COP26: Biden apologizes for US climate inaction, issues long-term plan for reaching net zero emissions

The plan asks the electric sector to eliminate emissions by 2035 through transmission upgrades, energy efficiency, storage and non-emitting generation, along with several other strategies.

By Robert Walton • Nov. 2, 2021

House passes Build Back Better, tees up Senate vote on funding for climate, clean energy and electric vehicles

The bill's passage comes days after President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan infrastructure bill that also boosts spending on shifting the U.S. away from fossil fuels.

By Ethan Howland • Updated Nov. 19, 2021

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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 to meet the rising challenges.

By Utility Dive staff

States, public need bigger role in transmission development, FERC's Glick says

The lead regulator outlined his hopes for transmission reform needed to meet clean energy and grid reliability goals ahead of a key FERC-state task force meeting.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 28, 2021

APS vows legal action after Arizona regulators deny cost recovery for $215.5M coal plant upgrades

Regulators approved the utility’s first rate decrease since 1996, while voting against full cost recovery for APS' investment in upgrades to a coal plant being closed earlier than initially planned.

By Scott Van Voorhis • Updated Nov. 3, 2021

Sophisticated hackers could crash the US power grid, but money, not sabotage, is their focus

For now, the capability remains in the hands of nation-state actors. But "sophistication can ultimately be bought," Edison Electric Institute Vice President for Security and Preparedness Scott Aaronson said.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 28, 2021

PJM, market monitor urge FERC to reject SOO Green proposal, saying it will upend the capacity market

Letting SOO Green's transmission line skirt PJM's rules would hurt reliability and lower capacity prices, the grid operator and Monitoring Analytics said.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 27, 2021

Maine DEP suspends permit for 1.2 GW Avangrid power line to import power from Hydro-Québec

The decision on Tuesday came as 50 Maine lawmakers urged Massachusetts to explore alternatives for meeting its clean energy goals.

By Ethan Howland • Updated Nov. 24, 2021

NextEra's failure to upgrade Seabrook plant jeopardizes planned $1B transmission line, Avangrid warns

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's decision in the interconnection dispute could affect clean energy ambitions nationwide, Massachusetts officials warned.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 25, 2021

FERC rejects utilities' request to open TVA to competition

But FERC Chairman Glick urged Congress to eliminate the Tennessee Valley Authority's protective fence transmission borders so the utility doesn't have carte blanche to "gold plate" its system.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 22, 2021

California markets in the Lone Star State? Texas regulators consider 'quasi-capacity' market system

Generators and transmission operators will need to weatherize their systems ahead of winter as Texas regulators consider "monumental" market changes.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 22, 2021

NextEra doubles down on green hydrogen, other renewables

The company said Wednesday it has added more than 5,700 megawatts over the first nine months of 2021 to its backlog of renewable energy and storage projects.

By Scott Van Voorhis • Oct. 21, 2021

Meeting state offshore wind, renewable goals requires up to $3.2B in transmission, PJM says

A report on future transmission needs marks a change in how the largest U.S. grid operator considers state renewable energy goals, but more work needs to be done, observers say.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 21, 2021

To secure the energy supply chain, feds want to reimagine the power sector as defense

Department of Energy officials say vulnerable software and data supply chains expose the U.S. power grid to attack.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 21, 2021

Coal-fired electricity rebounds in 2021, but resurgence could be short-lived

As the price of natural gas soars, a federal report finds coal-fired power plants are expected to produce significantly more electricity this year than in 2020.

By Scott Van Voorhis • Oct. 20, 2021

Texas regulators tee up market changes, weatherization standards in response to February crisis

The Public Utilities Commission of Texas on Thursday could vote to adopt weatherization requirements for generators and transmission owners that were originally contained in a pair of decade-old reports.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 20, 2021

Boosting transmission between East, West grids will lower costs: NREL

A National Renewable Energy Laboratory study shows that every dollar spent on new transmission facilities between the two interconnections will be more than doubled as grid benefits, reducing costs to interconnect new resources.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 19, 2021

EEI, utilities want first crack at transmission development as FERC mulls new rules, incentives

With billions in spending at stake, the Edison Electric Institute says competition hampers power line development. Consumer groups contend it lowers costs.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 18, 2021

By 2030, Portland General sees distributed resources meeting up to 25% of peak demand

The utility said it will need up to 2 GW of clean or renewable resources and 800 MW of non-emitting dispatchable capacity resources to decarbonize its system by 2040.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 18, 2021

Empire Wind pushes opening of New York's first offshore wind farm to 2026

The developer told federal regulators it needs until December 2026 to build New York's first major offshore wind farm.

By Scott Van Voorhis • Updated Oct. 16, 2021

Entergy failures threaten New Orleans' future

Entergy's way of doing business is unaffordable to ratepayers and it is unable to provide the kind of reliability and resilience that are more necessary in the face of climate disaster, the author writes.

By Jesse George • Oct. 15, 2021

Amazon, DOE, PJM urge FERC to support proactive transmission planning for an evolving grid

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is preparing for its first overhaul of transmission planning and cost allocation rules in a decade. 

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 15, 2021

Clean energy, environmental groups sue FERC over approval of Southeast energy market

A broad coalition of 13 groups asked a federal appeals court to overturn the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s tacit approval of the bilateral market for utilities.

By Ethan Howland • Updated Feb. 9, 2022

PJM reviews offshore wind transmission offers from PSEG, Anbaric, LS Power, others

Companies propose projects to deliver 7,500 MW of offshore wind to New Jersey in a unique grid operator-state partnership that could crack the "chicken and egg" development hurdle.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 12, 2021

House lawmakers demand answers from LUMA Energy regarding Puerto Rico's failing electric grid

Legislators wrote to the company's CEO seeking details on staffing levels and efforts to bolster the workforce throughout a stretch of power outages that have occurred since the company took over grid operations.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 12, 2021

Electric co-ops must heed the lessons of Kodak and others in pushing to overhaul today's G&Ts

It must have been painful to throw away the still-working Walkman, film camera or eight-track tape player (and the car it came in), but the world moved on, United Power's CEO writes.

By Mark A. Gabriel • Oct. 12, 2021