Why utilities and environmentalists can find common (green) ground

Ex-FERC Chair Norman Bay argues clean energy can gain more ground if utilities and enviros team up. 

By Norman C. Bay • Feb. 20, 2018

FERC order opens 'floodgates' for energy storage in wholesale markets

The commission directed grid operators to develop rules that would allow storage to participate in the wholesale energy, capacity and ancillary services markets and could put it on equal footing with other resources.

By Peter Maloney • Feb. 20, 2018

Explore the 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

Are recent disasters enough to spur utilities to take climate change seriously?

Sector expert Allison Silverstein argues utilities need a new paradigm in long-term grid planning.

By Krysti Shallenberger • Feb. 20, 2018

Reports: NextEra nearing bid for troubled Santee Cooper

The Florida-based utility could pay up to nearly $15.9 billion for the public utility, but exact pricing remains unclear. 

By Gavin Bade • Feb. 20, 2018

PJM board sends competing capacity market reforms to FERC

The grid operator's decision sets up a rare policy face-off at FERC that could raise legal stakes for the agency.

By Gavin Bade • Feb. 16, 2018

South Carolina House votes to fire all PSC regulators

The bill, passed 108-1, would remove all seven regulators by the end of next year and set stricter ethics requirements following the cancellation of the V.C. Summer nuclear plant expansion. 

By Gavin Bade • Feb. 16, 2018

Consumers deserve a market fix from FERC, PJM

PJM's proposal to compensate generators fairly when their power is needed to meet demand will help increase energy market efficiency, benefiting both consumers and suppliers, former FERC Commissioner Marc Spitzer writes.

By Marc Spitzer • Feb. 16, 2018

Moody's pans White House plan to divest TVA, BPA

Both the Tennessee Valley Authority and Bonneville Power Administration are well managed and selling them would be credit negative, according to the ratings agency.

By Robert Walton • Feb. 15, 2018

South Carolina lawmakers push back, putting Dominion acquisition of SCANA in doubt

State senators said Wednesday they would give the Public Service Commission until Dec. 21 to decide how to handle customer charges for costs associated with the failed V.C. Summer nuclear project.

By Peter Maloney • Feb. 15, 2018

New Arizona renewable ballot initiative could spark utility opposition

The measure would boost the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard to 50% by 2030, following a proposal from a state official to raise it to 80% by 2050. But the state's largest utility might not be on board.

By Krysti Shallenberger • Feb. 15, 2018

FERC issues storage, reliability orders, calls conference on aggregated DERs

The commission directed grid operators to design rules that allow storage to provide energy, capacity and ancillary services, as well as set wholesale prices as buyers and sellers. 

By Gavin Bade • Feb. 15, 2018

How solar owners' post-hurricane demand for batteries could impact utilities

Extreme weather is driving customers to solar-plus-storage as backup power, but they can use it to cut back on electricity use, too

By Herman K. Trabish • Feb. 15, 2018

New ISO-NE report warns fuel supply could harm reliability

The finding echoes similar warnings the grid operator produced earlier this year following a cold snap in late December and early January. 

By Peter Maloney • Feb. 14, 2018

ISO-NE presses FERC to approve capacity market reform

The grid operator argues its two-part capacity market proposal will better integrate subsidized resources than existing rules. 

By Gavin Bade • Feb. 14, 2018

New DOE office to focus on cybersecurity, grid threats

Almost $100 million for the new Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) was included in President Trump’s 2019 budget request.

By Robert Walton • Feb. 14, 2018

Resilience, pipelines & PURPA: FERC regulators preview major issues at NARUC

State utility regulators heard from all five federal energy regulators at a conference in Washington this week.

By Gavin Bade • Feb. 14, 2018

EIA: Hawaii electricity prices are highest, but South Carolinians spend the most

The average South Carolina resident spent $1,753 on electricity in 2016, about $400 more than the U.S. average and nearly twice the average customer in New Mexico, the lowest-expenditure state.

By Peter Maloney • Feb. 13, 2018

Democrats deal Dominion a blow in debate over Virginia utility reform

The 96-1 vote in favor of additional limits on Dominion was actually closer than it seems.

By Robert Walton • Feb. 13, 2018

McIntyre praises Perry, previews pipeline review and PURPA reform

The chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says he is a "big fan" of the Secretary of Energy.

By Gavin Bade • Feb. 13, 2018

California regulators first to allow multiple revenue streams for energy storage

The state has approved rules that increase the ways for energy storage systems to make money, for example, through frequency regulation, capacity or spinning reserve services.        

Feb. 13, 2018

New Massachusetts bill seeks 1.77 GW storage target, quicker renewables transition

The legislation would also direct state regulators to develop rules that exceed those adopted by the United Nations Paris Climate Agreement.

By Robert Walton • Feb. 13, 2018

Is the third pillar of electricity delivery preventing the building of the first two?

Utilities and distributed energy resource advocates agree the grid needs new technologies to serve 21st century demand, but they differ over what upgrades should come first and what they should cost.

By Herman K. Trabish • Feb. 13, 2018

Trump seeks 2-year deadline for infrastructure reviews in new plan

A new legislative outline would roll back EPA authority over environmental impact statements and set a new, shorter statute of limitations on permitting decisions. 

By Gavin Bade • Feb. 13, 2018

Powelson: Input from PJM, ISO-NE states critical to FERC resilience docket

Any proposal that does not include input from states in those markets "will not garner any support," Powelson said at the NARUC Winter Conference on Monday.

By Gavin Bade • Feb. 12, 2018

Trump budget would gut EPA, DOE renewables office

The budget would cut the DOE renewables office by 65% and eliminate ARPA-E and the agency's loan programs. EPA would be cut by nearly a quarter. 

By Gavin Bade • Feb. 12, 2018