The Hawaiian Electric Company has submitted a plan with state regulators for its largest-ever renewable energy solicitation, seeking about 900 megawatts of new renewable generation capable of delivering nearly 2 million megawatt-hours each year, according to a July 17 filling. Pending regulatory approval, the utility plans to issue the final RFPs by August 9 and…
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to overturn the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision to deny states the opportunity to opt out of storage participation in wholesale markets, according to a July 16 press release. The organization, which represents state utility commissions,…
Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo on July 18 announced the selection of two projects totaling 1.7 gigawatts in New York’s first comprehensive offshore wind solicitation. Cuomo also signed legislation, which requires a carbon-neutral power system by 2040 and codifies the state’s targets of 6 gigawatts of solar by 2025, 3 gigawatts of energy storage by 2030,…
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.
U.S. utility-scale battery capacity is expected to nearly triple by the end of 2023 if planned additions of about 1,623 megawatts come online as scheduled, according to a July 10 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Grid-scale battery capacity more than quadrupled to almost 900 megawatts in March 2019 from 214 megawatts at the…
The New York Department of Public Service on July 1 released a unit-by-unit study of replacing or repowering peaking units, which are fossil‐fuel generators that typically operate during high demand periods. The analysis identified at least 275 megawatts, representing about 6 percent of the state’s peaking fleet, as potential candidates for substitution with 6-hour batteries…
The California state Assembly approved a measure requiring the Public Utilities Commission to earmark 10 percent of the 2020 funds from the Self Generation Incentive Program to install battery storage and distributed energy systems, in order to back up critical infrastructure in areas facing high wildfire risks. The allocation would amount to $16.6 million funded…
The Public Service Company of New Mexico, a unit of PNM Resources Inc., asked the Public Regulation Commission to approve its plan to retire 497 megawatts of the San Juan Generating Station coal-fired plant in 2022 after the current coal supply and operating agreements expire, according to a July 1 filing. The company evaluated four…
The Tennessee Valley Authority on June 28 released its 2019 integrated resource plan, which calls for up to 14 gigawatts of new solar and 5.3 gigawatts of battery storage to meet the electricity needs of the seven-state region through 2038. The utility said that the plan is designed to facilitate a more flexible power generation…
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.
New York state lawmakers approved legislation on June 19, which requires the state to cut its emissions to 85 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, with a plan to offset the remainder through measures that remove carbon dioxide, such as afforestation and carbon capture. The bill includes a requirement to produce 70 percent of electricity…
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has released the draft version of the 2019 Energy Master Plan, which provides a blueprint made up of seven strategies for achieving the state’s goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2050, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emission by at least 80 percent compared to 2006 levels,…
