ENERGY STORAGE

EnerKnol’s Visual Primer – FERC Proposes Reforms to Enhance Electricity Storage and DER Participation in Wholesale Markets

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has proposed reforms to remove barriers to the participation of electric storage resources and distributed energy resource (DER) aggregations in wholesale electricity markets. The reforms would provide storage and DER with structured access to bigger markets facilitating a paradigm shift in the way electricity markets function.

New York Set to Revive Renewable Energy Industry

Key Takeaways: The Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiative seeks a fundamental restructuring of New York’s centralized utility model in response to technology advancements and customer trends that favor decentralized power generation The 2015 New York State Energy Plan provides a roadmap to implement the REV strategy through increased renewable generation, energy efficiency, and emissions…...

FERC Advances Reliability Safety Mechanism In Final Clean Power Plan

Insight for Industry – FERC’s Push to Incorporate Reliability Safety Mechanism in the Clean Power Plan Increases Certainty for State Compliance Efforts On May 15, 2015, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) provided the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with a letter signed by all five Commissioners that details its role in implementing a Reliability Safety…...

New Storage Technologies Open Doors for Wind and Solar

Insight for Industry – Breakthroughs in Battery Storage Technologies Carry Impacts for Wind and Solar On April 30, 2015, Tesla Motors u The Breakthroughs in Battery Stor The Breakthroughs in Battery Storage Technologies by Tesla Motors impacts Wind and Solar energy resources. Learn more details with EnerKnol Research. age Technologies by Tesla Motors impacts Wind…...

Signed Energy Act Sets Tone for Upcoming Energy Legislation Debates

Insight for Industry – Energy Efficiency Improvement Act Will Reduce Energy Demand The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015, which President Obama signed into law on April 30, will add momentum to falling energy consumption per capita in the United States by reducing energy demand from commercial buildings, manufacturing plants, and homes. The relatively uncontroversial…...

FERC Advances Oregon LNG Export Facility as Congress Moves to Fast-Track New Trade Legislation

Trans-Pacific Partnership would Open New Markets for U.S. LNG Export Projects Key Takeaways: U.S. shale gas boom created opportunities to export surplus natural gas to high price markets in Asia, but lengthy regulatory processes have weakened U.S. natural gas producers’ ability to compete with global markets The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) could facilitate western LNG…...

FERC Ruling Contributes to PJM Market Uncertainty

Insight for Industry – PJM Capacity Market Faces Continued Uncertainty Despite ongoing efforts by PJM Interconnection (PJM) to address system reliability issues, regulatory impacts to its capacity market continue to increase uncertainty. The March 31 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ruling that requires PJM to provide additional information on its Capacity Performance (CP) proposal could…...

Low Natural Gas Prices Increase Effective Rate of Pennsylvania Severance Tax

Pennsylvania’s Natural Gas Industry Challenged by Regulatory Changes While a number of regulatory changes could slow Pennsylvania’s oil and gas expansion, its resource deposits will continue to attract steady growth. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s proposed natural gas severance tax would significantly increase the effective tax rate for shale gas producers in the state, and ongoing…...

Lease Area Proximity and Cost Improvements Support New York Offshore Wind Energy

Insight for Industry – Ongoing Technology Advances and Policy Actions Will Lower New York’s Offshore Wind Costs Global and domestic factors, combined with siting and transmission policies, innovative financing mechanisms, and infrastructure upgrades may allow New York to reduce offshore wind energy costs by 50 percent by 2022. Offshore wind energy cost reductions will enable…...

REV Policy Framework Restricts Utility Ownership of Distributed Energy Resources

Distributed System Platform to Facilitate New Resource Integration The marketplace envisioned under the New York Public Service Commission’s (PSC) Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) proceeding targets efficient development of distributed energy resources (DERs). In its REV Track One regulatory framework issued on February 26, 2015, the New York PSC determined that utilities will perform the…...

New York Utilities to Create New Distribution System Platform

Incumbent Utilities will act as Distributed System Platform Providers New York Public Service Commission (PSC) and Department of Public Service (DPS) staff has deemed incumbent utilities as the best entities to develop new distributed system platforms (DSPs) under the Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) proceeding. The proceeding aims to reorient New York’s electric industry and…...

Demand Response to Grow Under Alternate Scenarios Regardless of FERC Order 745 Outcome

Demand response participation in wholesale power markets has varied across Regional Transmission Organizations since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission finalized Order 745 in 2011. The outcome of the Supreme Court’s pending review of the May 2014 Order 745 vacatur will have varying impacts across RTOs based on market structure and demand response enrollments in wholesale…...