Opinion
The latest opinion pieces by industry thought leaders
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A grand bargain for decarbonizing the US electricity sector
The fundamental political challenge for a zero carbon power sector likely boils down to the need for compromise between states that have long-term greenhouse gas emission reductions goals and those that do not.
Fredrich Kahrl and Jim Williams • May 04, 2021 -
Permission granted by Fermata Energy
As markets mature, will EV fleet managers drive competition between power providers?
Utilities cannot be complacent and just expect to be the preferred electricity provider for fleets based in their territory, the author writes.
Will Sierzchula • May 03, 2021 -
Danielle Ternes
Power markets are not ready to maximize infrastructure investments
The returns on capital generated from the investments made by the Biden administration's jobs plan will depend on how well they are leveraged within power markets, the author writes.
Ben Hertz-Shargel • April 30, 2021 -
FERC Chair Glick might be right on transmission incentives, but his timing is not
Glick may be correct that current transmission incentives are a product and a symptom of a broken process, but the timing of a new proposal is suboptimal for a number of reasons, the author writes.
Michael McKenna • April 28, 2021 -
Fotolia
4 common myths about performance-based regulation
Misconceptions about PBR abound, and may keep America's regulatory community from making sound decisions about its proper role, the author writes.
Mark Newton Lowry • April 27, 2021 -
Beyond solar and wind: 10 steps to meet President Biden's clean electricity target
As countries around the world commit to greater emissions reductions, it’s time for utilities and the electricity sector to buckle up for rapid decarbonization, says Grid Forward Executive Director Bryce Yonker.
Bryce Yonker • April 26, 2021 -
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As climate concerns grow, how is it getting cheaper to finance gas in the US?
These transactions speak volumes about what financial institutions believe or don’t believe about the energy transition in the U.S. and its inherent risks, the author writes.
Justin Guay • April 20, 2021 -
Retrieved from Lyft on June 17, 2020
All-electric car and truck sales by 2035 would save $2.7 trillion, but will take smart policy to drive clean
Additional regulation to encourage rapid ground transportation electrification is needed for the U.S. to lead in electric vehicle technology innovation.
Amanda Myers • April 19, 2021 -
Permission granted by First Solar
Gas is failing California. It's time to move on.
Even a state like California can waver in its progress towards clean energy if we let fear take over, the authors write.
Nina Robertson, Katherine Ramsey and Shana Lazerow • April 16, 2021 -
Ron Jenkins via Getty Images
Addressing misconceptions on the performance of the energy market in Texas
The solution to Texas' power market collapse earlier this year is not to tweak the markets but rather to create a reliability system operator to act as a central planner, the authors write.
Hala Ballouz, Joel Mathias, Sean Meyn, Robert Moye, Joseph Warrington • April 15, 2021 -
Courtesy of Kenworth
Cleaner by the mile: Electric trucks can have outsized environmental and health benefits
According to forthcoming research from Texas A&M University, electrification of a small number of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles can lead to significant pollution reductions, the authors write.
David Farnsworth, Camille Kadoch and Nancy Seidman • April 14, 2021 -
Getty Images
Putting the 'E' back in ESG: Lessons from the field
To make environmental, social and governance investments more of a mandate than a moment, there needs to be a way to track and verify their impact, particularly for climate-related investments, the author writes.
Bob Hinkle • April 12, 2021 -
Danielle Ternes
Plenty of low-hanging fruit: How FERC can catalyze transmission infrastructure
Effective near-term actions the commission can take include subjecting more regional projects to competition, while allowing new entrants at the local level, the authors write.
Devin Hartman and Beth Garza • April 09, 2021 -
US building codes need a major retrofit to meet climate goals and spare consumers
The International Code Council, which recently rolled back local governments' say in energy efficiency regulations for buildings, needs to adapt to the times or step aside, writes Energy Innovation's Sara Baldwin.
Sara Baldwin • April 07, 2021 -
Photo illustration by Brian Tucker/Utility Dive; photograph by jhorrocks via Getty Images
FERC's opt-out rule has created a stalemate for distributed energy resources and demand response programs
FERC should eliminate the opt-out rule because it is a market barrier that has served no useful purpose in more than a decade, the author writes.
Kenneth Schisler • April 06, 2021 -
Photo illustration by Brian Tucker/Utility Dive; photograph by LL28 via Getty Images
What a federal just transition strategy should look like
The transition to a low-carbon economy is a national — even global — phenomena and the response should be too, contributors from the World Resources Institute wrote.
Jillian Neuberger and Devashree Saha • April 05, 2021 -
Elizabeth Regan, Industry Dive
Hold on to your seats. FERC just hit the fast forward button on the clean energy transition.
The commission removed a major speed bump on the road to a clean energy future when it amended its landmark Order 2222 on March 18, the authors write.
Allison Bates Wannop and Jon Wellinghoff • March 30, 2021 -
Decarbonization requires more access to and consensus around energy data
There is a need for more data to better track and quantify progress toward decarbonization, the author writes.
Ben Gerber • March 30, 2021 -
California wildfires spur re-examination of regulatory barriers to widespread microgrids
Those seeking to build microgrids face long-standing barriers that appear in one form or another in virtually all 50 states, the author writes.
Peter Asmus • March 25, 2021 -
Lessons from the 2021 Texas electricity crisis
Power markets need to work better, concludes Peter Cramton, former vice chair of the ERCOT board, who resigned on Feb. 24.
Peter Cramton • March 23, 2021 -
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Reforming capacity markets to meet clean energy goals and support the grid of the future
The goal of reform efforts should be to retool the regional markets so that they facilitate the achievement of state and consumer clean energy goals and meet regional reliability needs in tandem, the author writes.
Jeff Dennis • March 22, 2021 -
Analysts' inaccurate cost estimates are creating a trillion-dollar bubble in conventional energy assets
Mainstream analysts have mispriced and overvalued not just coal, natural gas, nuclear and hydro power plants themselves, but the mines, wells, pipelines, ports and refineries that support them, the authors write.
Tony Seba and Adam Dorr • March 15, 2021 -
Iulia Gheorghiu / Utility Dive
How to unlock the potential of virtual power plants? Virtualize the grid.
We know from other sectors that tools exist to operate highly complex, distributed systems in an efficient and reliable manner. It's time we applied those lessons to the grid, the authors write.
Astrid Atkinson, Varun Sivaram, and Richard L. Kauffman • March 11, 2021 -
Green Mountain Power
A new program is making battery storage affordable for affordable housing (and everyone else)
ConnectedSolutions, available in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire, is beginning to transform the landscape for battery storage in homes, businesses and nonprofits, the author writes.
Seth Mullendore • March 09, 2021 -
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7 key trends from renewable energy's 2020 prices and some initial takeaways from Texas 2021
While detailed analysis of the Texas event crisis is still ongoing, the authors note, they examine some of the notable takeaways and trends in renewable energy markets from last year's performance.
Adam Reeve • March 08, 2021
