Bonneville staff backs joining SPP’s Markets+ day-ahead market over CAISO alternative

Bonneville Power Administration staff said they preferred the Markets+ governance structure and carbon accounting over the California Independent System Operator’s day-ahead market.

By Ethan Howland • April 5, 2024

DOE final distribution transformer rule adds 2 years for compliance

The agency sought a middle ground with its final rule, extending compliance timelines and adjusting efficiency targets to require less amorphous electrical steel.

By Robert Walton • April 4, 2024

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

The manufacturing renaissance needs well-planned transmission solutions

Increased demand with variable energy supply and volatile weather conditions require a coordinated, holistic and forward-looking approach.

By Karen Onaran • April 2, 2024

CAISO proposes $6.1B transmission plan, mainly for offshore wind

The California Independent System Operator’s transmission plan — with $4.1 billion open for competition — would also support wind and solar imports from Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming.

By Ethan Howland • Updated April 2, 2024

SPP files Markets+ tariff in ‘significant step’ to expanding Western market options

Markets+ is expected to go live in early 2027, pending approval of the tariff by federal regulators, according to the Southwest Power Pool.

By Robert Walton • April 2, 2024

California PUC proposes $24 monthly fee for PG&E, SCE, SDG&E customers

The fixed charge includes discounts for income-qualified customers. Those enrolled in the California Alternate Rates for Energy program will pay approximately $6/month, for instance.

By Robert Walton • March 28, 2024

A new era of price-based demand response emerges, but utilities and regulators need proof of its potential

New load flexibility from price-based demand response programs could be invaluable if reliability and cost-effectiveness is confirmed in real-world operating conditions, stakeholders agree.

By Herman K. Trabish • March 27, 2024

States shouldn’t have to pay for transmission driven by other states’ policies: FERC’s Christie

Loading up a pending transmission planning and cost allocation rule with more legally dubious provisions will increase risks in its “uncertain future,” FERC Commissioner Mark Christie said.

By Ethan Howland • March 26, 2024

Grid technology could save billions but for a policy vacuum

Separate studies by Quanta Technologies and the Brattle Group found that using grid-enhancing technologies in generator interconnection could reduce wholesale energy costs nationwide by over $5 billion per year.

By Neil Chatterjee • March 25, 2024

Potential benefits of Atlantic offshore wind transmission network are more than double the costs: DOE

Building a “backbone” transmission line to connect offshore wind farms on the Atlantic coast would cost $116 billion but could also yield billions in annual savings, according to the DOE.

By Emma Penrod • March 22, 2024

Senators press FERC nominees on climate, natural gas, transmission cost allocation

Republicans on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee focused on the issue of fuel neutrality and whether the nominees would uphold it.

By Diana DiGangi • March 22, 2024

FERC affirms generator interconnection rule, but ‘it’s not a silver bullet,’ Christie says

Renewables and storage make up the majority of interconnection queue projects, but they are “not one-for-one replacements” for retiring dispatchable power plants, Commissioner Mark Christie warned.

By Robert Walton • March 22, 2024

National Grid announces $4B plan to upgrade upstate New York power grid

The money will go toward 70 projects, which will include building substations and rebuilding more than 1,000 miles of transmission lines connecting towns near Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse.

By Patrick Cooley • March 21, 2024

Granholm tells Congress ‘adjustments have been made’ to distribution transformer proposal

The U.S. Department of Energy’s plan to improve the efficiency of distribution transformers could exacerbate shortages of the critical devices, threatening electrification efforts, lawmakers said Wednesday.

By Robert Walton • March 21, 2024

California lawmakers backpedal on income-based utility charges as IOUs, others propose alternatives

State legislators ordered regulators in 2022 to implement an income-graduated fixed charge to protect low-income customers and shift the funding for various policy goals. A new bill would repeal that.

By Herman K. Trabish • March 19, 2024

New England could see resource adequacy troubles even with billions in investments: ISO-NE

Batteries make up 46% of ISO New England’s interconnection queue, but the grid operator said that as peak demand grows, they may “struggle to recharge during the winter months.”

By Robert Walton • March 19, 2024

PG&E aims to raise up to $1B for transmission through leases to Citizens Energy

The proposed funding for transmission projects comes a month after Pacific Gas & Electric increased its five-year capital spending plan by 20%, to $62 billion.

By Ethan Howland • March 15, 2024

Bills aim to spur grid-enhancing technologies with shared-savings incentives from FERC

“The Advancing GETs Act will motivate grid operators and developers to bring new projects online that expand transmission capacity,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Wednesday.

By Ethan Howland • March 14, 2024

Permitting reform budget request should push Congress to negotiate a bipartisan deal

Our domestic energy supply cannot be secured until the United States’ burdensome approval process is overhauled so that we can begin to get major energy infrastructure projects underway.  

By Liam deClive-Lowe and Paolo Mastrangelo • March 14, 2024

Utilities, others lobby senators to block DOE’s distribution transformer efficiency rule

The U.S. Department of Energy plans to finalize new efficiency rules for distribution transformers in April, but a broad coalition of utilities is supporting legislation to block the effort.

By Robert Walton • Updated March 19, 2024

US electricity prices outpace annual inflation

Analysts cited transmission costs and federal policies for the 3.6% increase the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.

By Robert Walton • March 13, 2024

Setting the record straight on Western market options: It’s not just about footprint

Instead of coercing the entire West into a single market, we should turn our attention to facilitating trade among multiple markets as a better use of our time and energy.

By Libby Calnon, Clay Fitchis, Mark Hayden, Bear Prairie, Chris Robinson and Jim Webb • March 11, 2024

California regulators approve new program to expedite power line undergrounding

The program allows utilities with at least 250,000 customers to submit a 10-year undergrounding plan to the California Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, which must approve or reject it within nine months.

By Robert Walton • March 11, 2024

California PUC urges FERC to reject SCE’s early cost recovery request for $1.6B in projects

Southern California Edison contends that being allowed to recover its costs while two transmission projects are being built, instead of waiting until they’re in service, will ease financial strains and customer rate shock.

By Ethan Howland • March 11, 2024

Federal lawmakers urge FERC to adopt ‘shared savings’ incentive for grid-enhancing technologies

The push at the federal level comes as grid-enhancing technology bills and projects to relieve grid congestion advance in Minnesota.

By Ethan Howland • March 8, 2024