Regulation & Policy: Page 17


  • array of electricity meters
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    ehabaref via Getty Images
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    Consumer advocates ask FERC to halt PJM energy efficiency ‘addback’ in capacity market

    The ratepayer advocates and four U.S. senators urged FERC to hold a technical conference on how best to ensure the participation of energy efficiency resources in wholesale markets.

    By June 25, 2024
  • A wind farm along Tug Hill in northern New York.
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    Peter Blottman Photography via Getty Images
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    NYSERDA opens latest solicitation for large-scale, land-based renewable energy

    The solicitation is open to wind and solar, but also emerging renewable energy resources such as geothermal and hydrogen — so long as the projects can be online before December 2026.

    By Emma Penrod • June 24, 2024
  • A picture of wind turbines in front of solar panels in Palm Springs, California. Explore the Trendline
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    Kevork Djansezian via Getty Images
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    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
  • Windmill farm in Bradford County, PA
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    "windmills-08" by dfbphotos is licensed under CC BY 2.0
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    Clean energy, environmental groups urge FERC to reject PJM grid interconnection plan

    PJM’s proposal to largely retain its existing interconnection process without changes fails to meet key requirements of FERC Order 2023, according to trade groups and others.

    By June 24, 2024
  • Fervo Energy's Project Red enhanced geothermal facility near Winnemucca, Nevada.
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    Permission granted by Fervo Energy
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    NV Energy seeks new tariff to supply Google with 24/7 power from Fervo geothermal plant

    The “Clean Transition Tariff” is intended to spur the deployment of more dispatchable clean energy resources, Google leaders say.

    By Emma Penrod • June 21, 2024
  • Equipment in a room with cables running into blue boxes.
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    Courtesy of Redflow
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    California agency awards $26.7M for long-duration energy storage projects

    The California Energy Commission approved grants for long-duration storage projects to be built by Redflow, RedoxBlox and Noon Energy.

    By June 18, 2024
  • Three sets of transmission lines run into the distance where steam billows from a cylindrical, cement structure.
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    Courtesy of Georgia Power
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    FERC reconsiders Southeast Energy Exchange Market approval

    The agency is seeking comments on whether SEEM, which includes Dominion, Duke and Southern Co., should be deemed a “loose power pool,” open to other participants. 

    By June 18, 2024
  • A group of wind turbines and an electrical substation.
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    NanoStockk via Getty Images
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    Utility self-funding rules for interconnection upgrades may unfairly drive up costs: FERC

    The commission raised several concerns about ISO-NE, MISO, PJM and SPP rules that allow transmission owners to pay for and profit on network upgrades for interconnection customers.

    By June 17, 2024
  • A field of solar panels in the California desert.
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    schwartstock via Getty Images
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    CAISO board approves ‘transformational’ grid interconnection reforms

    The reforms aim to advance projects that are most likely to succeed, in part by prioritizing projects targeting areas in California with available transmission capacity.

    By June 14, 2024
  • Transmission towers are shown near solar panels from the 100-megawatt MGM Resorts Mega Solar Array after it was launched on June 28, 2021, in Dry Lake Valley, Nevada.
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    Ethan Miller via Getty Images
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    Lawmakers, speakers spar over benefits of IRA’s manufacturing boom

    Legislators and experts disagreed on the long-term merits of subsidies, with IRA critics questioning if the clean energy boom would amount to a “sugar high.”

    By June 13, 2024
  • Senate confirms FERC nominees, restoring agency to full commissioner complement

    “The [agency] works best when it has five members, so I look forward to welcoming them … so we can work collaboratively to ensure reliable, affordable and sustainable energy,” FERC Chairman Phillips said.

    By June 13, 2024
  • An aerial view of an industrial complex with buildings, storage tanks and pipes, and a power plant in the background.
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    Courtesy of Basin Electric Power Cooperative
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    Basin Electric faces $471M in customer rebates for putting nonutility expenses in rates

    A FERC administrative law judge also found Basin Electric was imprudent when it failed to consider replacing coal-fired power plants with potentially less expensive generation.

    By June 13, 2024
  • California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks during a news conference.
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    Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
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    California goes after Big Oil’s ‘illegal’ profits over alleged greenwashing

    ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP and the American Petroleum Institute may be required to surrender profits gained from false advertising, according to an amended complaint filed Monday.

