Regulation & Policy: Page 7


  • The flag outside the United States Environmental Protection Agency building is seen on August 21, 2024 in Washington, DC.
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    Tierney L. Cross via Getty Images
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    EPA granted appellate stay after judge rules to end GGRF funding freeze

    A judge ruled Tuesday to end the freeze and allow grantees to access their funding, but appellate judges granted EPA a stay on that injunction late Wednesday. 

    By April 17, 2025
  • donald trump signs an executive order at his desk
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    Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
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    Trump administration ordered to resume IRA funding

    The decision, which stated federal agencies lacked authority to pause funding, follows the president’s executive order to freeze the money on his first day in office. 

    By Kate Magill • April 17, 2025
  • High voltage power lines seen from below Explore the Trendline
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    Joe Raedle via Getty Images
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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
  • A rendering of the GE Hitachi BWRX300 small modular reactor.
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    Retrieved from GE Hitachi.
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    SMRs, not large reactors, are ‘future of nuclear power’: ITIF

    Small reactors could become a key U.S. export if DOE expands support for advanced nuclear technology and the federal government aligns regulations with friendly countries, the think tank said.

    By Brian Martucci • April 16, 2025
  • Georgia Power's Plant Bowen units during a period of inactivity.
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    The image by Sam Nash is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
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    Trump exempts more than a third of US coal capacity from updated mercury, air toxics rule

    Power plant owners receiving the largest exemptions are Southern Co., at about 11,285 MW; NRG Energy, at about 7,100 MW; and the Tennessee Valley Authority, at about 6,660 MW.

    By Updated April 17, 2025
  • A power plant next to the coast.
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    Joesboy via Getty Images
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    FERC should order PJM to rerun last capacity auction: ratepayer advocates

    Separately, Manu Asthana, PJM Interconnection president and CEO, plans to step down from his job at the end of this year, the grid operator said Monday.

    By April 15, 2025
  • A row of solar panels in a field.
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    Cindy Shebley via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Utilities are shedding crocodile tears over community solar ‘cost-shift’

    Regulators and utilities should compensate community solar fairly for the money-saving value those facilities and their subscribers bring to the grid system.

    By Karl Rábago • April 14, 2025
  • An aerial view of a coal-fired power plant with three smokestacks next to a lake.
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    Kent Raney via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    The power industry must oppose Trump’s coal bailout ... again

    The executive order threatens to conflict with existing methods for accrediting generators, assessing resource adequacy, securing sufficient generation and setting wholesale prices. It’s also illegal.

    By Ari Peskoe • April 11, 2025
  • A construction site with two cranes.
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    Gerville via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    The AI infrastructure race hits a political reality check

    The AI-driven data center boom has created demand for land, electricity and water, a dynamic that has spawned growing opposition from communities, utility grid operators and regulators.

    By Joe Brettell and Jeff Berkowitz • April 10, 2025
  • FERC headquarters
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    Permission granted by Esme Howland
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    Trump directs FERC, other agencies to add 5-year sunsets to energy-related regulations

    The executive order is “impossible to implement [and] blatantly illegal,” according to Harvard Law School’s Ari Peskoe.

    By April 10, 2025
  • Rows of undulating solar panels in a field.
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    Jason Doiy via Getty Images
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    PJM, Google partner to speed grid interconnection using AI

    The initiative aims to integrate dozens of PJM interconnection-related databases and tools into a unified model of PJM’s network, helping to bring power supplies online faster.

    By April 10, 2025
  • Capitol Hill lit up at night
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    Win McNamee via Getty Images
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    Lawmakers mull government-wide supply chain improvement effort

    Congress is debating the Promoting Resilient Supply Chains Act at a time when demand for electricity is rising and supplies of critical grid equipment are constrained.

    By April 10, 2025
  • Fort Martin power station on the banks of the Monongahela river.
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    Backyard Production via Getty Images
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    Trump aims to boost coal, in part by ordering power plants to stay open

    However, the executive orders will likely have little effect on coal-fired generation, according to analysts.

