Power sector divides over FERC role in resilience docket comments

The coal and nuclear sectors want swift federal action on grid resilience, while others are keen to let regional grid operators handle the issue.

By Gavin Bade • May 10, 2018

Agility is the antidote to disruption: Strategies to unlock your utility's agile performance

Unlock your utility’s agility to evolve into a resilient company that thrives in the most uncertain business climates.

By Kate West • May 10, 2018

EnSync's solar+storage to allow energy sharing in Hawaii

By combining solar energy and storage to share power, the company says it can increase system efficiency and lower costs.

By Peter Maloney • May 10, 2018

Solar, efficiency drive declining peak load in ISO New England

The ISO-NE assessment mirrors the dynamics in the New York ISO, where the operator recently predicted declining load for the next decade, mostly due to distributed solar and energy efficiency.

By Robert Walton • May 9, 2018

Perry: DOE 'looking very closely' at Defense Production Act to save coal, nukes

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in April asked the agency to use its authority under the 1950s wartime law to keep retiring coal and nuclear plants online. 

By Gavin Bade • May 9, 2018

Washington utilities need better carbon cost estimates in IRPs, regulator says

Washington utilities file an integrated resource plan every two years. Regulators want to see a more robust assessment of climate change risks in the next one.

By Peter Maloney • May 9, 2018

Gas and renewables groups urge Perry to reject FirstEnergy emergency request

Grid conditions "do not empower the [DOE] to provide the long term out-of-market price support that the coal and nuclear plant owners seek," energy interests wrote to the secretary. 

By Gavin Bade • May 9, 2018

Plant of the future? DOE seeks info on small, modular coal

The department says the facilities could provide stable generation, operational flexibility, high efficiency and low emissions.

By Robert Walton • May 8, 2018

McIntyre links fuel security questions with resilience proceeding

The FERC chairman said it "would sure be convenient" if the commission could identify specific attributes of grid resilience to compensate.

By Gavin Bade • May 8, 2018

PJM stakeholders pan capacity market reforms in FERC comments

Commenters uniformly rejected PJM’s proposed two-part capacity auction, but a few said its alternative to extend the minimum offer pricing rule (MOPR) could work with changes. 

By Gavin Bade • May 8, 2018

8 states challenge EPA science rule that could overhaul clean air standards

The proposed rule would only allow the agency to consider scientific studies in its rulemaking processes that disclose all of their methods and data — a move critics say will exclude a broad swath of public health studies. 

By Gavin Bade • May 8, 2018

EIA: Gas to outpace renewables for 2018 US gen additions

For the first time in five years, renewables are expected to make up less than 50% of capacity coming online.

By Robert Walton • May 7, 2018

Report: Actors paid to support Entergy gas plant at March hearing

The company said it has nothing to do with paying actors up to $200 to support its gas plant proposal at a March meeting of the New Orleans City Council.

By Gavin Bade • May 7, 2018

ISO-NE cost recovery proposal opens new front in fuel security debate

The grid operator wants cost recovery for 1,700 MW of gas generation because it is afraid an adjacent LNG import facility will close without it. Critics call the request unprecedented and dangerous. 

By Gavin Bade • May 4, 2018

New York ISO: Distributed solar largely to blame for declining load

New York's grid is aging needs an upgrade, but it's also undergoing rapid transition, due to a mix of policy and emerging technologies.

By Robert Walton • May 4, 2018

Potential buyer considering Navajo Generating Station, but time running out

The largest coal plant in the Western U.S. is expected to close at the end of 2019, unless a buyer can be found.

By Robert Walton • May 4, 2018

Solar at the crossroads: Is utility-scale, distributed or both the way to go?

Sunrun says solar's future is on rooftops, but solar advocates and utilities say an advanced power system with utility-scale and distributed energy resources is a better bet.

By Herman K. Trabish • May 3, 2018

Another blow for California gas — judge rejects proposed pipeline

An Administrative Law Judge concluded San Diego Gas and Electric and Southern California Gas Co. failed to demonstrate the $639 million pipeline was necessary.

By Robert Walton • May 3, 2018

FERC-NERC: Grid operators have sufficient blackstart capabilities

The ability for a power plant to restart without help from the grid is key to ensuring a resilient power system, federal regulators concluded.

By Robert Walton • May 3, 2018

FERC approves California reliability-must-run contracts

Calpine's Feather, Yuba and Metcalf gas plants are needed for local reliability, the California ISO determined.

By Robert Walton • May 3, 2018

100-Hour storage? DOE launches $30M program to explore new technologies

The program is designed to address the needs of intermittent generation sources, such as wind and solar, by enabling a new set of applications that can provide long lasting backup power.  

By Peter Maloney • May 1, 2018

EPA ozone designations raise concerns of political influence

EPA listed a number of counties as compliant with 2015 ozone standards that it previously recommended for non-attainment, including a Wisconsin county that's the site of a factory touted by President Trump.

By Gavin Bade • May 1, 2018

Dominion plans up to 3.6 GW gas, 4.7 GW solar in Virginia

The utility is counting on some form of carbon emissions regulation in the future as it laid out estimates of how much that might cost.

By Robert Walton • May 1, 2018

Lithium-ion domination could block promising storage technologies, MIT finds

Li-ion batteries are good for transportation applications, less so for the grid. But their dominance is making it difficult for producers of alternative storage technologies to survive, much less innovate and scale up.

By Peter Maloney • May 1, 2018

PJM launches fuel security initiative to counter gas reliance

The initiative seeks to value attributes like dual fuel capabilities and onsite fuel supply, but critics say it is too narrow and similar to existing capacity performance rules. 

By Gavin Bade • May 1, 2018