The Maryland Public Service Commission will hold a technical conference to discuss stakeholder comments including advice, suggestions, and innovative approaches on how to better wield control over clean energy development in the state. The commission initiated a proceeding on the topic following resource adequacy concerns raised at a recent conference examining co-located load configurations to accommodate unprecedented projections of demand growth from data centers. While electricity demand is increasing due to an influx of large loads, deactivation of historic generating resources is impacting electricity supply. Concerns over resource adequacy also increased following the results of PJM Interconnection’s capacity auction, which cleared at historic high prices, indicating that not enough resources are showing up to meet grid needs.

Member states of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, will hold their 66th quarterly auction of carbon allowances. The auction clearing prices will be posted on Dec. 6. The previous auction, held in September, sold approximately 15.9 million carbon dioxide allowances, clearing at an all-time high price of $25.75 per allowance. The auction generated about $410.5 million, bringing the total proceeds close to $8.3 billion.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is due to receive proposals for the development of direct current fast charging, or DCFC, electric vehicle supply equipment along alternative fuel corridors in New York State north of and including Interstate 84. The program will make up to $21.5 million in federal National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure, or NEVI, program formula funding available for these purposes. The program is intended to reduce the cost of purchasing and installing DCFC equipment across the state to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles.

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission will hold a workshop to discuss proposed revisions to rules regarding electric interconnection services and standards. The workshop, requested by the DER Stakeholder Group, will address issues raised during discussions including aligning the commission’s rules with wholesale procedures for the implementation of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Order No. 2222. The order, issued in 2020, directed regional grid operators to revise their tariffs to allow distributed energy resource aggregators to participate in wholesale energy markets. 24-1039-EL-ORD

The New York Public Service Commission will hold a meeting of the Indian Point Decommissioning Oversight Board, which was established to assess ways to protect the interest of communities affected by the three-unit Indian Point Energy Center ceasing operations, including current workforce and public safety. The state also established the Indian Point Closure Task Force, which is charged with exploring ways to mitigate local tax and workforce impacts and evaluate new economic opportunities and initiatives, as well as identifying a decommissioning timeline that is in the interest of local communities. Indian Point, which had a capacity of 1,040 megawatts, shut down its last nuclear reactor in 2021, marking the end of 59 years of continuous power generation.

The California Energy Commission is due to receive comments regarding modeling assumptions for buildings, industrial, transportation, and other sectors developed for its Demand Scenarios Project, which was initiated in 2021 to broaden the scope of energy demand assessments. Demand Scenarios identify the long-term energy demand and greenhouse gas emission reductions from existing and near-term policies. These long-term scenarios complement the traditional 15-year electricity and gas demand forecast used for energy planning and procurement purposes. The project focuses on annual energy consumption and emissions out to 2050 for varying degrees of electrification. The commission recently held a workshop focused on new modeling capabilities developed for this iteration of the ongoing project.

The Washington Department of Ecology will hold its eighth greenhouse gas allowance auction, which will offer allowances for current and future years. The current auction will offer 2023 and 2024 allowances totaling nearly 8 million and the advance auction will offer 2027 allowances totaling about 2.2 million. A summary report is expected to be released on Dec. 11. At the previous auction, allowance prices settled at $29.88 per allowance. Washington voters on Nov. 5 rejected Initiative 2117, a ballot measure that sought to repeal the 2021 Climate Commitment Act, which established the cap-and-invest program, a key component of the state’s efforts to achieve emission limits set in law and progress toward net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.