Solar & Renewables: Page 2

Dominion, Berkshire Hathaway push better transmission siting as Biden turns focus to infrastructure

Infrastructure is next on the president's agenda, and there's ample political will to increase spending on it, according to Christina Hayes, vice president of federal regulatory affairs at Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

By Emma Penrod • March 12, 2021

Senate Democrats plan to reintroduce energy tax reform bill, focus on long-term incentives

The Clean Energy for America Act will be the "cornerstone of the efforts on energy tax this Congress," according to a senior policy adviser to Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee.

By Robert Walton • March 11, 2021

Explore the Trendline➔

Trendline

Wholesale Markets

Wholesale market operators' drive to ensure reliability continues to clash with state decarbonization goals, but new proposals are emerging to better integrate emerging resources and share them across borders.

By Utility Dive staff

Hawaiian Electric defends renewable, storage project delays as fossil fuel plants near retirement

Project delays are not solely attributable to Hawaiian Electric, and depend also on developers and their consultants, the utility said in a filing. 

By Kavya Balaraman • March 10, 2021

New tax credits are best option to spur clean hydrogen, Resources for the Future analysis finds

The potential for hydrogen to become cost competitive exists, panelists concluded during a Tuesday webinar, but the U.S. must increase investment to ensure opportunities don't move overseas.

By Emma Penrod • March 10, 2021

Offshore wind permitting bottleneck expected to ease as Interior completes review of first US large project

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has completed analysis on the proposed Vineyard Wind 1 project off the coast of Massachusetts.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • March 09, 2021

Opinion

7 key trends from renewable energy's 2020 prices and some initial takeaways from Texas 2021

While detailed analysis of the Texas event crisis is still ongoing, the authors note, they examine some of the notable takeaways and trends in renewable energy markets from last year's performance.

By Adam Reeve • March 08, 2021

Deep Dive

'A total mindshift': Utilities replace gas peakers, 'old school' demand response with flexible DERs

Utility-customer cooperation can balance renewables' variability with flexibility without using "blunt" demand response or natural gas.

By Herman K. Trabish • March 08, 2021

Sponsored by Nextracker

Increasingly complex solar projects require a mixture of partnership and technical know-how

By focusing on packaging, logistics, shipping and staging the site, companies can develop an innovative solution that provides short and long-term cost benefits for the project.

Opinion

How the National Green Bank can help small businesses build back greener

With 30.7 million small businesses located in the U.S., any efforts toward reducing emissions are going to need to include this market, the author writes.

By Paul Schuster • March 04, 2021

Xcel proposes $1.7B transmission investment in Colorado to unlock nearly 5.5 GW new renewables

The proposal would allow the utility to reduce emissions in its Colorado territory by an estimated 85% below 2005 levels by 2030.

By Catherine Morehouse • March 04, 2021

House Democrats introduce bill with pathway to 100% clean energy by 2035

The bill would include major changes to the Federal Power Act and the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, and require economy-wide net-zero emissions by 2050.

By Catherine Morehouse • March 03, 2021

Deep Dive

Texas must increase ties to the national grid and DER to avoid another power catastrophe, analysts say

Planning for inter-regional transmission and distributed resources could do what ERCOT's competitive, energy-only market didn't – keep the heat and lights on, energy advisors say.

By Herman K. Trabish • March 02, 2021

US lags international peers on renewables development, and federal policy is to blame: Moody's

Inconsistent federal policy has held back clean energy growth, but observers are optimistic with President Biden in the White House.

By Robert Walton • March 02, 2021

After year of slow sales, First Solar looks to rebound in 2021 with focus on innovation, manufacturing

CEO Mark Widmar says he is pleased with company's 2020 performance despite COVID-related delays that triggered a $400 million decline in sales.

By Emma Penrod • March 01, 2021

Puget Sound Energy IRP dramatically increases DERs but sets conflict over gas

The debate over PSE's draft integrated resource plan is the latest example of a conflict over the degree to which natural gas will be needed to back up renewable energy.

By Matthew Bandyk • March 01, 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

Exelon announces plan to spin off generation assets into second company

The split will result in the creation of two "best-in-class" companies free to focus on their own unique strengths, Exelon CEO Chris Crane says.

By Emma Penrod • Feb. 25, 2021

Renewable advocates bristle at Biden's move to preserve California desert land use plan

The Bureau of Land Management's decision to scrap proposed Trump-era amendments to the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan is dividing conservationists and the industry.

By Kavya Balaraman • Feb. 23, 2021

Southern Company, GTI, DOE launch study of hydrogen-gas blend impacts on gas infrastructure

The two-year project will examine how hydrogen affects existing infrastructure such as pipelines and appliances, but some question whether using hydrogen in existing gas assets is the cheapest solution.

By Emma Penrod • 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 '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

S&P: Despite storage growth, US to achieve 'marginal' carbon-free capacity increases through 2035

The generation market share for zero-carbon resources will increase from 39% to 47% in the next 15 years, and will require policy commitments at either the federal or state level, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

By Robert Walton • Feb. 18, 2021

Deep Dive

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

BloombergNEF: US on track to meet Paris climate goals, but economic rebound could change that

The U.S. power sector has exceeded previous emissions goals and will continue to do so, a new report says, but progress could be thwarted by rising emissions in the transportation sector.

By Emma Penrod • Feb. 18, 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