    By April 9, 2025
  • Hydrogen renewable energy production pipeline.
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    audioundwerbung via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    Hydrogen hubs are a bipartisan effort that supports US energy dominance

    These projects are a cost-effective way to leverage existing energy resources, and they support efforts to increase U.S. energy production and enhance our energy independence.

    By Mark Menezes and Frank Wolak • April 8, 2025
  • A partly built gas-fired power plant with yellow cranes.
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    Aaron Yoder via Getty Images
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    Utilities, state regulators urge FERC to approve MISO’s fast-track interconnection plan

    However, independent power producers, former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission members and others said it favors incumbent utilities and should be rejected.

    By April 8, 2025
  • Electric power lines run next to a highway.
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    The image by versageek is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
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    FERC urged to reject proposed ROE, incentives for $3B Valley Link transmission project

    Transource Energy, Dominion Energy and FirstEnergy contend the incentives are needed to reduce the project’s risks.

    By April 7, 2025
  • Rear aerial view of of a data center being constructed in Ashburn, VA
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    Gerville via Getty Images
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    LS Power eyes 300-MW colocated data center at Virginia power plant

    The plan raises reliability and cost allocation issues, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday.

    By April 7, 2025
  • Empty grasslands with electrical towers running through it
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    Blackbeck via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    How FERC is working to boost power supplies while managing the price tag

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has focused on reforms to transmission planning and grid interconnection rules while approving market expansions.

    By Amy Akers • April 4, 2025
  • data center construction, CBRE, Virtiv, Tecogen
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    halbergman via Getty Images
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    DOE offers 16 locations for possible data center, energy infrastructure development

    The federal government is seeking input on data center “power needs, timelines, and approaches to co-locating energy sources with data centers or sources for surplus interconnection capacity.”

    By April 4, 2025
  • A person in a blue pinstripe suit looks straight ahead.
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    Andrew Harnik via Getty Images
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    Trump guts LIHEAP, threatening $378M in energy assistance already approved by Congress

    State energy assistance programs have funding to continue short-term operations, but the elimination of federal staff threatens the long-term stability of a popular program, experts say.

    By April 2, 2025
  • A group of wind turbines and an electrical substation.
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    NanoStockk via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    A market-based path to unlocking interconnection queues

    When a scarce resource like grid access is given away administratively rather than allocated based on economic value, the result is always the same: inefficiency, congestion and delays.

    By Terry Harvill and August Ankum • April 2, 2025
  • Daffodils bloom in the snow outside EPA headquarters.
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    Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
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    EPA denies harm from GGRF freeze in court filing

    EPA argued that the funding freeze would not cause irreparable harm to grantees, while the grantee plaintiffs say the freeze is “potentially fatal” for their operations.

    By April 1, 2025
  • A river runs in front of forests, fields and steam billowing from two cement cooling towers from a power plant.
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    The image by Jakec is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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    FERC review of PJM colocation rules for data centers, large loads may extend past mid-year: analysts

    “Participants involved in co-location arrangements should pay the costs of any grid services they consume and the arrangements must be reliable and operationally manageable,” PJM told the commission.

    By April 1, 2025
  • Two tall white industrial structures stand among an array of buildings.
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    Courtesy of Georgia Power
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    US ‘nuclear renaissance’ faces high capital costs, uncertain federal policy support: ICF

    Bringing new nuclear “down the cost curve” requires design standardization and continued support from federal clean energy tax credits, the consultancy said in a white paper.

    By Brian Martucci • March 31, 2025
  • Committee chairman Rep. James Comer questions witnesses during a House Oversight Committee hearing.
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    Drew Angerer via Getty Images
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    House Republicans probe EPA climate grant recipients

    The House Oversight Committee chair is spearheading an investigation into the eight environmental groups that received funding through the Biden-era Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

    By Zoya Mirza • March 28, 2025
  • Power line towers crossing a scrubby field.
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    Cavan Images via Getty Images
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    Deep Dive

    Trump executive order threatens transmission, interconnection initiatives: former FERC commissioners

    President Trump’s executive order compromises FERC’s independence, is “unhealthy, unwarranted, and unprecedented,” threatens power system reliability and is “plainly illegal,” the former commissioners say.

    By March 26, 2025