The Maryland Public Service Commission seeks stakeholder comments on proposals filed by investor-owned electric utilities pursuant to the Distributed Renewable Integration and Vehicle Electrification Act, or DRIVE Act, enacted in 2024. The law requires utilities to establish pilot programs or temporary tariffs to compensate owners and aggregators of distributed energy resources for electric distribution system support services. The proposals stem from a 2024 commission order directing each utility to submit time-of-use tariff offerings and a pilot program or temporary tariff for distribution system support services from vehicle-to-grid and virtual power plant, or VPP, programs. Subsequently, the utilities filed their proposals in July. The commission accepted the utilities’ tariff offerings with changes and directed them to resubmit the pilot proposals providing solutions with greater scale and expanded VPP participation, among others.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is due to receive applications from pre-qualified participants for the Dual-Use Solar Energy Pilot Program. The program allows solar generation on designated farmland, also known as agrivoltaics, enabling farmers to maintain agricultural production while generating renewable energy and supplemental income. Research results from the pilot will be used to inform a permanent program, which may include standards for construction and operation of dual-use projects. The program is open to qualifying projects with a capacity of up to 10 megawatts and hosted on unpreserved farmland in active agricultural or horticultural use.

The Kentucky Public Service Commission will hold a public comment meeting to discuss concerns and potential opportunities related to developing nuclear energy in the state. The move is in response to 2024 Senate Joint Resolution 140, which directed the commission to carry out its regulatory responsibilities for the siting and construction of nuclear energy facilities. The commission plans to engage regulated electric utilities and other stakeholders to identify and discuss pertinent issues regarding the construction, operation, and funding of potential nuclear electric generating facilities.

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection seeks proposals for carbon-free power from nuclear, hydropower, solar, onshore wind, and related transmission or storage projects. The department issued an RFP last month to procure carbon-free resources that diversify the state’s energy mix, reduce costs for ratepayers, and improve grid reliability. A 2018 RFP resulted in contracts with the Millstone and Seabrook nuclear plants during a period of historically low power prices and several nuclear plant retirements across the nation. Those contracts have saved ratepayers about $153 million as of 2025 by reselling the facilities’ energy and environmental attributes back into the market. While the risk of nuclear retirements has diminished, the new RFP aims to identify contracts that can operate as a financial hedge against rising power generation costs in the future, especially as the New England grid operator plans significant changes to the capacity market in 2028 that could increase costs.

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission will hold a stakeholder workshop to discuss the adoption of rules for evaluating wildfire mitigation plans submitted by investor-owned electric utilities. The rulemaking implements legislation enacted in 2025 directing the commission to adopt rules for wildfire mitigation, including procedures and standards for vegetation management, fair market landowner compensation guidelines when appropriate, public safety power shutoffs and service restoration, pole materials, circuitry, and monitoring systems. UE-250777

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality seeks comments on a draft environmental impact statement for Grid United’s proposed North Plains Connector project connecting the eastern and western electric grids to address the growing need for long-distance power transmission, improving grid reliability and resiliency. The proposed 525-kilovolt high-voltage direct-current overhead transmission line would provide 3,000 megawatts, connecting the Western grid to the eastern states. As proposed, the project would extend approximately 420 miles from Montana to two end points in North Dakota.

The California Air Resources Board and Québec’s Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks will release the results of their 46th joint quarterly carbon auction, which offered allowances for current and future years. The current auction offered 2024, 2025, and 2026 vintage allowances totaling about 54.8 million, and the advance auction offered 2029 future allowances totaling about 6.5 million. The previous auction, held in November, sold all of the nearly 51.3 million current allowances at a price of $28.32 per allowance and 6.8 million future allowances at $29.61 per allowance. California’s cap-and-trade program places an economy-wide cap on major emitting sources. READ MORE

The California Air Resources Board will hold a public hearing to consider the approval of a proposed regulatory action to establish a fee program to implement two state climate disclosure laws enacted in 2023: the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253) and the Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261). The laws require large U.S.-based companies doing business in California to report greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risk. Under SB 253, companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue must annually report direct emissions (Scope 1), indirect emissions from consumed energy (Scope 2), and indirect upstream and downstream emissions (Scope 3). Under SB 261, companies with more than $500 million in annual revenue must biennially report their climate-related financial risk and the steps they are taking to mitigate and adapt to such risk. Following a court order halting enforcement of SB 261, CARB will pause enforcement until the injunction is lifted but will proceed with its rulemaking efforts.

The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission seeks comments on proposed amendments to its community solar rules. The amendments cover a range of topics, including facility requirements, statewide capacity program caps, interconnection and administrative costs, registration of subscriber organizations, and solar credit rates, among others. The statewide 300-megawatt capacity cap, applicable for selections after Nov. 1, 2024, would be in addition to the 200-megawatt cap applied to the initial selection process, resulting in a total cap of 500 megawatts. The capacity cap and megawatt allocation, which are reviewed annually, would be subject to triennial reviews beginning Jan. 1, 2026. READ MORE

The California Energy Commission will hold a joint remote-access workshop with Pacific Gas & Electric Company and Southern California Gas Company to discuss proposed energy-related gas research initiatives. The discussion will focus on the utilities’ plans for the Gas Research and Development Program. The workshop will feature presentations on proposed initiatives organized around the themes of gas system integrity and decarbonization. The program is funded by surcharges from consumers who receive public utility gas corporation services to support public interest research and development. The commission invests approximately $24 million annually in gas-related research to advance a cutting-edge R&D portfolio to support California’s next phase of clean energy innovation and deployment. A 2018 state law requires all retail electricity to be supplied by zero-carbon resources by 2045. 23-ERDD-02