Constitutional challenge likely in fight over Dominion rate freeze

Critics say a five-year rate freeze lobbied for by Dominion could cost consumers an extra $1 billion and they are threatening to take the issue to the top court in Virginia. 

By Robert Walton • Jan. 8, 2016

Nevada casinos say exit fees could prevent their defection from NV Energy

Staff of the Public Utilities Commission say penalties for three major casinos intending to leave Nevada Power's service are legal, but at least one says the pricetag "effectively denied" its plan.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 8, 2016

ERCOT mulls changes to scarcity adder, price caps

The grid operator for much of Texas is considering changes to a price adder designed to ensure sufficiency capacity is available, after an apparent glitch last summer.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 8, 2016

Ohio Supreme Court hears arguments on FirstEnergy rate case

The Ohio Supreme Court heard arguments this week into whether state regulator's erred in approving the utility's current rate plan.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 8, 2016

NRG opposes expanding RGGI for Clean Power Plan compliance

In comments as part of an ongoing review of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, NRG has suggested states drop the program in favor of "independent state measure plans" to comply with the federal government's Clean Power Plan.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 8, 2016

Coal power declines in Southwest Power Pool, aided by cheap gas, wind

Last year, coal accounted for just over half of generation in the Southwest Power Pool, compared with 62% two years prior.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 7, 2016

Nuclear opponents continue fight against Palisades plant in Michigan

Opponents say there is evidence expensive and difficult improvements are needed to continue operating the plant safely.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 7, 2016

What utilities need to know about solar growth after the ITC extension

With policy support now certain into the 2020s, solar offers utilities a wide range of price-competitive opportunities for utilities.

By Herman K. Trabish • Jan. 7, 2016

Georgia Power, contractors finalize settlement over Vogtle nuke construction

Construction of the new generation near Waynesboro, Ga., is progressing well and will meet current inservice dates of June 2019 for Unit 3 and June 2020 for Unit 4, officials said.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 7, 2016

Florida Power & Light favors rate-based approach to Clean Power Plan compliance

Florida Power & Light's generation is already cleaner than required by new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations, the utility said.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 6, 2016

FERC orders changes to MISO capacity auctions as manipulation probe persists

Federal regulators could issue refunds after a power auction last year resulted in an almost 900% increase in prices for Ameren customers in the Midcontinent ISO system.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 6, 2016

Exelon swoops in on FirstEnergy plant subsidy deal promising $2B in savings

Exelon has no power plants in Ohio but has offered to sell 3,000 MW into the state's markets, potentially saving consumers $2 billion over a plan by FirstEnergy to guarantee income at a pair of aging baseload plants. 

By Robert Walton • Jan. 6, 2016

Ontario turns to storage for renewables integration, grid services

Ontario has taken a big step toward integrating energy storage into its grid, but in other respects the province is still catching up with some organized wholesale markets in the United States.

By Peter Maloney • Jan. 5, 2016

Midwestern utilities Xcel and Westar make big wind buys

Upper Midwest wind is now “competitive with new natural gas," an Xcel executive said. 

By Herman K. Trabish • Jan. 5, 2016

DERs in 2016: What experts expect for a booming sector

With the market for distributed energy resources set to blossom thanks to the extensions of vital tax credits, solar especially is primed to grow, experts predict. 

By Herman K. Trabish • Jan. 4, 2016

Low winter gas prices allow utilities to switch from coal to gas generation

Natural gas prices are almost half what they were a year ago, and that's creating an unusual wintertime opportunity for generators to switch away from coal.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 4, 2016

Final report due on Duke's NC coal ash ponds after draft labels most 'high priority'

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality must release a final assessment fo all 32 of Duke Energy's coal ash ponds by Dec. 31, and a draft report finds 27 would need to be closed by 2019.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 30, 2015

California's Salton Sea offers 1,800 MW of geothermal potential

A National Renewable Energy Laboratory study finds that the Salton Sea's potential geothermal baseload generation can serve California, Arizona and Nevada's renewables mandates. 

By Herman K. Trabish • Dec. 29, 2015

Puerto Rico electric utility reaches debt restructuring deal with creditors

 Puerto Rico's public utility finalized a deal to restructure its debt, cutting obligations by more than $600 million. 

By Gavin Bade • Dec. 28, 2015

Rocky Mountain Power seeks to shorten Utah PURPA contracts

Rocky Mountain Power, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway-owned PacifiCorp, says Utah's required 20-year contracts for PURPA qualified contracts is too long. 

By Krysti Shallenberger • Dec. 28, 2015

DTE Energy's new solar contracts will triple Michigan solar

Solar developer Inovateus Solar and state’s biggest electricity provider join for two utility scale installations totalling 45 MW.

By Herman K. Trabish • Dec. 23, 2015

Storage in 2016: Utility-scale, long-duration markets take the lead

Behind-the-meter storage grew by a factor of 16 in 2015, but next year expect to see front-of-the-meter applications continue to make up the lion's share of new deployments.

By Peter Maloney • Dec. 22, 2015

Editor's Picks: The biggest Utility Dive stories of 2015

2015 was a time of change like no other in the electric power sector. Here's a recap of the year as told by some of our most important stories. 

By Gavin Bade • Dec. 22, 2015

DOE to begin consent-based process for storing nuclear waste, officials say

Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told Platts the agency will spearhead a "consent-based process" to find a location for spent nuclear waste.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 22, 2015

Obama vetoes measures to block Clean Power Plan

The president used a “pocket veto," returning the legislation back to Congress unsigned. 

By Robert Walton • Dec. 22, 2015