Regulation & Policy: Page 3


  • Aerial view of solar power plant under construction on green field. Assembling of electric panels for producing clean ecologic energy
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    Permission granted by Convergent Energy and Power, photographer Craig Schattner
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    Sponsored by Convergent Energy and Power

    Local solar power: how solar pv can transform your utility

    Learn how solar PV can support greater energy independence and reduce carbon emissions.

    March 25, 2024
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    artJazz via Getty Images
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    Sponsored by ScottMadden

    How states are tackling clean heat and what it means for utilities

    Among states with greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets, several are considering and implementing clean heat standards in which heating applications are examined for potential GHG reduction.  

    By Andrew Cottrell, Partner, ScottMadden • March 25, 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
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    Joe Raedle via Getty Images
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    SEC to face all climate rule challenges in US 8th Circuit Court of Appeals

    The agency had nine legal challenges to its rule requiring public companies to disclose certain climate risks consolidated into one venue.

    By Lamar Johnson • March 22, 2024
  • Senators press FERC nominees on climate, natural gas, transmission cost allocation

    Republicans on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee focused on the issue of fuel neutrality and whether the nominees would uphold it.

    By March 22, 2024
  • Concrete cooling tower at a nuclear power plant.
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    steverts via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Nuclear boosterism has gotten reckless

    Today's misguided focus on nuclear power is diverting us from renewables, storage and efficiency, hobbling us in our race against climate chaos.

    By Kevin Kamps • March 22, 2024
  • FERC headquarters
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    Permission granted by Esme Howland
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    FERC affirms generator interconnection rule, but ‘it’s not a silver bullet,’ Christie says

    Renewables and storage make up the majority of interconnection queue projects, but they are “not one-for-one replacements” for retiring dispatchable power plants, Commissioner Mark Christie warned.

    By March 22, 2024
  • Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost gives a speech.
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    Justin Merriman via Getty Images
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    Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee sue SEC to block climate rule, building on Republican-led backlash

    The trio of states, led by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, has asked a federal court to review the rule and stop the agency from “overstepping its authority.”

    By Zoya Mirza • March 21, 2024
  • Hydrogen energy storage gas tank for clean electricity solar and wind turbine facility.
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    Vanit Janthra via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Unlocking the power of green hydrogen requires a workable tax credit

    The Treasury Department’s draft rules for the 45V clean hydrogen tax credit will slow things to a crawl, doing the opposite of what the Inflation Reduction Act intended, which was to encourage domestic hydrogen production.

    By Andy Vesey • March 21, 2024
  • SEC Chair sits with an even expression
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    Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
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    Federal appeals court pauses SEC climate rule implementation

    The climate disclosure regulation is now on pause pending a review from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, as the first of multiple challenges yields action.

    By Lamar Johnson • March 20, 2024
  • FERC headquarters
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    Permission granted by Esme Howland
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    Opinion

    FERC needs a quorum to function. Tomorrow’s Senate hearing puts that work on the line.

    If FERC loses its quorum, vital natural gas projects may be delayed, stalling economic growth and hindering U.S. producers’ ability to meet energy demands.

    By Amy Andryszak • March 20, 2024
  • Transmission lines running next to the Los Angeles River in California.
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    LPETTET via Getty Images
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    Deep Dive

    California lawmakers backpedal on income-based utility charges as IOUs, others propose alternatives

    State legislators ordered regulators in 2022 to implement an income-graduated fixed charge to protect low-income customers and shift the funding for various policy goals. A new bill would repeal that.

    By March 19, 2024
  • FirstEnergy's 1,100-MW coal-fired Fort Martin power plant in Maidsville, West Virginia, along the Monongahela River.
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    BackyardProduction via Getty Images
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    Up to 58 GW faces retirement in PJM by 2030 without replacement capacity in sight: market monitor

    Nearly 60% of the generation that could shutter is deemed “uneconomic,” but capacity prices and other factors could change, potentially easing the risk, the grid operator’s market monitor said.

    By March 18, 2024
  • The Eastern facade of the United States Capitol Building, with the House of the Representative's stair.
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    3000ad via Getty Images
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    Bills aim to spur grid-enhancing technologies with shared-savings incentives from FERC

    “The Advancing GETs Act will motivate grid operators and developers to bring new projects online that expand transmission capacity,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Wednesday.

