Regulation & Policy


  • Hydrogen renewable energy production pipeline.
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    audioundwerbung via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    How regulators can protect hydrogen customers while enabling innovation

    By asking key questions, regulators can distinguish between fruitful and wasteful hydrogen projects. And by taking a holistic view and engaging with others, they can bring stability to the industry.

    By Dan Esposito and Mike O’Boyle • July 2, 2025
  • Containers of batteries sit in a desert next to a field of solar panels.
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    The Desert Photo via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Whatever happens with the IRA, energy storage is here to stay

    The electric grid needs flexibility, speed and stability. Energy storage offers all three.

    By Arun Muthukrishnan • July 1, 2025
  • Solar and wind generation in the desert. Explore the Trendline
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    adamkaz via Getty Images
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    Trendline

    The Energy Transition to Renewables

    Rising demand for power is continuing to drive demand for renewables, but policy uncertainty and mixed signals from the Trump administration add to existing challenges.

    By Utility Dive staff
  • Containers of battery storage.
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    Young777 via Getty Images
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    New Jersey seeks 1 GW of transmission-scale storage

    The Garden State’s solicitation is part of a plan to have 2 GW of storage by 2030.

    By Brian Martucci • July 1, 2025
  • Cameras set up outside the U.S. Supreme Court
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    Andrew Harnik via Getty Images
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    Federal agencies, including FERC and DOE, revoke environmental review rules

    The agencies eliminated all references to consider climate change, environmental justice and other key environmental issues in their permit reviews, Earthjustice said.

    By July 1, 2025
  • A view of cooling towers at a nuclear power plant.
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    Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Trump attacks on NRC independence pose health, safety risks

    The exodus of key personnel at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will jeopardize its ability to oversee the nuclear power fleet and slow the licensing of new facilities to a crawl.

    By Edwin Lyman • June 30, 2025
  • Workers in fluorescent work vests on a scaffold are dwarfed by giant data center under construction
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    Nathan Howard via Getty Images
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    Affordability a ‘formidable challenge’ as load shifts to tech, industrial customers: ICF

    The consulting agency expects electricity prices to rise as much as 25% in some regions through 2030 due to necessary grid expansion, wildfire hardening and other infrastructure projects.

    By Brian Martucci • June 30, 2025
  • A worker on a transmission tower.
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    Tony Savino via Getty Images
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    State utility regulators urge FERC to slash ROE transmission incentive

    Limiting the 0.5% extra return on equity to three years — or ending it — could lower utility income by millions annually, the utilities say.

    By June 30, 2025
  • Two men look at a stack of air conditioners in boxes.
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    Spencer Platt via Getty Images
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    FERC’s Christie calls for dispatchable resources after grid operators come ‘close to the edge’

    “You never know about the next time, and there's going to be a next time,” Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Mark Christie said about grid operators' ability to avoid blackouts this week.

    By June 27, 2025
  • A power plant sites next to a river.
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    Permission granted by Consumers Energy
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    Eight utility regulators challenge DOE order keeping Michigan coal plant open

    The department’s invocation of emergency powers to interfere with state and regional utility planning is unprecedented, according to the challenge.

    By June 26, 2025
  • An engineer walks by solar panels with wind turbines in the background.
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    image via Getty Images
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    $1.4B in new clean energy factories, projects canceled in May: E2

    Nearly $15.5 billion in clean energy investments have been canceled since the beginning of the year, representing 30 canceled, closed or downsized projects.

    By Lamar Johnson • June 25, 2025
  • Longworth Congressional Building
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    Win McNamee via Getty Images
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    Utilities, energy developers back Senate’s more lenient tax credit timeline

    A powerful coalition of trade associations and energy groups thanked senators for rolling back some of the House version’s deepest cuts, but the two chambers will need to agree on a final bill.

    By Brian Martucci • June 25, 2025
  • Rows of solar panels in a field.
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    adamkaz via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    As the GHG Protocol eyes the homestretch in its Scope 2 revisions, are the right voices being heard?

    A requirement for hourly matching and the dramatic narrowing of the geographies in which companies can make clean energy investments could stifle the voluntary market.

    By Roger S. Ballentine • June 25, 2025
  • Smoke billowing from smoke stacks in front of skyscrapers.
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    baranozdemir via Getty Images
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    US, global cities tout emissions reductions

    Local U.S. officials say they’re driving emissions goals from the ground up since the Trump administration’s withdrawal from key international climate events and agreements.

