distribution co-ops? FERC's Tri-State proceeding and reformation of the G&T model

  Stakeholders might not look to Tupac Shakur in the first instance when analyzing the troubles of the generation and transmission model. But recent developments at FERC suggest perhaps they should, the authors write.

  Ray Gifford and Matt Larson • July 27, 2021

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  The DER future is nearly here? Stuck in the weeds on Order No. 2222 implementation.

  The full scope of benefits distributed energy resources offer has remained tantalizingly out of reach without wide-scale participation of aggregators in the wholesale markets, the authors write.

  Hampden T. Macbeth and Jessica R. Bell • July 15, 2021

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  Fix Texas electricity — and hurry!

  A report from former Texas regulators and staff offers 20 recommendations following the February outages. Nearly all apply to cold weather outages as well as the grid operator's generation shortfall and demand surprises in June.

  Alison Silverstein • July 12, 2021

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  Building a US clean manufacturing strategy to counter China and tackle climate change

  The authors highlight four industries, including hydrogen production, that promise to become major export businesses as global markets for clean products grow.

  David Hart and Stefan Koester • June 29, 2021

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  Can West Coast states help achieve 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030?

  If the East Coast is sprinting a 100-meter dash to put steel in the water to meet the Biden administration's goal, the West Coast is running the 110-meter hurdles, the authors write.

  Chad Marriott and Cherise Gaffney • June 28, 2021

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  Satellites could be a game-changer for storm recovery — utilities should take a fresh look

  One of the more compelling utility use cases for satellite technology is supporting power outage restoration activities following a major hurricane, the author writes. 

  Jeff Lewis • June 24, 2021

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  The hydrogen molecule's 'moonshot' moment

  Hydrogen has the potential to help enable "our generation’s moonshot" — economy-wide decarbonization, the author writes.

  Neva Espinoza • June 23, 2021

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  Coal-fired carbon capture projects are a waste of tax dollars

  The proposed retrofit of a San Juan, N.M., coal-fired power plant is part of a push for potential 'carbon dioxide factories,' the authors write.

  Dennis Wamsted and David Schlissel • June 22, 2021

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  Ending the snipe hunt for buyer-side power in PJM and other capacity markets

  Going forward, FERC should be judicious when applying mitigation measures to state policies and should consider tools beyond the MOPR, the authors write.

  Burçin Ünel and Sarah Ladin • June 21, 2021

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  The danger of walled gardens: What Apple can teach us about devices in the energy sector

  To realize the true benefits of a green and resilient energy grid, we must first break down the energy industry’s walled gardens, the authors write.

  Michael Lee and Michael Murray • June 17, 2021

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  As 9 Ex-FERC commissioners tout organized markets, we need facts, not propaganda on the benefits

  25 years into this RTO experiment we still have no ability to say dispositively that it has either worked or failed with respect to costs. Someone – maybe a federal regulator – should do an independent study, the author writes.

  Michael McKenna • June 16, 2021

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  FERC points PJM toward a 21st-century reliability approach

  Reliability mechanisms that seemed appropriate two decades ago, including the original capacity market designs, no longer fit the bill, the authors write.

  David Littell and Michael Hogan • June 15, 2021

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  Laying the regulatory groundwork for hydrogen in the United States

  Hydrogen is a fundamentally different energy commodity that merits its own regulatory structure in the United States, the authors write.

  Drake D. Hernandez and Emre Gençer • June 08, 2021

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  'An unlikely alliance': US investor-owned utilities and NGOs partner to advance new carbon-free tech

  The Edison Electric Institute and the Clean Air Task Force announce an initiative to support a slate of emerging carbon-free technologies.

  Ben Fowke and Armond Cohen • June 04, 2021

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  The Texas Big Freeze: Holistic policy design for a clean and resilient grid

  Energy Innovation evaluates a set of lessons from Texas' February power outages that regulators and grid operators can apply around the country, while it cautions against inadequate responses to the crisis.

  Dan Esposito and Eric Gimon • June 04, 2021

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  The Texas Big Freeze: How much were markets to blame for widespread outages?

  Rather than abandoning markets, regulators and lawmakers should correct them through smart policy that bolsters readiness for future climate-driven disasters while facilitating grid decarbonization, the authors write.

  Dan Esposito and Eric Gimon • June 03, 2021

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  The Texas Big Freeze: How a changing climate pushed the state's power grid to the brink

  Energy Innovation explains what drove the extended Texas outages in February in a series on resiliency against extreme events.

  Dan Esposito and Eric Gimon • June 02, 2021

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  Local communities want to lead the fight for clean energy

  Local governments want to step up and advance all-electric buildings because they know it's good for communities, public health, affordability, reliability and our planet, the author writes.

  Alejandra Mejia Cunningham • June 01, 2021

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  The dangers of 'out of sight, out of mind' gas ban policies

  Counter to electrification advocates' goals, natural gas bans would increase, rather than decrease, the share of the country's energy mix coming from gas in its least-efficient form — natural gas-fired power plants, the author writes.

  Dave Schryver • June 01, 2021

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  Exposing the utility playbook: Ratepayers are stuck paying the bill for utility corruption

  Legislators and regulators need to be insulated from undue influence from utilities by limiting political spending and instituting strict anti-revolving door policies, the authors write.

  Landon Stevens and Mark Pischea • May 27, 2021

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  Averting economic devastation from New York's billion-dollar consumer energy debt

  Federal funds will eliminate a lot of New Yorkers' energy and water utility debt, but utility shareholders must share the burden of what remains, the authors write.

  Kevin Parker and Richard Berkley • May 26, 2021

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  Where should batteries be put to manage wind and solar power?

  Lawrence Berkeley National Lab researchers found that batteries sited separately from renewables, in a nearby high-value location, added greater value to a project than tandem siting, particularly in constrained areas.

  Will Gorman • May 19, 2021

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