    By March 14, 2024
  • Energy thermal power station roof plant with white smoke cloud.
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    photovs via Getty Images
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    3rd Circuit backs NRG, Constellation Energy, others in rejecting FERC move on PJM capacity auction

    FERC allowed PJM to adopt a new rule to address anomalous high capacity prices in its latest capacity auction, but the federal appeals court said the change was illegal retroactive ratemaking.

    By March 14, 2024
  • Transmission towers in fog at dawn.
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    Andrei Ksenzhuk via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Permitting reform budget request should push Congress to negotiate a bipartisan deal

    Our domestic energy supply cannot be secured until the United States’ burdensome approval process is overhauled so that we can begin to get major energy infrastructure projects underway.  

    By Liam deClive-Lowe and Paolo Mastrangelo • March 14, 2024
  • Nuclear power plant after sunset. Dusk landscape with big chimneys.
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    vlastas via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Nuclear energy finance bans prevent the world from buying American

    Securing financing for commercially-oriented nuclear energy projects is critical for American suppliers to compete against adversarial state-owned entities.

    By Kenneth Petersen • March 12, 2024
  • President Joe Biden speaks during an event about lowering costs for American families at the Granite State YMCA Allard Center of Goffstown on March 11, 2024, in Goffstown, New Hampshire.
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    Sophie Park via Getty Images
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    DOE’s ARPA-E faces budget cut, FERC to explore AI and other highlights from Biden’s budget

    DOE’s Grid Deployment Office, the Energy Information Administration and renewables research would see budget hikes, while nuclear energy research and development spending would be cut.

    By March 12, 2024
  • West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey
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    Patrick Smith via Getty Images
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    10 Republican-led states file lawsuit to block SEC’s climate disclosure rule

    The states say the Securities and Exchange Commission exceeded its rulemaking authority in requiring public companies to disclose climate-related risks as part of their registrations and annual filings.

    By Lamar Johnson • March 11, 2024
  • Electric transmission lines against a blue and yellow sky.
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    Fleem via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Setting the record straight on Western market options: It’s not just about footprint

    Instead of coercing the entire West into a single market, we should turn our attention to facilitating trade among multiple markets as a better use of our time and energy.

    By Libby Calnon, Clay Fitchis, Mark Hayden, Bear Prairie, Chris Robinson and Jim Webb • March 11, 2024
  • Transmission lines in the mountains of Southern California.
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    Laser1987 via Getty Images
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    California PUC urges FERC to reject SCE’s early cost recovery request for $1.6B in projects

    Southern California Edison contends that being allowed to recover its costs while two transmission projects are being built, instead of waiting until they’re in service, will ease financial strains and customer rate shock.

    By March 11, 2024
  • The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seal hangs on the facade of its building.
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    Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
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    Conflicting views on SEC’s authority set the tone for climate disclosure rule vote

    The newly passed regulation faces criticism from supporters for not going far enough and from detractors for going too far.

    By Zoya Mirza , Lamar Johnson • March 8, 2024
  • A hydrogen pipeline.
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    Petmal via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    The fate of the hydrogen tax credit is now in Treasury’s hands

    Where the final rules land regarding how producers qualify for the credit will dictate whether it serves as a catalyst to jump-start a nascent clean energy industry, or if it falls short of the promise of the Inflation Reduction Act.

    By Zane McDonald • March 8, 2024
  • A sunset behind a wind farm at Buffalo Ridge, near Lake Benton, Minnesota.
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    The image by Nic McPhee is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
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    Federal lawmakers urge FERC to adopt ‘shared savings’ incentive for grid-enhancing technologies

    The push at the federal level comes as grid-enhancing technology bills and projects to relieve grid congestion advance in Minnesota.

    By March 8, 2024
  • Texas slows development of annual $1B performance credit mechanism designed to boost grid

    Implementation will need to occur alongside efforts to operate the Electric Reliability Council of Texas market more efficiently, potentially in 2027, regulators said.

    By March 8, 2024
  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sign on a tan building and glass double-doors on the right side.
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    Sara Samora/Utility Dive
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    Opinion

    Why EPA can cut carbon pollution from power plants without sacrificing grid reliability

    Entities that focus on reliability have a toolkit to manage the energy transition, and EPA has incorporated key flexibilities into its GHG pollution-reduction rules to support their efforts.

    By Dena Adler and Jennifer Danis • March 7, 2024