Regulation & Policy: Page 29


  • Electricity transmission towers with glowing wires.
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    Deep Dive

    2024 PJM Outlook: Tough choices loom on capacity market, plant retirements, transmission planning

    Ensuring that enough new generation comes online to replace retiring power plants is a key issue that threads through PJM’s expected focus this year, stakeholders and observers said.

    By Feb. 29, 2024
  • The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seal hangs on the facade of its building.
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    SEC to scrap scope 3 reporting from climate disclosure rule: Reuters

    The omission could create a compliance conundrum for companies that still need to report scope 3 under European Union and California climate rules.

    By Zoya Mirza • Feb. 27, 2024
  • High voltage power lines seen from below Explore the Trendline
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    Trendline

    Top 5 Stories from Utility Dive

    Power demand is rising amid dramatic shifts in federal energy policy, but technology and markets continue to push the grid toward cleaner, more distributed resources. 

    By Utility Dive staff
  • An Oklahoma wind farm, cattle ranch and crop lands.
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    SPP proposes renewable, thermal resource accreditation reforms aimed at bolstering reliability

    The Southwest Power Pool’s current accreditation for wind, solar and storage fails to account for their reliability value decreasing as more are added to the grid, according to the grid operator.

    By Feb. 27, 2024
  • Pylon with power lines against reddish sky at sunset, rural North Carolina, USA.
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    Karl Weatherly via Getty Images
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    Deep Dive

    Congressional action on energy permitting remains stuck, but states, developers are finding solutions

    States are resolving local objections to projects through community engagement while transmission developers are making innovative use of existing rights-of-way to bypass permitting logjams.

    By Feb. 27, 2024
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    Imaginima via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Advancing energy justice: A new paradigm in grid equity and reliability analysis

    The Michigan Public Service Commission’s decision ordering DTE Electric to run regression analyses and understand energy reliability in diverse communities sets a valuable precedent for other Midwestern states.

    By Will Kenworthy and Boratha Tan • Feb. 26, 2024
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    ERCOT, CAISO offer best grid interconnection processes; PJM, ISO-NE the worst, report finds

    The scorecard, which ranked PJM Interconnection last with a D-minus, can be used a baseline to measure interconnection reform efforts across the U.S., Advanced Energy United said.

    By Updated Feb. 26, 2024
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    Zview via Getty Images
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    Avangrid, other utilities urge FERC to reject ‘false’ claims of insufficient transmission cost reviews

    But New England ratepayer advocates support a challenge to the utilities’ alleged failure to adequately share information about their “asset condition” projects.

    By Feb. 23, 2024
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    FERC enforcement office seeks $27M from Ketchup Caddy for MISO demand response fraud

    The CEO of the company, which had “no legitimate market activity,” according to FERC staff, said he planned to “[d]o this for just a couple of years, make a bunch of money to put kids through school .... and no one’s hurt.”

    By Feb. 22, 2024
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    rabbit75_ist/iStock/Getty Images Plus via Getty Images
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    5 takeaways from the investor-owned utility sector’s day on Wall Street

    Utilities will likely issue equity this year to fund the energy transition’s record capital spending, Edison Electric Institute officials said.

    By Feb. 21, 2024
  • A structure is set on Xcel Energy's Rush Creek transmission project in Colorado.
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    Courtesy of Xcel Energy
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    Colorado cities urge FERC to reject cost allocation for Xcel’s $2B Power Pathway transmission project

    The Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska, which serves four states, along with three of its municipal utility members in Colorado, contend they won’t benefit from the project and shouldn’t pay for any of it.

    By Updated Feb. 23, 2024
  • Aerial view above Lake Merritt in Oakland, California. Looking across the lake at downtown Oakland with skyscrapers in the distance.
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    California PUC approves plan to add 56 GW of clean energy resources by 2035

    The resources are needed to meet the California Public Utilities Commission’s new 25 MMT annual electric sector carbon emissions target for 2035, a nearly 60% drop from the 2020 level.

    By Kavya Balaraman • Feb. 20, 2024
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    Retrieved from Centrus Energy Corp..
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    Domestic uranium enrichment gets $2.7B boost from US Senate

    The Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024 funds conventional and advanced U.S. uranium enrichment capabilities, but the bill faces an uncertain future in the U.S. House of Representatives.

