Eversource CEO seeks emergency order by Biden to ensure gas supplies as New England winter approaches

Eversource CEO Joe Nolan Jr. asked Biden to waive the Jones Act, a 1920 law that requires cargo shipped between U.S. ports to be carried by U.S. ships with American crews.

By Stephen Singer • Oct. 31, 2022

CISA aims for resource-poor targets, like small utilities, with new cybersecurity performance goals

Officials hope the goals will serve as a road map to strengthen the resilience of local providers like schools, hospitals and utilities. 

By David Jones • Oct. 31, 2022

Explore the Trendline➔

Reliability

Rising peak demand, extreme weather and other factors are raising power outage risks in the U.S., but FERC and other stakeholders are pursuing multiple actions to address reliability concerns.

By Utility Dive staff

Why the probability of ignition is crucial to understanding asset wildfire risk

Energy utilities across the United States increasingly rely on wildfire spread prediction models to determine the risk associated with their assets.

By Pavel Grechanuk, Senior Data Scientist, Technosylva • Oct. 31, 2022

Sen. Warren leads probe of Bitcoin impact on Texas power grid, ERCOT use of demand response ‘subsidies’

Payments to cryptocurrency miners for reducing electricity demand, known as demand response, “feed back into the worsening climate crisis,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren and others said.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 19, 2022

Distributed resources like solar and batteries open growing pathway to cyberattacks: DOE

Distributed energy resources are expected to quadruple by 2025 and “pose emerging cybersecurity challenges to the electric grid,” according to a Department of Energy report.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 18, 2022

FERC isn’t acting fast enough to strengthen the grid. Here’s one thing Congress can do.

Congress can and should shore up energy resilience by establishing a clear standard for inter-regional transmission support, the authors write.

By Liza Reed and Andrew Xu • Oct. 11, 2022

Complex challenges call for complementary solutions

Today's grid challenges are often better addressed with strategic use of complementary technologies than with deployment of a single solution.

Oct. 10, 2022

97% of smart meters fail to provide promised customer benefits. Can $3B in new funding change that?

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.

By Herman K. Trabish • Oct. 5, 2022

Biden pledges to transform Puerto Rico’s power system as thousands remain without power

In the two weeks since Hurricane Fiona devastated the island, LUMA Energy says it has restored service to 93% of customers. 

By Robert Walton • Oct. 4, 2022

PNM proposes 6-year, $344M grid modernization plan including smart meters for all customers

Low-income areas will receive prioritization for distribution system upgrades and smart meter installation, the utility said.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 4, 2022

The California energy problem is structural, not political

The deregulation experiment in California that created energy markets isn't working for reliability or for customers. Unless it is addressed, things will only get worse, the author writes.

By Brad Viator • Sept. 29, 2022

FERC’s Glick has ‘significant concerns’ over proposed incentives for utility cybersecurity investments

Cyber threats may be better addressed through mandatory standards instead of via incentives that were proposed Thursday, according to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Richard Glick.

By Ethan Howland • Sept. 23, 2022

FERC commissioners pursue market, non-market answers to ISO-NE’s ‘dire’ winter reliability risks

“The region is still heavily reliant on [liquefied natural gas] imports, and that's just not sustainable,” Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Richard Glick said.

By Ethan Howland • Sept. 23, 2022

Industrial control systems face more cyber risks than IT, expert testifies

Most ICS technology was designed more than 20 years ago and built without cyber resilience, Idaho National Laboratory's Vergle Gipson said. 

By David Jones • Sept. 19, 2022

Understanding potential consequence from asset ignited wildfires: it’s more than just ignition modeling

Energy utilities across the United States are challenged with reducing wildfire risk and increasing their reliability as part of their on-going operations.

By David Buckley, COO, Technosylva • Sept. 19, 2022

Vegetation inspection, a challenge for utilities

The “Preventing Outages and Enhancing the Resilience of the Electric Grid” program is set to reinforce and modernize the American electricity grid, making it more resilient against extreme weather events and other natural disasters.

Sept. 15, 2022

Fixing California’s resource adequacy woes

The real questions are what level of bulk reliability we want and whether we are willing to invest in the institutional change needed to support it, the author writes.

By Fredrich Kahrl • Sept. 14, 2022

Energy providers hit by North Korea-linked Lazarus exploiting Log4j VMware vulnerabilities

Cisco Talos researchers observed the advanced persistent threat actor infiltrating networks during a six-month campaign.

By Matt Kapko • Sept. 13, 2022

California planned to close down its last nuclear plant by 2025 and replace it with clean energy. What went wrong?

Efforts to replace the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant faced multiple challenges, including disruptions to global supply chains.

By Kavya Balaraman • Sept. 9, 2022

California ISO narrowly avoids rolling outages as peak demand hits record 52 GW

The grid operator issued an emergency energy alert around 5:15 pm Pacific time last night but ended it about three hours later with no load shed, it said.

By Kavya Balaraman • Sept. 7, 2022

California legislature aims for 90% clean electricity by 2035 as part of sweeping climate package

The legislature also approved SB 846, a bill to extend the life of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant’s two units through the end of the decade, based on a Newsom administration proposal.

By Kavya Balaraman • Sept. 2, 2022

California lawmakers vote to extend Diablo Canyon as heat wave forces governor to declare grid emergency

Extending the life of the Diablo Canyon nuclear facility “will provide us with the capacity to de-risk” the power grid, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday.

By Kavya Balaraman • Sept. 1, 2022

California nears vote on proposal to keep Diablo Canyon nuclear plant online as deadlines loom

The final version of the Newsom administration’s proposal would provide the state with the option to extend the plant’s two units – originally scheduled to shut down in 2024 and 2025 – for another five years.

By Kavya Balaraman • Aug. 31, 2022

ISO New England floats ‘energy reserve’ to ensure grid reliability, access to LNG at Everett terminal

Long-term regional plans call for reducing the need for imported LNG, but for now, the Everett terminal outside Boston remains key to New England energy adequacy.

By Robert Walton • Aug. 31, 2022

Clashes brew over Diablo Canyon extension plan as 40% of expected renewables fail to come online

The debate around the future of Diablo Canyon comes as California faces a combination of threats to grid reliability, including the planned retirement of a suite of natural gas plants and projected increases in electricity demand. 

By Kavya Balaraman • Aug. 29, 2022