    By Zoya Mirza • June 12, 2024
  • Jim Jordan sits behind a podium with both hands outstretched.
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    Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
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    House Judiciary Committee: Climate groups and activists ‘colluding’ on decarbonization

    The interim report from the yearslong probe also accuses groups in the financial system of forming a “climate cartel” that “has declared war on the American way of life.”

    By Lamar Johnson • June 12, 2024
  • A large white pipe lies in a dirt trench, stretching toward mountains in the background.
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    Charles Mostoller/Reuters

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    $7.85B Mountain Valley Pipeline construction complete

    Gas will soon flow on the much-delayed project, which received a green light from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Tuesday.

    By Julie Strupp • June 12, 2024
  • Front View Of Electric Meters On Building Facade
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    onurdongel via Getty Images
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    Maryland PSC rejects Exelon utility’s $213.6M multiyear rate plan

    Instead, Pepco will be able to increase its rates by $44.6 million for a year while the state agency assesses the benefits of multi-year rate plans.

    By June 12, 2024
  • Aerial shot of buildings in a downtown. A tree-covered hill sits in the background.
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    Davel5957 via Getty Images
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    Proposed tax on gas-powered large buildings will go to voters in Berkeley, California

    A 2023 court decision that struck down Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation ban on gas hookups in new construction is part of what led to the ballot measure, an organizer said. 

    By Ysabelle Kempe • June 11, 2024
  • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler listens during a meeting.
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    Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
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    Congressional Dems urge SEC to stay committed to climate disclosure rule

    A group of 38 lawmakers asked the agency to “vigorously defend” its now-stayed final rule in court and enforce previous climate-related guidance in the interim.

    By Zoya Mirza • June 11, 2024
  • Electric transmission lines alongside a highway.
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    Roberto N via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Transmission planning’s next frontier: A rebuttable presumption for modern grid technologies

    Regulators should apply the principle of ‘rebuttable presumption’ — accepting a given fact as true until it is disproved — by ensuring that alternative transmission technologies are prioritized in evaluating system needs.

    By Jason Marshall • June 11, 2024
  • The facade of a building with large windows and a sign that says "Federal Energy Regulatory Commission."
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    Permission granted by Esme Howland
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    FERC in Focus

    A monthly column that shines a light on the top issues facing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

    By June 11, 2024
  • AI Artificial Intelligence and conversational chatbots businesses digital technology interact with applications, including customer service, sales and marketing and big data virtual screen.
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    hirun via Getty Images
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    Deep Dive

    As NVIDIA, IBM and others apply AI to boost utilities, regulatory and data privacy obstacles abound

    The “move fast and break things” business model of the technology sector is meeting the regulated spending and reliability imperatives of the utility sector.

    By June 11, 2024
  • The facade of a building with large windows and a sign that says "Federal Energy Regulatory Commission."
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    Permission granted by Esme Howland
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    Column

    FERC in Focus: Has the agency been ‘captured’ by the sectors it regulates?

    FERC Commissioner Mark Christie thinks so. Other FERC experts don't go that far, but they see the commission giving a strong deference to utility companies.

    By June 11, 2024
  • GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 nuclear unit
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    Retrieved from GE Hitachi.
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    Nuclear Innovation Alliance offers road map to catalyze advanced nuclear development

    Project sponsors and the federal government can do more to share project risk and cover budget overruns for early projects, the group found.

    By Brian Martucci • June 10, 2024
  • A person wearing a ponytail and purple tank top raches up to touch cardboard around a window AC unit on the outside of a building. A plastic water bottle sits on the windowsill.
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    David Ryder/Getty Images via Getty Images
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    US summer electric bills expected to rise 8% in 2024 amid drop in low-income aid: report

    The average U.S. electric bill this summer is projected to set a 10-year record, finds a June 3 report from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association and Center for Energy Poverty and Climate.

    By Ysabelle Kempe • June 10, 2024
  • High voltage power lines photographed at blur hour.
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    timnewman via Getty Images
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    Grid operators fail to effectively use interregional ties, increasing costs, hurting reliability: NREL

    National Renewable Energy Laboratory researchers offer a range of options for improving existing interregional operations, including developing a national interregional transmission planning process.

    By June 7, 2024
  • High-voltage tower with electric power lines between green agricultural fields.
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    Bilanol via Getty Images
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    Illinois renewables plan encouraging grid-enhancing technologies could be national model, group says

    The state's Renewable Energy Access Plan asks utilities and regional transmission operators to “better incorporate” grid-enhancing technologies such as dynamic line ratings in future transmission planning processes.

    By Emma Penrod • June 6, 2024