Reliability, security and affordability concerns are rising in a U.S. power sector increasingly focused on decarbonization and electrification. Utility Dive has rounded up some of our top stories so far on these and other trends in 2022.
Utilities want distribution system technologies for more DER visibility and control. But advocates want a new national stakeholder dialogue about the timing of spending for DER integration.
Distributed energy resources, including rooftop solar, battery storage and electric vehicles, are experiencing significant growth in the U.S. as the power sector evolves to a cleaner, less centralized future.
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers in the House have called for an emergency supplemental spending bill to provide clean energy for underserved Puerto Rican households.
“Other states that have implemented a similar cliff in the export compensation rate have seen sharp declines in the pace of solar deployment,” a solar industry representative said.
The collaboration will focus on three bidirectional capabilities: the ability for vehicles to support home energy needs, send energy back to the grid or participate in a virtual power plant.
New aggressive planning is needed to identify the long-duration storage technologies and find the land to grow enough resources to reach the Biden administration’s net zero emissions goals, a DOE national lab reports.
The IRA has a major flaw in one of its most popular provisions – the residential tax credit for solar and battery storage. Low-income homeowners often do not have a tax liability and cannot access this 30% tax credit.
One initial analysis suggests the proposal, if approved, would cut the average export rate in California from 30 cents per kilowatt to 8 cents per kilowatt effective April 2023.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District project “has worldwide potential,” according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and can “easily handle hundreds of applications daily.”
Individual homes can be upgraded, community solar can help to lower bills and regulators can broaden the public engagement process to be more inclusive, consumer advocates say.
General Motors hopes the new services will spur EV adoption while improving grid resiliency, it said as part of a broader business announcement Tuesday.
Interoperability standards can deliver “non-discriminatory access” to real-time data from new smart meters to fulfill promises of customer savings and other system benefits, energy managers say.
Price signals linked to power market needs through smart technologies could make distributed energy resources that are aggregated and automated by third parties an answer to California reliability threats, industry observers said.
Integration of DER into planning, operations and markets presents massive challenges and opportunities but the DERMS journey for utilities is achievable and has clear starting points.
By Erik Felt, Smarter Grid Solutions •Aug. 29, 2022
The new law comes as California regulators consider reforming their existing net energy metering framework. A previous proposal received sharp criticism from the solar industry.
Well before MISO builds out its recently approved $10 billion transmission portfolio, it can avoid blackouts by boosting its operating reserves rather than keeping a singular focus on planning reserves, the authors write.
By Rao Konidena and Allison Bates Wannop •Aug. 15, 2022
NextEra, the world’s biggest IOU by market cap, wants a “real” reduction of all carbon emissions by FPL, its regulated subsidiary, with solar, batteries and green hydrogen, but it will go without much help from the demand side.
The $200 million facility will help Bloom meet the growing demand for its fuel cells to provide power during outages and periods of intense demand on the grid.
Mississippi Power Co. will offer up to $5 million a year in rebates and Entergy Mississippi will have a $10 million budget for rooftop solar rebates, of which 50% must go to low-income customers.
New energy efficiency as demand response opportunities can meet customer and system needs as well as set the EU and the world free from both Russian energy and stopgap coal burning, International Energy Agency leaders said.
Bilanol via Getty Images
Previous
