Power & Utilities
Utility rate proceedings are evolving into forums to address emerging energy sector issues as grid modernization and resiliency, renewable energy procurement, and emissions reduction programs form a growing part of suppliers' business.
In the last year alone, states from Maine to New Mexico have enacted measures mandating the study of microgrids, showing the growing interest in harnessing the technology to shore up grid reliability and accomplish broader policy goals in which microgrids may play a role.
The New Hampshire Public Utility Commission issued a second order on Oct. 2 demanding that retail power supplier Agera Energy LLC make alternative compliance payments totalling over $2.2 million to satisfy compliance with the state’s 2018 renewable portfolio standards. Agera, which filed for bankruptcy with a federal bankruptcy court in New York on Oct. 4th,…...
Utility resource planning is becoming more complex in the fast-changing energy landscape, prompting intense scrutiny from regulators. State measures are transforming the way utilities procure energy in light of continued growth in intermittent large-scale energy, customer-sited generation, demand response, energy efficiency, and clean energy commitments.
An unprecedented number of states are rushing to procure battery storage resources as the technology is seen as increasingly critical to balance supply and demand on power grids more saturated with intermittent supplies. Thanks to innovation and declining costs, battery technologies are increasingly presenting themselves in utility resource planning, interconnection procedures, renewable energy procurement, and utility pilots.
A growing number of states are redesigning policies and incentives for distributed generation as customer-sited installations spread amid falling costs. Regulators have initiated a number of actions this year, ranging from examining the value of distributed energy resources (DER) to overhauling interconnection rules, and equipping utilities with the planning structure required to accommodate new resources.
Carbon reduction is becoming ingrained in the planning strategies of utilities across the Northwest in response to state-level decarbonization policies and market changes. As coal plants are no longer cost-competitive, utilities are taking advantage of new technologies and favorable economics of natural gas and renewables.
California’s energy landscape is evolving rapidly driven by its ambitious clean energy and carbon reduction goals. Recent actions range from enhancing renewable integration to reforming carbon market rules, strengthening auto-emission standards, and revising energy efficiency policies.
New York has adopted sweeping measures to propel the state’s clean energy agenda, including adopting the nation’s most ambitious climate targets, awarding the largest offshore wind contract, and refining compensation rules to boost distributed solar.
Ameren, FirstEnergy, and Pepco are advancing sweeping plans to modernize the power grid. The programs, exceeding $7.5 billions in investments, mark the latest efforts by utilities to overhaul an aging, antiquated transmission and distribution system to make it more resilient, accommodate the growing penetration of renewable and distributed energy, and enhance customer-interaction.
Battery storage has long held the promise of eventually replacing the costliest, most-polluting fossil-fuel fired generators that are used to meet surging electricity demand on the grid. That day may now be upon us as costs of batteries plummet and as state regulators from Massachusetts to Arizona weigh new incentives for the technology.
Battery storage is no longer just paving the way for greater integration of renewables onto the grid. The technology is now ushering in larger utility-scale solar and wind projects with diverse configurations. Utility proposals to develop massive storage projects in tandem with renewables are becoming more common as intermittent wind and solar continue to produce a growing share of power generation. Aggressive state and utility decarbonization goals are also driving the need for cost-effective batteries.
