Transmission & Distribution

New Orleans council chief calls for investigation into Entergy's Hurricane Ida response

Councilmember Helena Moreno plans to introduce a resolution calling for an investigation into Entergy’s storm response and related issues at the City Council’s Sept. 22 meeting.

By Scott Van Voorhis • Sept. 17, 2021

New York authorizes National Grid to serve retail, bid into wholesale market with upstate battery project

A utility-owned 3 MWh battery will bid into the New York ISO wholesale market as well as serve retail customers to demonstrate storage's role and potential.

By Jason Plautz • Sept. 17, 2021

Explore the Trendline➔

Trendline

Grid Resiliency

Utilities and grid operators are facing increasing threats from climate change as well as cyber and physical attacks, and are deploying a variety of responses, with some adjustments in the age of COVID-19.

By Utility Dive staff

'We're obviously in the middle of a dramatic transformation,' FERC's Glick says amid market reform talks

A series of technical conferences is examining how the changing electricity resource mix requires wholesale market operators to reconsider the products and services being offered, and how they are valued.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 16, 2021

Landmark Illinois climate bill resolves standoff over Exelon nuclear plants

The legislation also provides a road map for sunsetting the state’s coal-fired plants while setting a target of 40% renewable power for the state’s power sector by 2030.

By Scott Van Voorhis • Sept. 15, 2021

House committee to vote on expanded EV and clean energy tax credits, including storage, hydrogen

The funding plan for Democrats' $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation would extend clean energy tax credits and create new incentives for domestic production and union labor.  

By Jason Plautz • Sept. 14, 2021

Shared-savings approach to transmission incentives finds support, concern at FERC conference

Some customer advocates worry additional transmission incentives may create a "slippery slope" that leads to customers paying more for batteries, electric vehicle infrastructure and other distributed resources.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 14, 2021

Opinion

FERC wants state help on transmission policy. It should also ask about wholesale market reforms.

States will struggle to reach meaningful levels of decarbonization — let alone a net-zero outcome — without regional scale that really is only possible through the FERC wholesale markets, the author writes.

By David Boyd • Sept. 14, 2021

House committee approves $150B Clean Electricity Performance Program

The program is the centerpiece of Democrats' climate platform and is included in a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package now being crafted.

By Jason Plautz • UPDATED: Sept. 15, 2021 at 10:26 a.m.

New York directs utilities to submit transmission proposals as decarbonization deadline looms

State utility regulators are looking for more transmission projects to handle a planned increase in renewable power as the state pushes to decarbonize its grid.

By Scott Van Voorhis • Sept. 13, 2021

Opinion

Our approach to expanding electricity infrastructure isn't working. It's time for a different conversation.

We do not have the necessary mechanisms to identify, prioritize and build the network of interstate, high-capacity transmission lines needed in the next 30 years, the authors write.

By Armond Cohen and Liza Reed • Sept. 10, 2021

Opinion

5 things I learned from exiting my G&T power provider, and the 300 things I've gained

Kit Carson Electric Cooperative CEO Luis A. Reyes Jr. offers lessons and advice based on KCEC's G&T cooperative exit, one of the first in the country.

By Luis A. Reyes Jr. • Sept. 09, 2021

More than 300,000 Entergy customers still without power after Ida; some parts of system are 'truly a rebuild'

Entergy has restored power to nearly 70% of its 948,000 customers who lost power in Louisiana and Mississippi. But in the hardest hit areas, customers could be waiting up to three weeks for service.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 08, 2021

Sponsored by HSI

Utility provider shows why effective training is key to the energy transition

Utilities everywhere face challenges and demands that extend well beyond integrating and managing new technologies.  

Sponsored by Questline

Demand for interactive content is rising. Can utilities catch up?

In today's digital world of mobile video games and viral TikTok videos, interactive content is now an expectation for utility customers of all ages.

With FERC now split 2-2, clean energy advocates call for caution and urgency to fill vacant seat

It is "critical" that President Joe Biden nominates the right person to break ties at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 03, 2021

Opinion

Full and open transmission competition is key to boosting grid reliability and renewables in California

We need to put all options on the table to keep the lights on for California while we break new ground in the energy transition, writes Stanford University's Michael Wara.

By Michael Wara • Sept. 03, 2021

LA approves 100% clean energy by 2035 target, a decade ahead of prior goal

The goal puts the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on track for an aggressive transition that backers said would present a model for the nation.

By Jason Plautz • Sept. 02, 2021

Duke explores shutting coal-fired plants by 2030 in South Carolina plans

The revised plans come after South Carolina regulators voted in late June to reject the utility's previous proposals and send the company back to the drawing board.

By Scott Van Voorhis • Sept. 01, 2021

Transmission tower destroyed by Ida likely to complicate power restoration in New Orleans, experts say

As Entergy scrambles to restore power in the Gulf region, the collapse of a major transmission tower could complicate matters, experts say.

By Scott Van Voorhis • Aug. 31, 2021

Residential electric panels represent a nearly $100B 'roadblock' to full electrification, report finds

Up to 48 million U.S. homes may require electric panel upgrades in order to charge electric vehicles or switch away from appliances now running on natural gas or other fossil fuels, according to research from Pecan Street.

By Robert Walton • Aug. 31, 2021

Ida knocks out all transmission lines into New Orleans, leaves 1M+ without power

Electric utilities along the Gulf Coast are scrambling to assess damage after Hurricane Ida made landfall as a Category 4 storm. Recovery could take up to six weeks in some areas, according to reports.

By Robert Walton • Aug. 30, 2021

California utilities are tackling climate adaptation, other safety work amid stretched resources

"Something as simple as getting iPads to help our field teams do patrols is starting to be challenging," one utility executive told the California Public Utilities Commission at a meeting Wednesday. 

By Kavya Balaraman • Aug. 26, 2021

Biden administration expands cybersecurity initiative piloted by electric sector

At a cybersecurity summit with leaders from energy, finance, technology and other sectors, the administration also announced efforts to improve the security and integrity of industry supply chains.

By Robert Walton • Aug. 26, 2021

Opinion

The G&T cooperative business model is not broken, despite some vocal Tri-State opponents

For those who assert that Tri-State — or more broadly, the G&T model — is broken and needs to be fixed, the head of Otero County Electric Cooperative asks, what's the problem that needs to be solved?

By Mario Romero • Aug. 23, 2021

While bulk power system remains reliable, key metric suggests worrying trend, NERC finds

Operator-initiated load shedding in 2020 reached its highest point in the last five years, driven by extreme weather. NERC officials say that could turn into a trend, as the metric has already worsened this year.

By Robert Walton • Aug. 18, 2021