Opinion: Page 6
The latest opinion pieces by industry thought leaders
If you are interested in having your voice heard on Utility Dive's Opinion page, please read our editorial guidelines and fill out the submission form here.
-
Affordable energy in West Virginia starts with economic dispatch
West Virginia’s utilities have been operating their coal plants while incurring large losses and could have saved their ratepayers money by taking advantage of cheaper available power sources in the PJM market.
Ashtin Massie, Maria Castillo, Joe Daniel • Aug. 9, 2023 -
California must act quickly or risk losing billions in federal community solar incentives
The clock is ticking because a federal program to support community solar requires that states receiving a portion of the $7 billion start providing subsidies within 18 months of it being awarded.
Aaron Halimi • Aug. 8, 2023 -
The imperative of free, green and secure wires reform
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must advance transmission planning reforms and bolster interconnection rules to improve grid reliability, lower consumer costs and cut power plant emissions.
Devin Hartman and Jennie Chen • Aug. 7, 2023 -
Industry cries wolf yet again over EPA’s power plant carbon rules
In case after case, industry has complained that EPA rules would be more costly than predicted. But, in fact, the costs are typically much, much less than the agency anticipated.
Sophia Ahmed • Aug. 4, 2023 -
Despite headwinds, US offshore wind is poised for a breakout
U.S. offshore wind ambition should be far higher — billions in investment and hundreds of thousands of new jobs, along with a stable and clean grid, are at stake.
Taylor McNair • Aug. 3, 2023 -
Fast charging, high costs: Eliminating demand charges won’t solve the problem
Demand charges are essential for a utility to recover the cost of maintaining, upgrading, and building the electric grid, according to the author.
Chip Silverman • Aug. 2, 2023 -
Interregional transmission: The US is the tortoise, China is the hare
A failure to dramatically scale up interregional transmission capacity ensures the U.S. will fall further behind in the economic race with China.
James McCalley • Aug. 1, 2023 -
Everything talks to everything: Building resilience into the power grid
In the face of unprecedented distributed energy growth, building a dynamic and resilient grid will require key elements such as data management and a transmission buildout.
Don Tappan • July 25, 2023 -
Hydrogen can fill a critical gap in decarbonizing, but can utilities make the business case?
As electric and gas utilities seek approval from regulators, they will need to address concerns about hydrogen economics, sustainability and safety.
Leah Kunkel, Wesley Miller and Jessica Wright • July 24, 2023 -
I claimed energy independence for my co-op last summer — Here’s what happened next
No community should be dictated what source of power generation they have to consume — and no group should be beholden to another group charging them ever-escalating and opaque pricing.
Luis A. Reyes, Jr. • July 21, 2023 -
It’s time to rethink grid reliability
While the grid shifts from a fossil fuel-heavy system to one that is powered by clean, carbon-free electricity generation, there are three questions we need to answer.
Michelle Solomon • July 20, 2023 -
Digging deep: Why oil and gas should take a closer look at geothermal
Rather than equivocating in their commitments to clean energy, oil and gas companies should draw on their strengths in innovation and cost reduction to bring energy solutions to market.
Andrew Howell and Karine Kleinhaus • July 19, 2023 -
America faces another high-wire moment: This one around its energy future
The debt ceiling bill included some much-needed reforms to improve the efficiency of the permitting process for energy infrastructure. But they were step one. The question is, what comes next?
Amy Andryszak and Jason Grumet • July 18, 2023 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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