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

Explore the Trendline➔

Electricity Supply and Demand

After nearly two decades of flat demand, U.S. electricity consumption reached an all-time high in 2024 and is expected to continue rising. This trendline brings together the best of Utility Dive’s coverage of emerging trends in supply and demand and the decisions being made today that will impact the power system for years to come. 

By Utility Dive staff

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

Extending Dominion's Millstone nuclear plant a 'critical' part of path to zero carbon, Connecticut finds

Connecticut's new Integrated Resources Plan finds the state's decarbonization goals are achievable.  But it will require the expanded use of energy storage and demand management and continued reliance on nuclear energy.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 11, 2021

Puerto Rico's grid is 'arguably the worst in the US,' LUMA CEO tells skeptical House committee

Four years after Hurricane Maria destroyed Puerto Rico's electric grid, the island is struggling to modernize its power system. Critics attribute a recent spate of outages to "Hurricane LUMA," a dig at the island's new utility.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 7, 2021

Southern, Duke, PJM, others call for more transmission, coordination to handle renewables surge

As FERC and Congress consider potential measures to increase transmission, 19 grid operators and planners urged changes to the planning, cost allocation and facility siting processes.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 7, 2021

The pace of Biden's clean energy standard is a 'tall order' for utilities, says Sen. King

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, questioned whether utilities can add renewable power sources quickly enough to meet the proposed clean energy standard.

By Scott Van Voorhis • Oct. 7, 2021

'Maybe it's not the right approach anymore' — FERC Chair Glick mulls new security paradigm for power sector

The electric industry is considering a new approach to securing "low-impact" grid assets, which have typically had fewer protections in place but are increasingly seen as vulnerable to cyberattacks.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 4, 2021

Meet the utility labor shortage challenge through a true training culture

Understanding and meaningfully addressing the expectations of employees entering the profession is an all-too-often overlooked strategic priority.

Oct. 4, 2021

MISO, ISO-NE execs stress need for new power supply planning framework at FERC reliability meeting

Increasing wildfires, heat domes and deep freezes require a new paradigm for resource adequacy planning, experts from grid operators told FERC.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 1, 2021

16 utilities took $1.2B in COVID relief while continuing power shutoffs: report

A new report is critical of the U.S. utilities that received millions from the government's pandemic recovery stimulus while they were shutting off customer power almost 1 million times.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 1, 2021

As California's solar net metering battle goes to regulators, a focus on reliability may be the best answer

The reliability value of solar plus storage in ensuring resource adequacy might be the key to solar's future, according to Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies Executive Director V. John White.

By Herman K. Trabish • Oct. 1, 2021

PSEG plans $900M in upgrades to 'last-mile' reliability, EV infrastructure

The work-from-home shift in society and an expected transition to electric transportation has added almost a billion dollars to PSEG's capital spending plan for 2021-2025.

By Scott Van Voorhis • Sept. 28, 2021

State, federal actions show growing push for a nuclear role in reaching net zero emissions

Former critics of nuclear power agree, financial support may be justified for firm power options to tackle climate change and get over the net zero emissions finish line.

By Herman K. Trabish • Sept. 28, 2021

PPL makes 'small' investment to gain insight into 'innovative' $2.5B SOO Green transmission project

The 350-mile proposed line would connect the MISO and PJM grids, bringing wind power from Iowa to Illinois. PPL has bought in for an undisclosed amount, looking to study new ways of developing transmission.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 27, 2021

Landmark infrastructure spending must address climate change crisis to prevent further damage

Local policymakers and project developers must be educated on the global nature of the climate challenge and will increasingly require the right tools to guide project selection and development, the authors write.

By Tim Lieuwen, Adam Cohen and Rich Simmons • Sept. 27, 2021

FERC Chair Glick wants mandatory winterization standards for power plants following Texas grid failure

Chairman Richard Glick said FERC would not permit the weakening of the recent recommendations, which one expert said could lead to $1 million per-day penalties for power plants that fail to prepare for climate change.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 24, 2021