Mountain Valley stalled, Atlantic Sunrise cleared for service in busy pipeline week

The diverging fortunes of the two Appalachian projects illustrate the struggle between environmental advocates and natural gas companies over the siting and construction of new pipelines.

By Gavin Bade • Oct. 5, 2018

How rising global temperatures will affect 6 major cities

The earth is on a trajectory to warm 3-4°C by 2100. This heat map details how that rise in temperatures will affect major metropolitan hubs.

By Kristin Musulin • Oct. 5, 2018

Explore the Trendline➔

Sustainability

Companies are pursuing increasingly ambitous sustainability goals around clean energy, but integrating rising amounts of renewables, minimizing environmental impacts, and achieving carbon reduction targets can be challenging.

By Utility Dive staff

Washington regulators approve tight rules on community solar

Some community solar advocates are raising concerns about the regulatory tape small entities could face in order to establish new projects.

By Catherine Morehouse • Oct. 4, 2018

Brattle: Nevada could cost-effectively deploy 1 GW of energy storage by 2030

The state is revamping the planning process for its utilities, and the Public Utilities Commission is considering establishing an energy storage target.

By Peter Maloney • Oct. 4, 2018

Proposed Pepco substation highlights DC's grid modernization battle

Pepco's proposed substation faces pushback from district residents and environmentalists as the utility looks to modernize the capital's grid in response to changing demand and population growth. 

By Peter Maloney • Oct. 4, 2018

Coal lobby pleased as Trump nominates ally McNamee to FERC

The Department of Energy official is expected to align closer with White House priorities than former Commissioner Robert Powelson, who stepped down in August. 

By Gavin Bade • Updated Oct. 4, 2018

Connecticut agencies say Millstone 'at risk' as Dominion seeks boost in clean energy RFP

If the state's Public Utilities Regulatory Authority agrees Dominion's Millstone nuclear plant is 'at risk,' it could receive above-market rates in Connecticut's solicitation for zero emission resources.

By Peter Maloney • Oct. 3, 2018

FERC's electric enforcement process is a procedural quagmire in need of reform

After repeated losses, FERC may consider reforming its electric enforcement procedures, but any changes could look a lot different than you think. Poorly conceived reforms could lead to an existential crisis in Federal Power Act enforcement.

By Wesley J. Heath • Oct. 3, 2018

PJM recasts capacity repricing in market reform filing at FERC

The generator is trying for a second time to boost revenues for coal and gas generators in its capacity market after federal regulators threw out its market rules in June.

By Gavin Bade • Oct. 3, 2018

Ahead of FERC storage order deadline, new rules begin to take shape in PJM

PJM Interconnection's straw proposal gives a glimpse into how energy storage might participate more in wholesale markets.

By Peter Maloney • Oct. 2, 2018

S&P downgrades Georgia Power's partners in Vogtle nuclear project

After hammering out a last-minute agreement to keep the nuclear project alive, the munis and cooperative utilities in the Vogtle nuclear project are hit with downgrades.

By Peter Maloney • Oct. 2, 2018

EPA MATS rollback threatens DOE carbon capture priorities, critics warn

Allowing utilities to stop using pollution scrubbers mandated under the EPA's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards could raise the price for coal plants to adopt carbon capture, proponents of the technology said. 

By Iulia Gheorghiu • Oct. 2, 2018

ISO-NE to focus on market solutions for winter energy security in 2019

ISO New England is considering an "interim compensation treatment for periods associated with reliability reviews for fuel security," the grid operator says in its 2019 Annual Work Plan.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 2, 2018

When PJM's capacity market stops working for consumers is it time to leave?

Illinois Commerce Commission Chairman Brien Sheahan urges states with renewable energy mandates or nuclear subsidies to reevaluate their participation in the largest U.S. electricity market.

By Brien J. Sheahan​ • Oct. 2, 2018

True Value: To get to tomorrow's grid, DER grid services must be compensated right today

At Solar Power International 2018, the solar-plus-storage industry advanced new possibilities for the power system regarding storage and distributed resources, but also confronted new questions.

By Herman K. Trabish • Oct. 1, 2018

Report: As EPA rewrites mercury rules, new cost-benefit approach could curtail future regulations

The proposed rewrite of Obama-era pollution standards does not consider "co-benefits," The New York Times reports, which could set a precedent for less stringent emissions rules in the future. 

By Gavin Bade • Oct. 1, 2018

PJM: 'Significant chunk' of renewables to come from corporate procurement

Direct purchases from corporations are the largest area of renewable energy growth in the RTO, said senior market strategist Andrew Levitt.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • Oct. 1, 2018

PSEG unveils 6-year clean energy plan, spending $2.8B on energy efficiency

The $4 billion plan includes investments in energy storage, smart meters and electric vehicle infrastructure.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 28, 2018

Michael Bloomberg to lead UN green finance campaign

The former New York City mayor will lead a year-long initiative meant to drive at least $100 billion of private finance by 2020 to programs that fight climate change.

By Jason Plautz • Sept. 28, 2018

Federal court again upholds state nuclear subsidies, this time in New York

The decision is the second in a month affirming state clean energy policies and boosts pressure on FERC to decide how it will treat the subsidized resources. 

By Gavin Bade • Sept. 28, 2018

'Not your grandma's DER': Distributed resources modernize, prove value to grid

Portfolios of DER are finally operating and showing how customer-sited resources can be of great value to utilities and system operators.

By Herman K. Trabish • Sept. 27, 2018

Judge approves $850M FirstEnergy payment to bankrupt generation subsidiary

Environmental Defense Fund wants to ensure the payment to FirstEnergy Solutions goes toward the cost of remediating the coal and nuclear plants the company plans to close.

By Peter Maloney • Sept. 27, 2018

Generators pan ISO-NE price taker proposal for fuel secure plants

The ISO-NE proposal to prop up plants with onsite fuel supplies would cause "massive suppression of prices" and displace more than a gigawatt of otherwise economic resources, critics wrote in comments. 

By Gavin Bade • Sept. 27, 2018

Vogtle nuclear plant owners agree to continue construction

The decision to keep building the sole nuclear project under construction in the U.S. is a win for lead owner Southern Co. and a boon for the fragile domestic nuclear sector. 

By Gavin Bade • Updated Sept. 26, 2018

Will the CPUC reject illegal cost shifts onto millions of Californians served by Community Choice Energy programs?

Current proposals for Resource Adequacy Capacity valuation, and the lack of a GHG-free energy premium, are just two of the ways the CPUC's current proposal improperly shifts costs, Nick Chaset writes.

By Nick Chaset • Sept. 26, 2018