The Idaho Public Utilities Commission issued an order grandfathering Idaho Power Company’s existing commercial, industrial, and irrigation customers with on-site generation under the present terms for a period of 25 years, according to a Dec. 4 press release. Customers that file interconnection applications after Dec. 1 will be subject to future changes that the commission…...
The pressing trend towards revisiting retail rate net metering for rooftop solar continues, in a bid to ensure proper compensation for solar customers and avoid cost shifting to non-solar customers. Net energy metering, 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.
With the growing adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), the need for flexible storage resources in the electric grid has drawn increased attention to how well the vehicles can integrate into the grid as temporary batteries. While California is making strides in furthering the utilization of EVs as a grid resource, a handful of states are contemplating the technology in connection with electrification of fleets, and medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s energy agenda prioritizes clean energy and climate action, with a far-reaching strategy, which includes rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, committing to achieve a carbon-free power sector by 2035, and banning new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. expects nearly 83,000 megawatts of resource capacity to be available to meet the projected peak demand of 57,699 megawatts for the upcoming winter season from December 2020 to February 2021. The winter peak demand forecast in the grid operator’s final winter resource adequacy assessment, released on Nov. 5, …...
The Florida Public Service Commission on Nov. 3 authorized Tampa Electric Company to recover costs for a 60.1-megawatt project under the fourth phase of the company’s solar construction plan. The completion of the project will bring the company’s solar generation capacity to 600 megawatts, firmly asserting it as a major solar developer. Tampa Electric opted…...
State renewable portfolio standards are a key driver behind the torrid expansion of wind and solar generation across the U.S., responsible for about half of the nation’s deployment of clean energy sources over the last couple of decades, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Over three dozen states, territories and the nation’s capital have…
Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed New York City Council Member and former Assembly Member Rory Lancman to the new role of Statewide Special Counsel for Ratepayer Protection, according to an Oct. 30 press release. In the new role, Lancman will assess the performance of the state’s regulated utilities across the electric, natural gas, water, and…...
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission on Nov. 4 opened a proceeding to investigate retail natural gas industry emissions as the state explores ways to meet the requirements of a 2019 law that set statewide goals to achieve emission cuts of 26 percent by 2025, 50 percent by 2030, and 90 percent by 2050, relative to…...
The Western Energy Imbalance market generated $119.3 million in savings in the third quarter of this year, the highest quarterly benefits achieved since the market launched in 2014, according to an Oct. 29 press release from the California Independent System Operator Corporation. This brings the cumulative benefits of the real-time energy market to about $1.11…...
Amid gigawatt-scale goals for energy storage, U.S. state policies are evolving to create more opportunities for the technology. Storage is poised to play an integral role in the changing resource mix as more states pursue zero-carbon goals, driving the need for innovative policy initiatives and programs that optimize renewable energy sources and enhance grid reliability.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued an order on implementing reforms that expand the minimum offer price rule (MOPR) to most state-subsidized resources participating in the regional capacity market administered by PJM Interconnection LLC, which operates across 13 states and the District of Columbia. The ruling has sparked concerns over its potential to harm renewable generation seeking to participate in the capacity market and frustrate state clean energy policies.