Opinion: Page 2
The latest opinion pieces by industry thought leaders
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Fixing our supply chains is necessary for the clean energy transition
Solar panels are in high demand but have been particularly hard hit this year by supply chain problems.
Sally Talberg • Oct. 19, 2021 -
Kevork Djansezian via Getty Images
Time for utility companies to step up by supporting the Clean Electricity Performance Program
Achieving more clean energy is feasible, affordable and would benefit our economy and public health without compromising power system reliability, writes Ceres' senior program director of climate and energy.
Dan Bakal • Oct. 18, 2021 -
Courtesy of Entergy
Entergy failures threaten New Orleans' future
Entergy's way of doing business is unaffordable to ratepayers and it is unable to provide the kind of reliability and resilience that are more necessary in the face of climate disaster, the author writes.
Jesse George • Oct. 15, 2021 -
Scott Olson via Getty Images
Electric co-ops must heed the lessons of Kodak and others in pushing to overhaul today's G&Ts
It must have been painful to throw away the still-working Walkman, film camera or eight-track tape player (and the car it came in), but the world moved on, United Power's CEO writes.
Mark A. Gabriel • Oct. 12, 2021 -
Photo illustration by Brian Tucker/Utility Dive; photograph by tommaso79 via Getty Images
US utilities have billions in unpaid customer balances. What should they do?
The day of reckoning will inevitably come when regulators will have to determine who pays for unpaid balances: the delinquent customer, other customers, utility shareholders, taxpayers, NGOs, or having a shared responsibility.
Kenneth W. Costello • Oct. 6, 2021 -
Courtesy of Daimler Trucks North America
New Jersey's EV charging proposal for trucks could be a national model, with a few changes
Electrifying the U.S. truck and bus fleet is not only a transformational opportunity, it's a big lift. We need to get it right the first time, the author writes.
Pete Silva • Oct. 4, 2021 -
With forward capacity auction success, batteries are winning in New England
Battery storage is now able to compete head-to-head economically — without subsidies — against incumbent fossil fuel generation in New England, the author writes.
Todd Olinsky-Paul • Sept. 28, 2021 -
Megan Quinn/Utility Dive
Landmark infrastructure spending must address climate change crisis to prevent further damage
Local policymakers and project developers must be educated on the global nature of the climate challenge and will increasingly require the right tools to guide project selection and development, the authors write.
Tim Lieuwen, Adam Cohen and Rich Simmons • Sept. 27, 2021 -
Scott Olson via Getty Images
With huge grid infrastructure investment looming, NextEra, PG&E offer lessons on the key role of ESG
With a House vote expected on nearly $70 billion of grid infrastructure investments, utilities and energy providers must respond to a call to action for investing in social impact, sustainability, and corporate responsibility, the authors assert.
Ryan P. Martin and Jan Maceczek • Sept. 24, 2021 -
Scott Olson / Staff via Getty Images
PJM cities to FERC: It's time for the MOPR to go
For our climate efforts to succeed, FERC must approve grid operator PJM Interconnection's plan to mostly undo MOPR's threat to state and local clean energy goals, a coalition of 10 cities and communities asserts.
The PJM Cities and Communities Coalition • Sept. 23, 2021 -
Permission granted by Pittsburgh International Airport
How the Resilient Energy Subscription market mechanism will help finance community microgrids
The Clean Coalition is working with a Pacific Northwest utility to implement the approach, which could be followed as a standard for financing community microgrids around the country, the author writes.
Craig Lewis • Sept. 22, 2021 -
Drew Angerer via Getty Images
Congress must commit to electric vehicles
China's continued dominance in electrification would result in a severe competitive disadvantage for the United States, sending jobs, new investments and intellectual capital overseas, the authors write.
Ben Prochazka, Shelley Francis, Jeff Allen and Joel Levin • Sept. 21, 2021 -
Andreas Rentz via Getty Images
What's a reasonable investor to expect? MOPR instability and state policy certainty
Regulatory certainty is a worthy goal. But, in a competitive market, generators aren't entitled to protection or guaranteed to recover their investment, the author writes.
