The California Public Utilities Commission authorized San Diego Gas & Electric Company to recover the entire costs for its procurement of 83.5 megawatts of energy storage and 4.5 megawatts of demand response, as the utility scrambles to lock in supplies after the closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, according to a June 7…
Public Service Company of Colorado, a unit of Xcel Energy Inc., filed its Colorado Energy Plan, a blueprint for the utility to source over half of its electricity supply from renewables and cut carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2026. The plan, filed June 6 with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, directs the company to…
U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat representing Colorado, introduced legislation on June 5 that would provide $5 billion in financing under the U.S. Agriculture Department’s rural utility service program for cybersecurity and grid security enhancements. A second bill would include energy storage under the department’s Rural Energy for America Program, providing financial support for agricultural…
Duke Energy Carolinas LLC reached an agreement with environmental groups June 1 to cut the price tag of its Power/Forward Carolinas grid modernization plan to $2.5 billion, from $7.8 billion, and scale back the initiative to three years, from a decade. Duke’s updated plan includes voltage optimization, electric-vehicle charging infrastructure and at least 300 megawatts…
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, signed legislation on June 1 ordering the utility commission to establish a process by February 2019 for electric utilities to evaluate and invest in energy storage as the state looks to harness the emerging technology. The bill allows electric utilities to file applications for rate-based projects of up to…
The Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. announced plans on May 31 to invest as much as $17 billion through 2022 in energy grid modernization and clean energy programs in New Jersey. The company plans to spend $2.5 billion to extend its Energy Strong program aimed at improving reliability and resiliency by bolstering electric and gas…
The Michigan Senate on May 30 adopted a resolution calling on the Michigan Agency for Energy to engage in a discussion to explore the potential to integrate energy storage into the state’s electric market. The move comes as some states look to harness energy storage technologies to improve grid resilience following the devastating hurricane season…
About 40 percent of the 700 megawatts of large-scale battery storage capacity installed in the U.S. is found in the grid operated by PJM Interconnection LLC thanks to favorable market conditions, according to a May 21 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. PJM created a frequency regulation market in 2012 to provide better payments…
The U.S. Energy Department on May 1 announced funding opportunities for advanced electric vehicle projects focused on batteries and electrification including cyber security, materials for lighter weight vehicle structures and powertrains, as well as technology integration for overall system efficiency. The department also announced funding for a new program called “Duration Addition to electricity Storage,”…
The California Energy Storage Alliance said that San Diego Gas and Electric Company exceeded the 50 percent allowable limit of utility-owned storage procurement required under the state’s 2010 storage mandate, and is relying too much on that procurement to count towards the level of megawatts needed to meet its full obligations. The group asserted that…