    By Robyn Griggs Lawrence • June 24, 2025
  • President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House
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    Win McNamee via Getty Images
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    Nuclear regulators lighten microreactor restrictions

    The new policy includes a broader set of directives to advance an emerging class of transportable, factory-made reactors.

    By Brian Martucci • June 24, 2025
  • Asheville Combined Cycle Station
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    Courtesy of Duke Energy
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    DOE grants Duke Energy authority to exceed power plant permit limits during extreme heat

    The emergency order will help reduce the risk of blackouts in the Southeast brought on by high temperatures, the department said.

    By June 24, 2025
  • Smoke stack of coal power plant
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    martin_33 via Getty Images
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    Who should pay to keep Michigan coal plant running past its retirement date?

    Groups told federal regulators that making MISO customers pay for a power plant that does not benefit them would violate the Federal Power Act’s cost causation requirement.

    By June 23, 2025
  • The front doors to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
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    The image by Tony Webster is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
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    Trump’s NRC firing raises alarms at pro-nuclear and watchdog groups alike

    Commissioner Christopher Hanson’s sudden dismissal could make NRC less efficient — and less trusted — just as its workload explodes, advocates say. An industry watchdog warned nuclear safety could take a hit.

    By Brian Martucci • June 23, 2025
  • Two people on the roof of a house holding a solar panel. One uses a drill to attach the panel to the roof. Behind the roof are trees and other homes.
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    RyanJLane via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    From backup to backbone: Why utility-led DERs must drive MISO’s resource adequacy plans

    Jigar Shah says MISO states can use distributed energy resources to meet key goals: cost stabilization, faster time to power, community development and a reliable, resilient grid.

    By Jigar Shah • June 20, 2025
  • A power plant sites next to a river.
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    Permission granted by Consumers Energy
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    Groups appeal DOE ‘emergency’ order keeping Michigan plant online

    “There is no energy emergency in our country … and it is illegal to invoke a made-up emergency to overturn a long-planned plant retirement,” the Sierra Club’s Greg Wannier said.

    By Updated June 20, 2025
  • Xe-100 reactor
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    Courtesy of X-energy
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    NRC speeds timeline for Dow/X-energy reactor permit review

    The 18-month timeline halves NRC’s “generic schedule” for a construction permit application. But Dow is unlikely to greenlight the Texas project before 2028, a spokesperson said.

    By Brian Martucci • June 18, 2025
  • AI powers big data analysis and automation workflows, showcasing neural networks and data streams for business.
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    NicoElNino via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    AI is coming for grid-decision making. Here’s why governance can’t be an afterthought.

    In the 20th century, infrastructure decisions — where to put highways, site power plants or make upgrades — often reinforced inequities. AI threatens to replicate that pattern — at scale and at speed.

    By Brandon N. Owens • June 18, 2025
  • A field of solar panels and windmills in the desert.
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    adamkaz via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Senate: Don’t fumble the energy future

    Ending clean energy tax deductions would limit power supply and raise electricity prices. It would be like sending a great football team to compete in the Super Bowl without cleats.

    By Dean Granoff • June 17, 2025
  • NRG, LS Power ask FERC to approve $12B gas-fired power plant, demand-response deal

    NRG’s capacity in the PJM Interconnection would jump to 9.5 GW from 2.1 GW under the deal, which doesn’t pose market power risks, the companies said.

    By June 17, 2025
  • Pylons carrying electric wires over an agricultural field with blue sky and fluffy, white clouds in the background.
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    Bilanol via Getty Images
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    States, ratepayer advocates urge FERC to reject MISO petition to limit market monitor oversight

    The dispute grew out of Potomac Economics’ criticism of assumptions the Midcontinent Independent System Operator used to justify a roughly $22 billion transmission expansion plan.

    By June 16, 2025
  • transmission regions
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    Wikipedia. (2024). "2024 RTO Map" [jpg]. Retrieved from WikiCommons.
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    Deep Dive

    Will ERCOT’s streamlined connect-and-manage approach work for other markets?

    ERCOT’s single-state, energy-only interconnection process doesn’t include other markets’ deliverability requirements and generator cost certainty needs.

    By June 16, 2025