Opinion
The latest opinion pieces by industry thought leaders
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Kendall Davis, Dive Design
Let Project Icebreaker break the ice
The Ohio Power Siting Board should remove its 11th hour "poison pill" condition on the construction permit for the first freshwater offshore wind project in North America, a clean energy attorney says.
Theresa Carroll • Aug. 04, 2020 -
Southeastern utilities' energy market proposal appears to be less than it may SEEM
The proposal does not appear likely to significantly reduce customers’ bills or help to integrate renewables compared to other options that are available and which should be explored in more depth, the author writes.
Steven Shparber • July 30, 2020 -
Fotolia
2050 too far off? How facilities can achieve net zero carbon today
Facilities across a range of sectors — including high-heat industrial sectors — have a realistic path to eliminating 100% of their carbon emissions, the author writes.
Tim Lukes • July 29, 2020 -
Geothermal energy is surging — battered oil and gas companies should take advantage
America’s idled oil and gas workforce can get back into the field with geothermal operations, which similarly involve deep-well drilling, according to the authors.
Jigar Shah and Tim Latimer • July 28, 2020 -
It's time for emergent markets to take center stage in non-RTO regions of the country
Some have said that expansion of the full prescriptive RTO model is the foreordained end-game for utilities across the country. But the development of emergent markets in the Southeast and West calls that assumption into question, the authors write.
Tony Clark, Ray Gifford and Matt Larson • July 27, 2020 -
Flickr
Setting free the dancing bear: A practitioner's view of how to break open energy efficiency
Regulators are missing the biggest obstacle to a robust energy efficiency market: high transaction costs, the author writes.
Mark Shahinian • July 20, 2020 -
6 commonly misunderstood legal risks for smart grids
Utilities are increasingly turning to smart grids, which allow them to better gauge and meet the demand from consumers, reduce power plant costs and have "real time" customer demand and billing data to analyze.
Jon Farnsworth • July 13, 2020 -
3 major policy trends to watch for in China's renewable energy market
National policies have laid a foundation for an open and competitive power market in China, the authors write.
Cihang Yuan and Daniel Riley • July 10, 2020 -
States are falling short on building decarbonization — Here's what regulators need to do
Programs and rules that are poorly suited for a transition from gas to electricity should be revisited, the authors write.
Mike Henchen and Sherri Billimoria • July 09, 2020 -
Getty
How utilities can support diverse business entities impacted by the COVID-19 crisis
Diverse business entities are facing financial uncertainty, reductions in allowable work and cash flow crises due to the pandemic, the authors write.
Ronnette Anderson and Laura Orfanedes • July 01, 2020 -
Getty Images
Federalizing net metering is unequivocally anti-conservative
If the conservative movement is to achieve more victories at the energy regulatory margin, it needs to coalesce, move past generic posturing and start diving deep into institutional contexts, the author writes.
Devin Hartman • June 30, 2020 -
Photo illustration by Brian Tucker/Utility Dive; photograph by thinkreaction via Getty Images
A short-term vision for sustainable recovery
A new report from the International Energy Agency envisions a green economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, but the plan lacks long-term vision, the author writes.
Saara Kujala • June 29, 2020 -
Alevo
Fortune telling, utility style: Asset performance management drives costs down, reliability up
Having the right processes to infer insights from data is as important as the data itself, the author writes.
Bryan Friehauf • June 26, 2020 -
California's storage limbo: Over $300M in projects are stuck on a CPUC waitlist, but there's an easy fix
California has $600 million in idle funds that can be used to advance energy storage projects; reallocating them would be the shot in the arm the state needs now, the author writes.
Ted Ko • June 25, 2020 -
Hard truths about net metering and the perils of regulatory nihilism
Due to poor retail rate design, full retail net metering as calculated today is overwhelmingly regressive, former FERC Commissioner Tony Clark says.
Tony Clark • June 24, 2020 -
Will regulators allow utilities to reap a windfall because of COVID-19?
Customers almost everywhere will pay for utilities’ losses, while in Texas and Georgia competitive retailers own much of COVID-19’s economic impact, says Travis Kavulla, vice president of regulatory affairs at NRG Energy.
Travis Kavulla • June 23, 2020 -
Getty
The truth about the future of gas: We don't need to build anymore
"Let’s clear away the myths about gas, renewables and the grid," writes UC Berkeley professor David Wooley, co-author of a recent report that said a 90% clean electricity system is feasible in the U.S. by 2035.
David Wooley • June 22, 2020 -
Enel X
This is not the way to move beyond net metering
If NERA succeeds, it will hand control of DER compensation to federal regulators and thereby stymie ongoing state-level efforts to realize DERs' potential benefits, the authors write.
Justin Gundlach and Burcin Unel • June 18, 2020 -
8 Rivers Capital
Toward a clean recovery: Rebooting the federal energy demonstration portfolio
The federal government should help fund projects that will demonstrate the real-world viability of large-scale, capital-intensive, zero-emissions technologies, an endeavor that is typically too risky for private companies to take on alone.
Robert Rozansky and David M. Hart • June 17, 2020 -
It's time for a green stimulus: Here's how a small Vermont utility can show the way
Burlington Electric Department has a plan to help boost local economic activity, support its customers with energy-saving technologies, and make progress on the city's Net Zero Energy goal.
Darren Springer • June 15, 2020 -
Stimulus spending on electricity decarbonization: The role of corporate renewable buyers
Recent developments in corporate renewable procurement suggest one promising strategy for aligning the political odds in favor of stimulus spending that accelerates grid-greening and renewable transitions.
Zdravka Tzankova • June 11, 2020 -
Massachusetts' Clean Peak Standard — A trailblazer in the nation's clean energy transition
As the standard comes into effect, it could play a substantial role in bringing additional clean energy technologies to the state. And adoption elsewhere could improve prospects of meeting aggressive renewable goals.
Roger Lin • June 09, 2020 -
Brittney Butler Unsplash
Missouri cities shine on the national climate action stage
While coastal cities typically drive climate action, Kansas City and St. Louis are demonstrating what Heartland cities are capable of in the fight against climate change.
Ashok Gupta • June 09, 2020 -
Photo illustration by Brian Tucker/Utility Dive; photograph by tommaso79 via Getty Images
Utility exec and consumer advocate: Arrearage management programs are a win for customers and utilities
These programs can be particularly useful when current utility shut-off moratoriums expire — it is estimated the residential electric sector alone may see a total increase in past due bills of more than $15 billion by early summer.
Penni Conner and Charlie Harak • June 08, 2020 -
Renewables' potential depends on transparent and fair policies, not special interest giveaways
FirstEnergy spinoff Energy Harbor is receiving a $1 billion taxpayer bailout while also enriching its shareholders with an $800 million stock buyback. This is crony capitalism at its worst, the author writes.
Michael K. Dorsey • June 05, 2020
