The Texas Public Utilities Commission rejected a plan by Southwestern Electric Power Co., a subsidiary of American Electric Power Company Inc., to add 309 megawatts of wind energy to serve Texas customers, according to a July 2 news release. Despite the denial, the company said it can move ahead with its planned acquisition of 1,485…...
The U.S. Energy Department on July 1 announced $100 million funding for ten Energy Frontier Research Centers over four years to expedite the scientific breakthroughs needed to tackle the energy challenges of the 21st century. The move intends to strengthen the nation’s economic prosperity and energy security. The centers will bring together multidisciplinary scientific teams…...
Pacific Gas and Electric Company emerged from Chapter 11, with the completion of its restructuring process and implementation of a reorganization plan that was confirmed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on June 20, according to a July 1 announcement. The utility deposited about $5 billion in the $21 billion wildfire fund established last year to…...
The Public Utility Commission of Texas on July 2 announced an extension of the state’s Electricity Relief Program deadline from July 17 to August 31, 2020 as COVID-19 challenges continue. The commission launched the program on March 26, in order to relieve the burden of retail electricity customers by protecting them from disconnections for non-payment…...
The Virginia State Corporation Commission on July 2 approved Dominion Energy Inc.’s renewable energy rate, providing its customers the option to purchase 100 percent renewable-sourced electricity. As designed, the rate would charge a $3.98 premium per month besides the standard rate for a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity on average, adding annual…...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on June 30 ruled that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cannot indefinitely delay requests for rehearing of cases under the Natural Gas Act by issuing tolling orders, which extend the 30-day time period for the agency to act on the petitions. The 10-1 ruling concluded that…...
The Michigan Public Service Commission on June 30 rejected Enbridge’s request for a declaratory ruling that it has authority to replace a pipeline segment under the Straits of Mackinac under a 1953 order approving the Line 5 pipeline. The commission found that the Line 5 project differs significantly from the pipeline approved in 1953. Different…...
The New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment on June 30 approved the 101-megawatt Deer River Wind Farm located in Lewis and Jefferson counties. The project is expected to generate up to $24 million in local property tax revenues over 30 years. Local governments are expected to receive up to $800,000…...
The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management on June 26 released the final environmental review for a new integrated activity plan for the 23-million acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The preferred alternative would open as much as 18.7 million acres, or about 82 percent of the reserve, to oil and gas development, undoing Obama-era protections…...
The U.S Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy on June 29 announced a request for information to support the research and development of the battery critical materials supply chain. The department seeks input from industry, academia, research laboratories, and government agencies to identify challenges and opportunities in the upstream and downstream supply…...
New York is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars to jump start its solar market. Those efforts are just now starting to bear dramatic results. In the first quarter developers filed requests to connect solar projects to the state’s grid totalling over 670 megawatts of generating capacity, according to a report by the New York…...
A $3 billion natural gas pipeline to serve Florida and the greater southeast is ready to start in less than a week, the first in a series of projects aimed at boosting supplies of the power plant fuel to the region.