Opinion
The latest opinion pieces by industry thought leaders
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Ash ponds: Keep calm and close in place
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to closing coal ash ponds, the author writes, cautioning against jumping to preordained conclusions on how to address the coal generation byproduct.
Steven A. Burns is a partner at Balch & Bingham, LLP as part of the Environmental and Natural Resources practice. • Jan. 15, 2020 -
Will deep decarbonization include nuclear? Possibly, with many caveats
Nuclear has a potential role in a low carbon future only if it is guaranteed to deliver electricity at a levelized cost under $0.076/kWh, the author writes.
Levin Nock • Jan. 14, 2020 -
Illinois Chamber: Clean Energy Jobs Act will inflict billions in increased costs on ratepayers
The business trade group is concerned with the bill's proposal to prioritize the use of Exelon's nuclear plants to meet Illinois' capacity needs, saying it will secure Exelon's financial future at the expense of ratepayers' electricity bills.
Todd Maisch • Jan. 09, 2020 -
FERC's clean energy boycott distorts PJM prices and discards history
The new rules approved for PJM's capacity auction will force the grid operator to buy more capacity than it needs to keep the lights on, according to Harvard energy lawyer Ari Peskoe.
Ari Peskoe • Jan. 07, 2020 -
FERC's ROE conundrum: Finding the right number is harder than it looks
FERC's shift in return on equity methodology for transmission projects is counterintuitive — greater need, but lower authorized returns. This seems like a significant policy misalignment, writes former Commissioner Tony Clark.
Tony Clark • Jan. 06, 2020 -
Blackboard economics and a carbon tax
Adaptation is more effective, less costly and a more practical solution than trying to achieve a targeted temperature change for which we will almost surely fall short, the author writes.
Kenneth W. Costello • Jan. 03, 2020 -
2020 Vision: A trio of trends that will drive the utility business in the year ahead — and beyond
Decarbonization, battery storage and appealing to a younger workforce will all be major themes in 2020, SAP predicts.
James Eardley • Dec. 23, 2019 -
New York vs. ExxonMobil ruling shows natural gas development, not litigation, key for climate solutions
With demand for power expected to boom by over 50%, more natural gas is a common sense approach to fighting global temperature rise, writes former Ambassador Richard D. Kauzlarich.
Richard D. Kauzlarich • Dec. 20, 2019 -
IEEE standards are critical to grid mod and other utility priorities: You should help develop them
Participation in the IEEE 802 standards process, not just by vendors but also by end users, is necessary to help communications technologies progress in a way that benefits electric utilities and other critical industries.
Kathy Nelson • Dec. 19, 2019 -
For a smart transition to 100% clean energy: Renewables, storage and, in some cases, new gas
Just because we can't achieve a perfectly zero-carbon grid with renewables and short-duration storage doesn't mean we shouldn't aim to achieve a nearly zero-carbon grid.
Arne Olson and Dan Mullen • Dec. 18, 2019 -
Happy birthday and thank you, O2K (Order 2000)!
As FERC's Order 2000 turns 20, it’s remarkable a rulemaking that "encouraged" (but did not compel) formation of RTOs would prove so transformative for most large power markets across the country, writes former commissioner James Hoecker.
James J. Hoecker • Dec. 17, 2019 -
Outsourcing utility climate goals: Energy as a service reduces risk while increasing energy savings
A full set of service solutions with financing options will increasingly be required to address the portfolio needs of C&I customers, with energy storage, smart building analytics and controls as key enabling technologies, the author writes.
Brett Feldman • Dec. 11, 2019 -
Minnesota pioneers integration of new interconnection standard expected to propel DERs
Integration of the IEEE standard will mean that distributed energy resources can automatically respond to certain grid conditions, enabling significantly higher penetrations on the grid, the author writes.
Sara Baldwin • Dec. 09, 2019 -
What I wish I'd said to California's chief air regulator about clean transportation
Will flexible demand-side resources ever be able to participate in power markets in the same way as supply-side resources? That’s the question before Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols — and all of us, the author writes.
David Farnsworth • Dec. 05, 2019 -
Too much wind and solar raises power system costs. Deep decarbonization requires nuclear
Once wind and solar provide around 40% of a region's electric power, costs begin to rise substantially, an author of a new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology writes.
John Reilly • Dec. 02, 2019 -
FERC is on the right track with resilience. Republicans can help by upholding conservative principles
Republicans in Congress and the administration should affirm local control, while ensuring a high threshold to justify the government favoring any one energy resource or generation technology over another, the author writes.
Charles Hernick • Nov. 25, 2019 -
PURPA is undermining the clean energy transition. Colorado has a better way
The most abusive manipulation of PURPA is its use by Qualifying Facilities to force utilities into lengthy "must-take" contracts, with above-market rates that are locked in for years or decades, the former head of Colorado's PUC writes.
Joshua Epel • Nov. 19, 2019 -
Time to move away from old precedents in FERC pipeline reviews
Maintaining the status quo does not engender confidence that FERC is only approving pipeline projects that are truly needed, consistent with the “public convenience and necessity,” writes Analysis Group's Sue Tierney.
Sue Tierney • Nov. 19, 2019 -
Don't minimize the resilience role of microgrids. They're key to mitigating wildfire and PSPS risk
Community Microgrids are stacked with local renewables and staged for resilience, providing communities a trifecta of economic, environmental and resilience benefits, writes Clean Coalition's Craig Lewis.
Craig Lewis • Nov. 18, 2019 -
To get to net zero, cities need to think wider than buildings
Solutions to climate change may lie in some old-fashioned values, like building strong communities, relying on neighbors and believing that design matters.
Tom Sieniewicz • Nov. 15, 2019 -
New battery storage on shaky ground in ancillary service markets
New battery storage systems will quickly overwhelm relatively finite ancillary service demand in regulated and deregulated markets across North America.
Derek Sackler • Nov. 14, 2019 -
Offshore wind will be a $1T industry by 2040, but our oceans and economy need it now
By 2030, the U.S. offshore wind industry will expend some $70 billion to build the wind farms to meet states’ clean energy commitments, providing good jobs for some 40,000 people, the author writes.
Stephanie McClellan • Nov. 13, 2019 -
Lessons learned from Europe: What US cities must do to achieve a clean electric future
Cities are at the center of the battle against climate change, but they're also at the forefront of addressing the challenge — and European cities are outpacing the U.S. in their solutions.
Rob Massoudi • Nov. 12, 2019 -
Sacramento utility's plan could block addition of new community solar, storage to local grid
SMUD’s shared solar proposal misses the point and could set a damaging precedent for other utilities and energy providers throughout California, according to Vote Solar's Ed Smeloff.
Ed Smeloff • Nov. 11, 2019 -
The last gasp of natural gas
Policymakers, regulators and investors would be wise to see the writing on the wall: The gas bubble is about to burst, and they won’t want to be caught with billions of dollars in sunk infrastructure costs when it does, the authors write.
Bruce Nilles and Mark Dyson • Nov. 08, 2019
