The New York Public Service Commission will hold a public hearing on AES Corporation’s application seeking approval to build the Brookside Solar project, a 100-megawatt solar electric generation facility spanning an area of 645 acres in Franklin County. Construction and operation of the project would be subject to the terms and conditions of the siting permit issued by the Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission in December 2023. The project is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 131,000 metric tons each year and contribute to the state’s goal of generating 70 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and attaining a carbon-free grid by 2040.

The District of Columbia Public Service Commission is due to receive comments on Washington Gas Light Company’s application for approval of its District Strategic Accelerated Facility Enhancement, or SAFE, Plan, a revised replacement of its PROJECTpipes plan. Through the plan, the company will continue to address the highest-risk segments of aging, leak-prone mains and services while ensuring safe, reliable gas delivery and considering environmental impacts in the district. Covering March 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2027, activities under the plan, with a total estimated cost of $215 million, include replacing 12 miles of main and remediating approximately 2,612 services.

The California Air Resources Board and Québec’s Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change will hold their 41st joint quarterly carbon auction, which will offer allowances for current and future years. The current auction will offer 2019 and 2024 vintage allowances totaling about 52.6 million, and the advance auction will offer 2027 future allowances totaling about 7.2 million. The previous auction held in August sold all of the nearly 51.2 million current allowances at a price of $30.24 per allowance and 7.2 million future allowances at $29.75 per allowance. California’s cap-and trade program places an economy-wide cap on major emitting sources.

The California Energy Commission will hold a staff led workshop to discuss modeling assumptions for buildings, industrial, transportation, and other sectors developed for the Demand Scenarios Project. The project aims to identify the long-term energy demand and greenhouse gas, or GHG, emission reductions from existing and near-term policies while focusing on developing annual energy consumption for all energy types and GHG emissions out to 2050 for varying degrees of electrification. The workshop will include presentations of demand scenario results from staff and contractors supporting the project, with a focus on new modeling capabilities developed for this iteration of the project. 23-IEPR-03

The California Energy Commission will conduct a joint workshop with the Public Utilities Commission and Air Resources Board to discuss utilities’ progress on meeting clean energy targets established by SB 100, the 100 Percent Clean Energy Act of 2018. The legislation increased California’s renewable portfolio standard to 60 percent, and set a goal of procuring 100 percent of the state’s retail electricity supply from renewable and zero-carbon resources by 2045. The workshop will focus on the efforts that the state’s utilities are taking to meet the targets. The legislation directed the agencies to develop and submit a joint-agency report to the legislature every four years. 23-SB-100