Sarah Ladin • Sept. 17, 2021 -
Elizabeth Regan, Industry Dive/Utility Dive
To build back better, make FERC boring again
The more FERC presses against or exceeds the bounds of the statutes Congress has written, the more it will see its decisions litigated, costing time and money when we cannot afford to waste either, the author writes.
Kevin Sunday • Sept. 15, 2021 -
Scott Olson via Getty Images
A national Clean Electricity Performance Program needs to support clean-tech innovation
A Clean Electricity Performance Program with a well-designed innovation multiplier could go a long way toward developing and deploying at scale the technology necessary to decarbonize the U.S. grid, the author writes.
Stefan Koester • Sept. 15, 2021 -
Ron Jenkins via Getty Images
FERC wants state help on transmission policy. It should also ask about wholesale market reforms.
States will struggle to reach meaningful levels of decarbonization — let alone a net-zero outcome — without regional scale that really is only possible through the FERC wholesale markets, the author writes.
David Boyd • Sept. 14, 2021 -
Scott Olson via Getty Images
Our approach to expanding electricity infrastructure isn't working. It's time for a different conversation.
We do not have the necessary mechanisms to identify, prioritize and build the network of interstate, high-capacity transmission lines needed in the next 30 years, the authors write.
Armond Cohen and Liza Reed • Sept. 10, 2021 -
Scott Olson via Getty Images
5 things I learned from exiting my G&T power provider, and the 300 things I've gained
Kit Carson Electric Cooperative CEO Luis A. Reyes Jr. offers lessons and advice based on KCEC's G&T cooperative exit, one of the first in the country.
Luis A. Reyes Jr. • Sept. 9, 2021 -
Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
Energy equity: Reforming utilities' business plans by rebalancing ratepayers' financial risks
Decentralized clean energy systems, with utility-scale renewables in support, offer lower costs, greater resiliency and more equitable risk sharing between utilities and ratepayers, the author writes.
Grant Smith • Sept. 7, 2021 -
David McNew via Getty Images
Full and open transmission competition is key to boosting grid reliability and renewables in California
We need to put all options on the table to keep the lights on for California while we break new ground in the energy transition, writes Stanford University's Michael Wara.
Michael Wara • Sept. 3, 2021 -
Drew Angerer via Getty Images
When there's a will, there's a way: Building the foundation for municipal EV infrastructure
Electric vehicles are no longer a novelty. Local leaders can begin to expand their EV infrastructure by first building the local will and political capital, while also investing in workforce development.
Celeste Frye • Sept. 1, 2021 -
Elizabeth Regan, Industry Dive/Utility Dive
Making FERC hot can keep the climate cool
Although clean energy subsidies dominate headlines, policymakers are beginning to appreciate the foremost imperative in the clean energy transition: overhauling archaic regulation, the author writes.
Devin Hartman • Aug. 24, 2021 -
Scott Olson via Getty Images
The G&T cooperative business model is not broken, despite some vocal Tri-State opponents
For those who assert that Tri-State — or more broadly, the G&T model — is broken and needs to be fixed, the head of Otero County Electric Cooperative asks, what's the problem that needs to be solved?
Mario Romero • Aug. 23, 2021 -
David McNew via Getty Images
The disintermediation red herring: How utilities can learn to embrace and profit from DER
Utilities that understand what tools customers value and make it easier for customers to access them can turn disruption into advantage, the authors write.
Samir Succar and Val Jensen • Aug. 19, 2021 -
Ron Jenkins via Getty Images
Utility regulators need to be a lot more proactive on climate resilience. Here's how they can start.
As the country grapples with accelerating consequences from extreme weather events, new regulatory frameworks are needed to guide utility investments for added resilience, the authors write.
Maria Bocanegra and Mishal Thadani • Aug. 17, 2021
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