Regulation & Policy: Page 7
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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 Diana DiGangi • April 17, 2025 -
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 -
Explore the Trendline➔
Joe Raedle via Getty ImagesTrendlineTop 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 -
Retrieved from GE Hitachi.
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 -
The image by Sam Nash is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
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 Ethan Howland • Updated April 17, 2025 -
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 Ethan Howland • April 15, 2025 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 Ethan Howland • April 10, 2025 -
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 Ethan Howland • April 10, 2025 -
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 Robert Walton • April 10, 2025 -
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 Ethan Howland • April 9, 2025 -
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 -
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 Ethan Howland • April 8, 2025 -
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 Ethan Howland • April 7, 2025 -
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 Ethan Howland • April 7, 2025 -
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 -
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 Robert Walton • April 4, 2025 -
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 Robert Walton • April 2, 2025 -
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 -
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 Diana DiGangi • April 1, 2025 -
The image by Jakec is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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 Ethan Howland • April 1, 2025 -
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 -
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 -
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 Herman K. Trabish • March 26, 2025