Utility-scale solar to soar in 2020, despite COVID, while coal decline accelerates, SEIA, EIA project

Solar growth is projected to be largely driven by utility-scale projects as residential installations take a larger hit due to the coronavirus pandemic.

By Catherine Morehouse • June 12, 2020

New York's economy is slowly reopening, but electricity demand remains clipped due to COVID-19

The grid operator for New York anticipates annual electricity consumption for 2020 will be 6% to 7% lower than previously forecast, due to the coronavirus pandemic — with increasing amounts supplied by carbon-free resources.

By Robert Walton • June 11, 2020

Explore the Trendline➔

Electricity Supply and Demand

After nearly two decades of flat demand, U.S. electricity consumption reached an all-time high in 2024 and is expected to continue rising. This trendline brings together the best of Utility Dive’s coverage of emerging trends in supply and demand and the decisions being made today that will impact the power system for years to come. 

By Utility Dive staff

Alabama regulators greenlight nearly 2 GW of gas for Southern, punt on solar+storage

Regulators said 400 MW in solar and storage facilities should be considered in a separate docket, but did approve 200 MW in demand side management programs.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • June 10, 2020

Indiana regulators decline to scrutinize IPL coal practices but continue Duke review

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission's order said Sierra Club's testimony didn't adequately account for non-economic factors that utilities need to consider when self-committing coal.

By Catherine Morehouse • June 9, 2020

California plans for future of gas system amid 'patchwork' of electrification policies

The California Public Utilities Commission has opened a rulemaking to "manage" a transition away from natural gas. But questions remain on what that transition will look like.

By Kavya Balaraman • June 9, 2020

Trump permitting order benefits fossil fuels and renewables, but NGOs vow to challenge

A former Environmental Protection Agency attorney says the order is on shaky legal ground and will likely be challenged in court.

By Catherine Morehouse • June 8, 2020

Renewables' potential depends on transparent and fair policies, not special interest giveaways

FirstEnergy spinoff Energy Harbor is receiving a $1 billion taxpayer bailout while also enriching its shareholders with an $800 million stock buyback. This is crony capitalism at its worst, the author writes.

By Michael K. Dorsey • June 5, 2020

PJM: MOPR compliance plan aims to avoid FERC's 'immense' and 'unreasonable' burden

FERC clarified in April that default capacity auctions are a state subsidy under the Minimum Offer Price Rule. But PJM warns too expansive a definition could "paralyze" the voluntary markets.

By Catherine Morehouse • June 4, 2020

The 3 key challenges to expanding the West's real-time energy market to day-ahead trading

Driven by new Western state renewables and zero emissions mandates, the 11 active participants and nine new applicants in the Energy Imbalance Market are pushing to expand it to day-ahead trading.

By Herman K. Trabish • June 3, 2020

New waste-to-hydrogen processes could contribute to a carbon negative future

With the rise in production and sales of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and power generators, the technology is entering a new maturation point that could encompass both mobile and stationary storage options, the author writes.

By Jean-Louis Kindler • June 3, 2020

Outdated NEPA needs modernizing. Just ask Warren Buffett

As the U.S. economy prepares to recover from the current crisis, important job and revenue-creating proposals like the 1,000 mile Gateway West transmission project don’t need to languish in a regulatory morass, the author writes.

By Paul Griffin • June 3, 2020

Massachusetts hopes 'localized approach' to GHG inventory can spread

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council rolled out tools for local communities to collect and track emissions data, something officials believe could be replicated in other regions.

By Chris Teale • June 2, 2020

Ex-FERC commissioners debate solutions to coal self-committments said to cost millions

Former FERC Commissioner Suedeen Kelly says the issue will have to be resolved at the state level, while former Chair Jon Wellinghoff argues such market distortions should be addressed by FERC.

By Catherine Morehouse • June 1, 2020

IRS clarifies carbon capture tax credit, but more policies needed to drive deployment, analysts say

Despite the proposed safety guidelines for the storage and utilization of captured carbon dioxide, some analysts say more incentives are needed for utilities to consider the new technology.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • June 1, 2020

LCOE is not the metric you think it is

The levelized cost of energy formulation overprices solar energy by 27%  and wind energy bu 18% as compared to natural gas-based power, the author says in calling for a new way to compare generation options. 

By James Loewen • May 28, 2020

EPA backtracks on fish-protecting requirements in long-delayed Merrimack coal plant permit

The permit has not been updated since 1992, and environmentalists say the agency's proposal is "a complete 180" from the permit proposed in 2011, which would have required the plant to install cooling towers.

By Catherine Morehouse • May 28, 2020

24 Congressional Democrats urge FERC to reject net metering overhaul

The proposal is an affront to states' rights as well as a threat to distributed energy compensation policies, senators and representatives wrote.

By Catherine Morehouse • May 28, 2020

Alliant coal plant could cost Wisconsin customers $257M by 2030, report says

One analyst notes the report does not take into account potential customer recovery of stranded costs, but the group says building out a new clean energy portfolio would still be cheaper than operating existing coal by 2026.

By Catherine Morehouse • May 27, 2020

Murkowski, Collins, Tillis urge Treasury to extend aid to solar industry

The Republican senators asked Secretary Steven Mnuchin to extend safe harbor requirements for the "start of construction" on renewables projects, and modify the "physical work test" rule to ensure eligibility for tax credits.

By Catherine Morehouse • May 26, 2020

Alliant Energy to retire 380 MW coal-fired unit said to have lost millions with uneconomic scheduling

The unit lost $8.3 million in net energy market revenues in 2016 alone, as well as millions more in subsequent years, according to a report last fall by the Sierra Club.

By Catherine Morehouse • May 26, 2020

Got to have a code: Co-ops, The Wire's Omar Little, and the struggle to exit G&T providers

HBO's The Wire and rural electric cooperatives are rarely mentioned in the same breath, but both prestige dystopian television show characters and cooperatives purport to live by a code, the authors write.

By Raymond L. Gifford and Matthew S. Larson • May 22, 2020

State-federal tension 'at an all time high' between MOPR, net metering attack, says head Maryland regulator

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Neil Chatterjee, meanwhile, urged states to give the MOPR time.

By Catherine Morehouse • May 22, 2020

FERC approves PJM reserve overhaul with $2B price tag, critics say move ignores overcapacity

"We are starting to see evidence that the future of PJM as we know it is at stake ... no matter how many times the chairman denies it,” Commissioner Richard Glick said in his dissent.

By Catherine Morehouse • May 21, 2020

Developer plans to build hydrogen plant that runs on waste in Southern California

The plant will process 40,000 tons of waste every year to produce up to 3.8 million kilograms of hydrogen, according to SGH2 Energy.

By Kavya Balaraman • May 21, 2020

Exelon, PSEG urge New Jersey to adopt FRR alternative to PJM, as competitive providers push for CASPR

Utilities and competitive suppliers have expressed concern that FERC's Minimum Offer Price Rule would harm coastal states' nascent offshore wind industry, but have competing proposals over how to save it.

By Catherine Morehouse • May 21, 2020