    By Brian Martucci • Feb. 16, 2024
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    FERC OKs cold weather reliability standards, and 5 other takeaways from Thursday’s open meeting

    The agency intends to move forward in the “very near future” on its pending regional transmission planning and cost allocation rule, per Chairman Willie Phillips.

    By Feb. 16, 2024
  • State regulators give testimony before the House Energy, Climate, & Grid Security subcommittee.
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    Retrieved from House of Representatives.
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    State officials blame federal regulation for higher energy prices: ‘Customers are getting hurt.’

    Proposed federal limits on fossil fuel power plants will further raise costs and weaken reliability, three state energy officials told a U.S. House subcommittee on Wednesday.

    By Feb. 15, 2024
  • Transmission tower in a field in Arkansas.
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    dlewis33 via Getty Images
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    State utility regulators urge PJM, MISO to bolster joint interregional transmission planning

    “Expanding transfer capacity between regions can help to improve grid resilience and minimize the negative impacts of extreme weather events,” OMS and OPSI told the grid operators.

    By Feb. 14, 2024
  • Downtown skyline view of high-rise buildings in Phoenix, Arizona.
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    Arizona Corporation Commission moves to eliminate energy efficiency rules, renewables targets

    The move is “a big step backwards” for Arizona, said Mark Kresowik, senior policy director for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

    By Feb. 13, 2024
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    VISION4RY-L4NGU4GE via Getty Images
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    Maryland ratepayer advocate urges FERC to reject PJM’s $5.1B transmission cost allocation plan

    Virginia — not other states — should pay for transmission costs driven by its data center incentive policy, the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel said.

    By Updated Feb. 14, 2024
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    Sean Gallup via Getty Images
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    EU passes domestic clean energy act, trailing US supply chain and climate bills

    The European Commission agreed to the Net-Zero Industry Act to increase domestic manufacturing, following similar domestic production acts passed by the U.S.

    By Lamar Johnson • Feb. 12, 2024
  • FERC headquarters
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    Permission granted by Esme Howland
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    Phillips named FERC chair as Clements decides against second term

    Clements’ announcement that she will not serve another term at FERC opens up the possibility that the agency will lose its quorum, delaying commission votes, WIRES Executive Director Larry Gasteiger said.

    By Feb. 12, 2024
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    Sponsored by Kraken Technologies

    Enabling a fair and just transition: Digitalization of the grid is holding us back

    The energy transition is in full swing, and we have the tech to make it happen — here’s why we need to make sure our journey to net zero is as equitable and just as possible.

    By Charlotte Johnson – Global Head of Markets, Kraken – Asset & Optimization • Feb. 12, 2024
  • The Hayworth Solar Farm, a photovoltaic solar power generating installation near Bakersfield, California.
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    Gary Kavanagh via Getty Images
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    CAISO seeks FERC approval to cancel 2024 interconnection study process

    As it deals with an interconnection backlog, the California Independent System Operator hasn’t started studying last year’s interconnection requests, which totaled 350 GW, the grid operator told FERC on Thursday.

    By Feb. 9, 2024
  • Large electric power transmission lines and modern wind turbines generating electricity in central California.
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    phleum via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    What utility commissioners should know about a flawed Western day-ahead market study

    The study reads like an advertisement for a product that’s missing important context and comparisons — and as individual utility filings appear in dockets around the West, public utility commissioners should approach it as such.

    By Bob Jenks • Feb. 9, 2024
  • A power plant seen against a blue sky with an American flag in front and a sign that says "Joliet Station 7&8 Generating Station"
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    Scott Olson via Getty Images
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    PJM set to hold capacity auction in June after receiving mixed FERC decisions

    FERC-approved changes to PJM’s capacity auction will likely boost capacity prices and help the grid operator acquire capacity during the energy transition, according to an ESAI Power analyst.

    By Feb. 9, 2024
  • High voltage electricity transmission tower back lit by sun with lens flare.
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    Maudib via Getty Images
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    Interregional transmission would grow 126%, to 191 GW, by 2035 under BIG WIRES bill: report

    The biggest percentage growth in interregional transmission expansion would occur in the Southeast, according to analysis by the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

    By Feb. 8, 2024
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    EPA tightens annual soot standard as TVA, other utilities say science doesn’t back change

    The agency expects almost all counties will meet the revised fine particulate matter standard, a fact the U.S. Chamber of Commerce disputed.

    By Feb. 7, 2024