Opinion: Page 7
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.
-
Chuck Schug Photography via Getty Images
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 -
Eloi Omella via Getty Images
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 -
Kat72 via Getty Images
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 -
Permission granted by Enel X Way North America
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 -
Karl Weatherly via Getty Images
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 -
Young777 via Getty Images
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 -
DenisTangneyJr via Getty Images
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 -
Courtesy of JSW USA
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 -
iStock via Getty Images
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 -
Aranga87/iStock/Getty Images Plus via Getty Images
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 -
milehightraveler via Getty Images
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 -
Avosb via Getty Images
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 -
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 -
Courtesy of Bechtel
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 -
Aryut via Getty Images
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 -
imaginima via Getty Images
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 -
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 -
Cavan Images via Getty Images
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 -
Vanit Janthra via Getty Images
The IRS’s coming 45V tax credit rules can build a domestic clean hydrogen industry — but only if done right.
A loose framework of rules could raise utility rates, make it tougher to meet clean energy targets, and threaten reliability while setting the clean hydrogen industry up for failure once 45V expires.
Dan Esposito • May 4, 2023 -
Mario Tama via Getty Images
Why EV operations minutiae, not big strategic announcements, will decide the success of the EV transition
The “announce first, solve barriers later” mindset so predominant in the vehicle electrification industry today is a drag on progress.
Matt Lichtash • May 2, 2023 -
The image by Wally Gobetz is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
Texas legislators should consider alternatives to strengthen grid reliability before gambling on PCM
The proposed performance credit mechanism would not guarantee the development of any new generation capacity but would impose guaranteed new costs on Texas consumers.
Zoe Parker • April 26, 2023 -
Permission granted by TerraPower
Efforts to accelerate permitting could learn a thing or two from nuclear energy
In the past, the implicit assumption was that it was OK for it to take years or even decades to build energy projects because the status quo was acceptable. We know now that the status quo is not, in fact, acceptable.
Jessica Lovering and Judi Greenwald • April 24, 2023 -
Courtesy of Daimler Trucks North America
Covering infrastructure costs to support commercial EV charging is worth it for utilities and ratepayers
If utilities pay up front for all of the customer- and utility-side make-ready investments needed to electrify fleets in their service territory, the resulting revenues will outweigh the investment cost at no additional cost to ratepayers.
Pamela MacDougall • April 20, 2023 -
baranozdemir via Getty Images
New York’s plan for transforming its electricity generation will reduce reliability at extreme cost
Permitting and grid interconnection delays mean it's highly unlikely that enough new generation will be added to meet the state’s goal of having 100% zero-emission electricity production by 2040.
Arnold Wallenstein • April 19, 2023
Previous
