Enerknol Special Report: Texas Outages Raise Questions About ERCOT’s Reliability

Enerknol Special Report: Texas Outages Raise Questions About ERCOT’s Reliability

EnerKnol is committed to providing real-time transparency of the fragmented and highly technical landscape of energy regulation. With this as our guiding principle we are examining our database of over 35,000,000 regulatory records for insights into last week's Texas outages.

EnerKnol Special Report: Texas Outages Raise Questions About ERCOT’s Reliability

EnerKnol Special Report: Texas Outages Raise Questions About ERCOT’s Reliability

EnerKnol is committed to providing real-time transparency of the fragmented and highly technical landscape of energy regulation.  With this as our guiding principle we are examining our database of over 35,000,000 regulatory records for insights into last week’s reliability failure. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc.’s (ERCOT) 2020 Operations Report and Plan, filed with…...

Policy Primer: Net Metering Reforms

Policy Primer: Net Metering Reforms

Net metering policies continue to evolve as state regulators seek to make rate structures more equitable to address cross-subsidy issues arising from the growing penetration of distributed solar generation. Net energy metering (NEM), which credits customer generators for grid-exported power, has been a key component of the policy framework to spur investment in customer-sited renewable energy facilities, including solar and energy storage systems. Successors to original tariffs are considering a range of factors including avoided utility costs, value to the grid, cost-shifting, and energy demand.

California Adopts New Standard Contracts for Small Generators Under Federal Power Purchase Law

Michigan Regulator Explores Rate Design for Distributed Energy Resources

The Michigan Public Service Commission on Feb. 4 established a workgroup to analyze rate design options for distributed energy resources. The commission also adopted a definition for utility pilot projects and criteria for pilot program reviews under the MI Power Grid initiative, the state’s grid modernization effort intended to maximize the benefits of the shift…...

New York Advances $485 Million Transmission Project to Enhance Grid Reliability, Support Renewables

Southwest Power Pool Launches New Electricity Market for Western Utilities

Southwest Power Pool on Feb 1 launched its Western Energy Imbalance Services market designed to balance generation and load regionally and in real time. The initiative is the latest in a series of measures to better serve the Western Interconnection and is expected to lower electricity costs and enhance price transparency. Moreover, the move will…

Orsted Delays 120-Megawatt Skipjack Offshore Wind Project

Biden Issues Order to Double Offshore Wind, Pause Federal Drilling Leases

U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Jan. 27 that calls for a review of siting and permitting process on public lands and waters to increase renewable energy production with a goal of doubling offshore wind energy by 2030. The order also directs the U.S. Interior Department to pause new oil and gas…...

Policy Primer: Energy Storage Gains Prominence to Foster Grid Reliability

Policy Primer: Energy Storage Gains Prominence to Foster Grid Reliability

Energy storage initiatives are moving forward at a swift pace to complement clean energy policies as batteries can facilitate the integration of diverse generation technologies and address grid stability. With improving economics, there is a growing discussion on the role of energy storage as a grid asset to foster reliability and optimize renewables to meet ambitious clean energy goals.

battery storage

New York Regulators Approve Cost Recovery for Utility Storage Deployment

The New York Public Service Commission on Jan. 21 approved tariffs filed by the state’s six major investor-owned electric utilities to allow recovery of contract costs for the procurement and deployment of energy storage systems. The move follows a 2018 order that established the state’s energy storage goal and deployment policy, directing cost recovery from…...

States Rethink Resource Adequacy Constructs

Policy Primer: States Rethink Resource Adequacy Constructs

Several states are rethinking the resource adequacy paradigm as the electric resource mix changes through the addition of more intermittent resources to replace retiring coal-fired capacity and meet state decarbonization goals. Resource adequacy initiatives are intended to ensure that the planned resource mix is sufficient to meet the future system capacity needs and maintain grid reliability.

Policy Primer: Distribution System Planning Evolves With Growing DER Deployment

Policy Primer: Distribution System Planning Evolves With Growing DER Deployment

Distribution system planning is occurring across various states as utilities and regulators assess the growing need for grid integration of distributed energy resources (DER) and investments that have long-term implications for the power system.

Year Ahead: Five Must-Watch Power Sector Trends for 2021

Year Ahead: Five Must-Watch Power Sector Trends for 2021

The shift in policy priorities of the incoming administration is expected to accelerate the transformation of the power sector towards clean energy and distributed grid, continuing its trajectory driven by market dynamics, technology, and customer preferences. The strong growth of renewable energy is expected to speed up, particularly with the extension of the federal tax…...

U.S. Energy Department Announces $170 Million to Support Solar, Geothermal Technologies

Hawaii Regulators Establish Performance-Based Regulation for Hawaiian Electric

The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission approved a new performance-based regulation, or PBR, framework to govern Hawaiian Electric Company by better aligning the company’s interests with that of customers’ and the state’s clean energy goals. Hawaii is mandated by a 2018 law to implement PBR, establishing a financial link between utility revenues and performance in achieving…...