Connecticut energy and environment chief outlines updated clean energy plan on path to zero emissions

Filling unmet portions of previous solicitations with solar, developing transmission for offshore wind and adding energy storage and anaerobic digesters are the focus of the updated plan.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 13, 2022

Major utilities oppose Sunnova’s ‘micro-utility’ microgrid proposal at California PUC

Pacific Gas & Electric Co., San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison say the California Public Utilities Commission should finish a pending rulemaking regarding microgrids before it reviews Sunnova’s proposal.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 12, 2022

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

FERC isn’t acting fast enough to strengthen the grid. Here’s one thing Congress can do.

Congress can and should shore up energy resilience by establishing a clear standard for inter-regional transmission support, the authors write.

By Liza Reed and Andrew Xu • Oct. 11, 2022

How an unlikely trio helped secure billions for rural electric cooperatives

As rural communities watch wind and solar farms begin to dot their landscape, many want to ensure rural America can own, not just host, the clean energy transition, the authors write.

By Duane Highley, Ramón Cruz and Erik Hatlestad • Oct. 10, 2022

EPA launches initiative to speed review of new chemicals for electric vehicle, clean energy sectors

The effort covers mixed metal oxides, which are a key component in lithium-ion batteries and can also be used in solar cells, wind turbines and other clean energy applications.

By Larry Pearl • Oct. 7, 2022

Washington to launch carbon cap-and-trade program in January, with tie to California program possible

“This new program will help us decarbonize our economy, improve air quality, and put Washington at the forefront of the fast-growing global era of clean energy,” Gov. Jay Inslee said.

By Elizabeth McCarthy • Oct. 6, 2022

MISO energy users cannot leave system without paying their capacity fees: FERC

Industrial companies failed to show that it was unfair they would have to make the capacity payments they owe if they leave the Midcontinent grid operator, federal regulators said Monday.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 6, 2022

97% of smart meters fail to provide promised customer benefits. Can $3B in new funding change that?

Interoperability standards can deliver “non-discriminatory access” to real-time data from new smart meters to fulfill promises of customer savings and other system benefits, energy managers say.

By Herman K. Trabish • Oct. 5, 2022

Broken markets: Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, and the global strain on the single clearing price

A single clearing price auction is no longer a viable or desirable way to sell power because the power market is now segmented into differentiated products, the authors write.

By Ray Gifford and Matt Larson • Oct. 4, 2022

Virginia governor calls for easing clean energy goals, injecting competition into utility sector

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R, also aims to create a nuclear innovation hub and develop an advanced reactor within a decade.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 4, 2022

FERC OKs $500K fine for ISO-NE over alleged violations of capacity rules with Salem Harbor power plant

ISO New England improperly prevented its market monitor from having access to information about the Footprint Power project, among other violations, according to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 4, 2022

FERC, state utility regulators, and the arsonist’s dilemma

State and federal officials have saturated power markets with unworkable policies and are now openly lamenting the inability of those markets to deliver the results they expect, the author writes.

By Todd Snitchler • Oct. 3, 2022

A real page-turner: How the Inflation Reduction Act changes everything

The IRA will radically reshape the energy industry through tax credits, direct investments and loan guarantee programs.

Oct. 3, 2022

EV charging network plans approved for all 50 states

The FHWA’s approval unlocks $1.5 billion in NEVI program funds through fiscal years 2022 and 2023 for all jurisdictions across the U.S., allowing the build-out of chargers covering about 75,000 miles of highway.

By Danielle McLean • Sept. 28, 2022

Republicans oppose ‘sweeping’ transmission reforms, force Manchin to withdraw energy permitting bill

Progressives feared the bill would enable further development of fossil fuel infrastructure with less environmental review while Republicans worried it gave the federal government too much power over transmission development.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 28, 2022

New environmental justice office at EPA aims to raise the issue’s national profile

The Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, which will employ about 200 people, is seen as another step by the Biden administration to prioritize environmental justice in its policies.

By Megan Quinn • Sept. 27, 2022

Virginia governor acting like the CEO he used to be in trying to leave regional GHG compact: state senator

“If the governor wants to withdraw from RGGI, he has to learn how to govern,” Sen. Adam Ebbin said.

By Rod Kuckro • Sept. 27, 2022

Avoiding the ‘tax on God’ dilemma when transitioning to dynamic rates

Dynamic rate design is one of the most important tools for decarbonizing the grid. But it is imperative to figure out how to make these types of choices more accessible and better for customers to achieve targets.

By Brad Langley, VP of Marketing, GridX • Sept. 26, 2022

FERC rejects complaint from generators seeking strict MOPR in New York

The agency’s decision “should be the final nail in the MOPR’s coffin,” Sarah Ladin, senior attorney at the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law, said Friday.

By Ethan Howland • Sept. 23, 2022

NYPA burns up to 44% green hydrogen in GE turbine in first such retrofit of a US natural gas plant

Fuel blends from 5% to 44% hydrogen were tried in the demonstration project.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 23, 2022

Is the Inflation Reduction Act the end of the wholesale clean attribute market?

The IRA may reduce any real or perceived tension between wholesale markets and state policies and the need for other mechanisms to harmonize wholesale markets and state policies, the authors write.

By Sarah Ladin & Burçin Ünel • Sept. 23, 2022

The maxim of the SEC’s climate rule: What you don’t know can hurt you

The standardized disclosures of climate risks will effectively lay bare companies’ readiness to transition to low-carbon operating models and the mounting physical hazards they face, the authors write.

By Bob Hinkle and Lisa Jacobson • Sept. 22, 2022

High electricity rates could jeopardize California’s electrification efforts: report

The analysis estimates that California’s rate structures raise the cost of operating an electric vehicle by roughly $600 a year, which could reduce EV adoption by between 13% and 33%.

By Kavya Balaraman • Sept. 22, 2022

Manchin permitting-reform bill allows DOE to designate ‘national interest’ transmission projects

While it’s supported by renewable energy groups, the bill faces opposition from some House and Senate Democrats.

By Ethan Howland • Sept. 22, 2022

California could phase out gas heaters by 2030 to cut smog amid electrification push

The home and building appliances are “an underappreciated driver of unhealthy air quality in California cities,” nonprofit advocates said in a report Tuesday, as state regulators consider only allowing zero-emissions alternatives.

By Maria Rachal • Sept. 21, 2022