Regulation & Policy
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Courtesy of Entergy
New Orleans council chief calls for investigation into Entergy's Hurricane Ida response
Councilmember Helena Moreno plans to introduce a resolution calling for an investigation into Entergy’s storm response and related issues at the City Council’s Sept. 22 meeting.
By Scott Van Voorhis • Sept. 17, 2021 -
Andreas Rentz via Getty Images
OpinionWhat's a reasonable investor to expect? MOPR instability and state policy certainty
Regulatory certainty is a worthy goal. But, in a competitive market, generators aren't entitled to protection or guaranteed to recover their investment, the author writes.
By Sarah Ladin • Sept. 17, 2021 -
Trendline
Utility Business Model Reform
Utilities and regulators around the country are exploring new business models, from updated rate structures to performance-based regulation, in order to meet evolving policy and business priorities.
By Utility Dive staff -
Elizabeth Regan, Industry Dive
'We're obviously in the middle of a dramatic transformation,' FERC's Glick says amid market reform talks
A series of technical conferences is examining how the changing electricity resource mix requires wholesale market operators to reconsider the products and services being offered, and how they are valued.
By Robert Walton • Sept. 16, 2021 -
Elizabeth Regan, Industry Dive
Opinion
To build back better, make FERC boring again
The more FERC presses against or exceeds the bounds of the statutes Congress has written, the more it will see its decisions litigated, costing time and money when we cannot afford to waste either, the author writes.
By Kevin Sunday • Sept. 15, 2021 -
Scott Olson via Getty Images
Landmark Illinois climate bill resolves standoff over Exelon nuclear plants
The legislation also provides a road map for sunsetting the state’s coal-fired plants while setting a target of 40% renewable power for the state’s power sector by 2030.
By Scott Van Voorhis • Sept. 15, 2021 -
Scott Olson via Getty Images
OpinionA national clean electricity performance program needs to support clean-tech innovation
A Clean Electricity Performance Program with a well-designed innovation multiplier could go a long way toward developing and deploying at scale the technology necessary to decarbonize the U.S. grid, the author writes.
By Stefan Koester • Sept. 15, 2021 -
Permission granted by Fermata Energy
House committee to vote on expanded EV and clean energy tax credits, including storage, hydrogen
The funding plan for Democrats' $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation would extend clean energy tax credits and create new incentives for domestic production and union labor.
By Jason Plautz • Sept. 14, 2021 -
Ron Jenkins via Getty Images
OpinionFERC wants state help on transmission policy. It should also ask about wholesale market reforms.
States will struggle to reach meaningful levels of decarbonization — let alone a net-zero outcome — without regional scale that really is only possible through the FERC wholesale markets, the author writes.
By David Boyd • Sept. 14, 2021 -
Connecticut falls behind state's GHG goals: 'We told you so,' says Acadia Center
Despite the rise in emissions, the electric sector "shows encouraging results," the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said. Proposed new gas projects are a step in the wrong direction, though, advocates warn.
By Robert Walton • Sept. 13, 2021 -
Permission granted by Minnesota Power
New York directs utilities to submit transmission proposals as decarbonization deadline looms
State utility regulators are looking for more transmission projects to handle a planned increase in renewable power as the state pushes to decarbonize its grid.
By Scott Van Voorhis • Sept. 13, 2021 -
Elizabeth Regan, Industry Dive
Biden taps DC regulator Phillips to fill FERC's 5th seat; 'a gift to corporate utilities,' says critic
Consumer advocates say President Biden's pick for the vacant FERC seat, Willie Phillips Jr., has too often sided with corporate interests and Washington, D.C.'s electric utility in his role as D.C. Public Service Commission chairman.
By Robert Walton • Sept. 10, 2021 -
Spencer Platt via Getty Images
Utility shutoff moratoriums protected many consumers earlier in the pandemic. What happens now?
Cities and states are looking at how to help residents likely to lose power once utility shutoff moratoriums end.
By Jason Plautz • Sept. 09, 2021 -
Scott Olson via Getty Images
Opinion
5 things I learned from exiting my G&T power provider, and the 300 things I've gained
Kit Carson Electric Cooperative CEO Luis A. Reyes Jr. offers lessons and advice based on KCEC's G&T cooperative exit, one of the first in the country.
By Luis A. Reyes Jr. • Sept. 09, 2021 -
Permission granted by First Solar
Deep DiveKey regulatory decision leaves California reliability issues unresolved, aggravates tensions
In the long process to figure out how to share "attributes" of IOU legacy resources needed to meet state renewables mandates, a major decision could weaken collaboration between traditional and new load-serving entities.
By Herman K. Trabish • Sept. 08, 2021 -
Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
OpinionEnergy equity: Reforming utilities' business plans by rebalancing ratepayers' financial risks
Decentralized clean energy systems, with utility-scale renewables in support, offer lower costs, greater resiliency and more equitable risk sharing between utilities and ratepayers, the author writes.
By Grant Smith • Sept. 07, 2021 -
Elizabeth Regan, Industry Dive
With FERC now split 2-2, clean energy advocates call for caution and urgency to fill vacant seat
It is "critical" that President Joe Biden nominates the right person to break ties at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill.
By Robert Walton • Sept. 03, 2021 -
Time running out for Exelon's Byron and Dresden nuclear plants as Illinois Senate passes major energy bill
The state Senate's clean energy package, which still needs to pass the House of Representatives, would provide nearly $700 million over five years for the nuclear power sector.
By Scott Van Voorhis • Sept. 02, 2021 -
Mario Tama via Getty Images
LA approves 100% clean energy by 2035 target, a decade ahead of prior goal
The goal puts the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on track for an aggressive transition that backers said would present a model for the nation.
By Jason Plautz • Sept. 02, 2021 -
Matt Cardy via Getty Images
Wind energy's record 2020 growth to continue this year, but deployment could slow in 2022, DOE finds
Wind industry growth is likely to continue through 2021, according to a Department of Energy report released Monday, but market conditions point to rising prices, and deployment may slow absent policy support, experts say.
By Emma Penrod • Sept. 01, 2021 -
Davis Turner via Getty Images
Duke explores shutting coal-fired plants by 2030 in South Carolina plans
The revised plans come after South Carolina regulators voted in late June to reject the utility's previous proposals and send the company back to the drawing board.
By Scott Van Voorhis • Sept. 01, 2021 -
Courtesy of Entergy
Transmission tower destroyed by Ida likely to complicate power restoration in New Orleans, experts say
As Entergy scrambles to restore power in the Gulf region, the collapse of a major transmission tower could complicate matters, experts say.
By Scott Van Voorhis • Aug. 31, 2021 -
Permission granted by Oklo
Deep DiveNuclear reactors of the future have a fuel problem
Higher levels of uranium enrichment can unlock value from smaller and simpler reactors, but they come with new hurdles that the nuclear industry says only the federal government can address.
By Matthew Bandyk • Aug. 30, 2021 -
New Jersey turns to property assessed financing to boost commercial clean energy investments
Lawmakers and environmental advocates say the new law creates a pathway for commercial projects ranging from renewable energy development to energy efficiency upgrades.
By Emma Penrod • Aug. 30, 2021 -
Campaign to shut down New York City's peaker plants gains congressional ally
The Peak Coalition wants to close 19 gas peaker plants in New York City, and on Thursday Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., took up that cause.
By Scott Van Voorhis • Aug. 27, 2021 -
EPA urges FERC to use social cost of carbon in gas project reviews
Columbia Gulf Transmission has proposed new facilities in Louisiana that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says would lead to more than $205 million dollars in climate damages annually.
By Robert Walton • Aug. 27, 2021
