Avista’s Cost Adjustments Slash Electric Rates by 5.5 Percent for Idaho Customers

Avista’s Cost Adjustments Slash Electric Rates by 5.5 Percent for Idaho Customers

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission approved changes to Avista Corporation’s annual rate adjustments that will lower residential electric bills by $4.85 per month, according to the agency’s Oct. 2 press release. The fixed cost adjustment, a mechanism that allows customers to receive a rebate when the utility’s revenue surpasses costs and incur a surcharge when…

DOE Approves Nation's First Freshwater Offshore Wind Farm in Ohio, Proposes Funding

DOE Approves Nation’s First Freshwater Offshore Wind Farm in Ohio, Proposes Funding

The U.S. Department of Energy published a final environmental assessment on Oct. 2 for Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation’s project Icebreaker, a freshwater offshore wind demonstration project located in Lake Erie, near Cleveland, Ohio. The 20.7-megawatt project is being developed by Fred. Olsen Renewables, a Norwegian company, and the nonprofit Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation…

Washington State Regulator Adopts Requirements for Community Solar Companies to Ensure Customer Protection

Washington State Regulator Adopts Requirements for Community Solar Companies to Ensure Customer Protection

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission established requirements governing the services of community solar companies – entities other than electric utilities – based on guidelines for other regulated industries, according to the agency’s Oct. 2 press release. The rules create consumer protection measures including written permission to release private consumer information, escrow accounts to refund…

U.S. Court Issues Another Halt to Construction of $3-Billion Mountain Valley Natural Gas Pipeline

U.S. Court Issues Another Halt to Construction of $3-Billion Mountain Valley Natural Gas Pipeline

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Oct. 2 ordered another halt to construction activity on all portions of the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline. The court ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers had instituted inadequate requirements for how the pipeline should cross streams in West Virginia, just a few weeks…

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Virginia Unveils 10-Year Energy Plan Including 5 Gigawatt Boost to Renewables

Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, released Virginia’s new energy plan which provides a strategic vision for the commonwealth’s energy policy over the next 10 years. The plan is the implementation strategy of the Grid Transformation and Security Act (Senate Bill 966), signed into law earlier this year. Among other things, the legislation includes 3,000 megawatts…

U.S. Court Upholds New England Capacity Market Exemptions For State-Sponsored Renewables

PJM Proposes Options to Tackle Price Distortions From Subsidized Resources

PJM Interconnection LLC on Oct. 2 unveiled a proposal addressing a June 29 directive from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to revamp the capacity market rules to address price distortion as the participation of sources receiving out-of-market state revenues continues to grow. The plan proposes an expanded minimum offer price rule or MOPR that would…

Surging Crude Exports Boost U.S. Role in Global Market

EnerKnol’s Visual Primer – Surging Crude Exports Boost U.S. Role in Global Market

U.S. crude oil exports are growing and reaching an increasing number destinations since the removal of the export ban in December 2015. Exports almost doubled from 2016 to 2017, thanks to growing U.S. production, expansions in pipeline and export infrastructure, and a wider discount of the domestic crude oil prices to international prices. U.S. production surpassed that of Russia in June and August, for the first time since 1999, after beating Saudi Arabia in February. Several pro-oil policies implemented recently by the Trump Administration seek to continue the bullish trend.