Power & Utilities
Governor Cuomo has designated September 22-28 as Climate Week, highlighting the state’s transformational clean energy accomplishments and proactive climate preparedness efforts. On September 22, 2014, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo designated the week of September 22-28 as Climate Week to increase climate awareness and highlight New York’s ongoing efforts to meet climate challenges. Governor…...
On September 9, 2014, FERC accepted ISO-NE’s Transmission, Markets and Services Tariff revisions to aid its 2014/2015 Winter Reliability Program (Docket No. ER14-2407-000). ISO-New England’s Winter Reliability Programs offer incentives to oil-fired generators to hold increased inventory to meet peak winter demand, as much of natural gas pipeline capacity is dedicated to firm service contract…...
NYC has committed to reduce emissions to 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2050, beginning with a comprehensive plan to retrofit all public buildings by 2025 and set target reductions and mandates for private buildings. On September 21, 2014, New York City (NYC) Mayor de Blasio announced a new goal of reducing emissions to 80…...
On September 17, 2014, the Senate Committee on Finance held a hearing titled “Reforming America’s Outdated Energy Tax Code” to discuss possible reforms to the U.S. energy tax policy. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) underscored the need for predictable, level playing-field tax policy that puts renewables on the same footing as other…...
NY Governor Cuomo has announced nine awards to recognize leadership and excellence in building energy performance under the 2012 BuildSmart NY Initiative. On September 15, 2014, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the first BuildSmart NY Awards for outstanding energy efficiency solutions in public buildings to bring down operating expenses, save taxpayer money, and…...
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) June Gas-Electric Coordination report highlighted industry responses to FERC’s March 20 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The NOPR aims to reform mismatched wholesale electricity and natural gas transportation market operating day, day-ahead, and intraday schedules. Both the natural gas and electric industries support a change in the intraday scheduling cycles…...
The DOE has announced seven awards to advance microgrid projects focused on enhanced microgrid control systems and technologies to strengthen electric infrastructure resiliency. On September 8, 2014, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced more than $8M for microgrid projects across seven states to develop advanced technologies that facilitate more resilient and adaptive communities. The projects…...
The USDA has announced new funding to modernize the rural electric infrastructure across 15 states. On September 9, 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a funding of more than $518M to rural electric cooperatives to modernize the rural electric infrastructure, increase electric system reliability, and improve electricity delivery across 15 states. The funding,…...
The 25th RGGI carbon auction, which marks RGGI’s sixth full year, sold allowances at $4.88 each, generating approximately $87.83M. On September 5, 2014, the nine member states of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) released results of their 25th carbon auction (Auction 25) held on September 3. Auction 25 offered 17,998,687 allowances at a reserve…...
The New York Department of Public Service (DPS) staff has issued a Straw Proposal on achieving the Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) Track One goals. The straw proposal reaffirms the initial April 24 proceeding which identified utilities’ role in managing a distributed system platform (DSP) and growing the state’s existing Distributed Energy Resource (DER) assets. Despite…...
According to EIA, the first half of 2014 showed the highest year-over-year growth in residential electricity prices since 2009, with the largest price increases recorded in New England. On September 2, 2014, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a report highlighting that U.S. retail residential electricity prices from January-June 2014 showed the highest year-over-year growth…...
On August 7, 2014, California and Quebec held a successful practice joint carbon emissions allowance auction in preparation for the first ever cross-border auction on November 2014. Despite varied participation levels in Quebec’s first four auctions, activity is expected to increase with program maturity and the upcoming 2015 compliance deadline.The programs – under the Western…...
