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  Bigger meals require better receipts: A call for coordinated greenhouse gas emissions tracking

  States need to work together to create a consistent, transparent and ironclad greenhouse gas accounting system, writes Abigail Anthony, a commissioner with the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission.

  Abigail Anthony • July 12, 2023

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  How years of mismanagement and regulatory failures broke California’s utilities

  There is a chronic misperception that Herculean efforts are required to overhaul utility infrastructure and set California back on the path of improvement. In fact, the solutions are much more basic than that.

  Jeffrey Conklin and Andrew Heath • July 11, 2023

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  How hourly tracking can prevent a ‘clean’ hydrogen boondoggle

  Hourly matching is feasible, in use today and absolutely necessary for deploying clean hydrogen and building a clean grid.

  Ben Gerber and Killian Daly • July 10, 2023

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  From power to pharma, companies need better carbon emissions reporting

  The key to progress is interoperability, or the ability to compare, share and use information across greenhouse gas accounting and reporting systems.

  Liv Watson and Marian Van Pelt • July 7, 2023

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  Tapping into DOE’s $250B of loan authority for projects that reinvest in US clean energy infrastructure

  Potential projects include replacing retired infrastructure with nuclear energy or renewables with or without storage, retrofitting power plants, reconductoring transmission lines and more.

  Jigar Shah • July 6, 2023

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  Local solar and storage are essential to the electrification movement

  The key to lowering the cost of electrification is energy management and demand response, starting with local solar and storage.

  Robin Dutta • June 28, 2023

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  When it comes to transmission, customers must come first

  The key to grid planning is first to acknowledge the central role states play so that transmission is built according to customer need, not arbitrary mandates.

  Tony Clark • June 26, 2023

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  False promises: As states tackle residential solar complaints, how companies can avoid problems

  Misrepresentations have spurred the ire of state AGs when solar companies exaggerate their systems’ potential to save consumers money, despite financing that may end up costing the consumer more.

  Clayton S. Friedman, Ryan Strasser, Mackenzie W.J. Jessup and Carson Cox • June 22, 2023

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  Hydropower, America’s first renewable industry, could help achieve net zero — if Treasury allows it

  Requiring energy producers to source electricity only from newly built clean power would negatively impact the United States’ ability to rapidly scale its clean hydrogen industry.

  Malcolm Woolf • June 21, 2023

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  6 lessons from transportation electrification’s past to guide its future

  We need to prepare for a future that looks very different from the present while learning from prior experiences deploying charging infrastructure and early utility efforts to design and implement customer EV programs.

  Bryan Jungers • June 15, 2023

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  Accelerate the US high-capacity transmission build-out with voluntary, strategic co-location

  Designing a transmission route based on unmet needs for rural broadband connectivity will create incentives for landowners to welcome high-capacity transmission lines.

  Robin Allen • June 13, 2023

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  FERC’s backstop siting authority: Why considering emissions, EJ will get transmission built

  Powerful actors have attacked the agency’s authority to consider air pollution and environmental justice when siting transmission lines. These skeptics are wrong on the law, the author writes.

  Matt Lifson • June 8, 2023

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  As states vie for billions in EV investments, how can they ensure the transition is equitable for all?

  Policymakers should consider providing robust transition support for longtime autoworkers by creating a transition support fund and rapid response team to address job losses and supporting retraining opportunities.

  Devashree Saha and Dan Lashof • June 7, 2023

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  Pending Connecticut law to protect utility ratepayers will backfire

  If SB 7 becomes law, lenders and rating agencies will conclude that Connecticut is becoming a riskier operating environment because of the reforms and penalties it requires.

  Brad Viator • June 6, 2023

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  Full industrial electrification could more than double US power demand. Here’s how renewables can meet it.

  Accelerating industrial electrification requires policymakers to ensure increased electricity demand is supplied with new least-cost clean generation in rural areas with high-quality renewable resources.

  Eric Gimon • May 31, 2023

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  Canada’s pipeline hack was a warning. Here’s why we need AI to protect our energy infrastructure.

  Artificial intelligence can keep atop of cybersecurity maintenance by providing real-time, autonomous protection against the likes of zero-day threats, which exploit bugs or access in software.

  Dj Das • May 30, 2023

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  Biden’s new EV mandate needs private sector participation to succeed

  Private businesses will always be at a competitive disadvantage so long as utilities remain free to levy demand charges and box out their competitors.

  Jamey French • May 26, 2023

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  A new Colorado law makes it a top site for clean hydrogen developers, but it’s not a model for federal rules

  We do not advocate that the U.S. Treasury adopt Colorado’s approach. Rather, it should base its decision on careful economic analysis and phase in more rigorous GHG accounting over time.

  Will Toor • May 25, 2023

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  The generators who cry ‘wolf’: How competitive wholesale markets handle generator bankruptcy

  Generators with competitive operating costs that enter bankruptcy have every incentive to remain in business and to produce as much energy as they can whenever they can earn more than their variable costs.

  Mike Hogan • May 24, 2023

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  RTOs may be ‘sick’ but weren’t designed to manage a huge transition of US generation. Here’s how to help.

  RTOs provide great value in operating the electric system every day, but they struggle with their role in the massive undertaking and challenge of managing a wholesale overhaul of that system.

  Matt King and John Chiles • May 19, 2023

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  Georgia’s Plant Vogtle is a $35B boondoggle. We need new and better solutions for a carbon-free grid.

  Urgent utility business model reforms are needed to create a 21st-century, people-centered grid that delivers affordable fossil-free solutions.

  Patty Durand • May 18, 2023

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  Carolina market reforms would increase grid reliability and reduce customer costs

  Opening the energy market in the Carolinas to more competition translates to more options to meet customer preferences and, in turn, supports economic development prospects throughout both states.

  Reese Rogers • May 17, 2023

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  The TransWest Express transmission line is a win for rural communities. Why did approval take 15 years?

  The massive delay in approving the TransWest Express project was the result of an overly complex and too easily derailed federal permitting process for major infrastructure projects.

  Greg Brophy • May 16, 2023

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  How PJM, America’s biggest grid operator, got its reliability report wrong

  In reaching its most dire predictions, the report ignores how the Inflation Reduction Act that is expected to change the investment environment for wind, solar and energy storage would boost new capacity entry.  

  Casey Roberts • May 12, 2023

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  As Shell and other oil and gas majors adopt clean energy strategies, how should electric utilities respond?

  Oil and gas companies are experts in flexibly responding to market conditions and opportunities, and their entry into the generation market plays to these strengths.

  Alex Boyd • May 5, 2023

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