Texas gas regulator punts outage blame back to electric industry, 'we got us out of the problem'

Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick insisted her industry was not responsible for the blackouts that hit Texas last month, despite assertions from the electricity industry that supply-side constraints were a major issue.

By Catherine Morehouse • March 1, 2021

National Academies call on Congress to address 'persistent under-investment in electric innovation'

NASEM's report recommends that the U.S. double government spending on energy research to keep pace with the need for new grid technologies and other nations.

By Emma Penrod • Feb. 26, 2021

Explore the 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

'Everyone is asking, why?': Texas lawmakers grill generators, regulators on mass outages

Gas-electric coordination, the Texas wholesale market, communication protocols and regulatory authority all came under fire during the state's first hearing on the blackouts that left millions without power last week.

By Catherine Morehouse • Feb. 26, 2021

California proposes enhanced oversight of PG&E as concerns rise over wildfire mitigation

The process is based on six steps triggered by certain events and could potentially lead to the commission reviewing — and possibly revoking — PG&E’s operational certification down the road.

By Kavya Balaraman • Feb. 26, 2021

Utilities need to harden the grid as they green it. Consumers aren't ready for the cost

Federal funding for grid modernization and decarbonization is the way to ensure events like the Texas blackouts don’t happen again.

By Stephanie Eyocko • Feb. 26, 2021

To catalyze transmission development, end the utility protection racket

Current policies reinforce an anachronistic approach that fails to spur the regional projects needed to decarbonize the power sector and mitigate extreme weather impacts, writes Harvard Electricity Law Initiative's Ari Peskoe.

By Ari Peskoe • Feb. 25, 2021

California's approach to power pricing could discourage electrification, experts fear

"Effectively, what we’re doing is imposing a very, very regressive tax on electricity consumption in order to pay for many programs and infrastructure," Severin Borenstein, faculty director of the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business' Energy Institute, said.

By Kavya Balaraman • Feb. 25, 2021

ERCOT narrowly avoided 'much more devastating' impacts as nearly half of generation went offline: CEO

At the highest point, about 48.6% of the grid operator's power generation — 52,277 MW out of 107,514 MW in installed capacity — was forced offline due to the extreme weather conditions.

By Catherine Morehouse • Feb. 25, 2021

The real problem in Texas: Deregulation

In a deregulated market, one where one company generates power, another delivers it, and another sells it, there’s little incentive not to cut corners, the author writes.

By Paul Griffin • Feb. 24, 2021

FERC to examine potential market violations in wake of massive Texas power outages

The commission also announced it would open a new proceeding to examine the threat climate change poses to electric reliability, following FERC's decision last week to close its resilience docket.

By Catherine Morehouse • Feb. 23, 2021

Texas suspends utility disconnections after 'skyrocketing' power bills

State regulators held an emergency meeting Sunday to address the payment billing spikes that had customers charged up to 70 times more than what they would normally pay for electricity.

By Catherine Morehouse • Feb. 23, 2021

Climate leaders go 'all in' to halve emissions by 2030

The new "America Is All In" coalition of U.S. communities, businesses and institutions, has pledged to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 with support from the federal government. 

By Chris Teale • Feb. 23, 2021

Possible hundreds of billions in US power sector securitizations spur ratepayer protection debate

Securitization can ease impacts of COVID-19 moratoria debt, stranded asset costs, and extreme weather losses, but bankers and regulators agree that customer costs need oversight.

By Herman K. Trabish • Feb. 22, 2021

Residents' climate anecdotes to inform San Diego resilience plan

Following hazard vulnerability assessments, the city is nearing a resilience draft plan focused on wildfires, sea level rise, extreme heat and flooding.

By Maria Rachal • Feb. 22, 2021

Texas outages take center stage during Congressional hearing on climate and clean energy

Attempts to blame the Texas power outages on renewable energy stand to derail calls for bipartisan climate legislation, members of the Congressional Subcommittee on Energy said last week.

By Emma Penrod • Feb. 19, 2021

FERC to reopen 1999 policy on gas project approvals, add environmental justice considerations

Though the vote was unanimous, commissioners had differing opinions on the necessity of proceeding, and to what extent policy should change.

By Catherine Morehouse • Feb. 19, 2021

Congress, Texas should 'rethink' ERCOT's 'go it alone approach': FERC Chair Glick

"Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business," former Governor of Texas and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said earlier this week.

By Catherine Morehouse • Feb. 19, 2021

The Texas electricity crisis and the energy transition

Although the political and national debate is turning into a proxy debate on energy resources, the most immediate concern is that the current failure threatens public health and safety, the authors write.

By Alex Gilbert and Morgan Bazilian • Feb. 19, 2021

FERC 'finally' ends PJM MOPR proceeding, paving way for grid operator's next capacity auction

"To have anything but a bright line against the participation of subsidized resources is simply an error and a dereliction of the duty to keep our markets properly insulated," said Commissioner James Danly, the sole dissenting vote.

By Catherine Morehouse • Feb. 19, 2021

FERC closes resilience docket opened in response to DOE coal, nuclear bailout proposal

The decision comes amid rolling outages that have plagued Texas, and Commissioner Neil Chatterjee, in his sole dissent, said the docket was precisely the right place to examine these and other reliability issues.

By Catherine Morehouse • Feb. 19, 2021

Power experts cite gas constraints as main cause of ERCOT outages, but system planning questions remain

"The fact that this was not wind's fault is not an argument that the wind system as we currently have it would have done better if it were a bigger part of the grid," said a professor of environmental engineering at Georgia Tech.

By Catherine Morehouse • Feb. 18, 2021

Questioning 'artificial' electrification

Should we hurry electrification through governmental actions with incentives and subsidies, or instead, allow the market by itself to determine the speed and magnitude of electrification, the author asks.

By Kenneth W. Costello • Feb. 17, 2021

PUC to take closer look at Hawaiian Electric's interconnection processes, fossil fuel retirement plans

Hawaiian Electric’s lack of transparency around its interconnection processes creates “the potential for a significant setback to renewable energy development" in the state, the PUC's order said. 

By Kavya Balaraman • Feb. 17, 2021

FERC, NERC to investigate mass outages across ERCOT, SPP, MISO

Increased demand from extreme cold weather, limited gas supplies and frozen equipment at thermal plants were the primary causes of rolling blackouts triggered largely across Texas, according to officials.

By Catherine Morehouse • Feb. 16, 2021

California moves to address 'extraordinarily frightening' energy debt amid COVID-19

Residential arrearages for Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas surpassed $1 billion in December.

By Kavya Balaraman • Feb. 16, 2021