The Trump administration issued a 10 percent import tax which will apply to $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, including inverters used in renewable energy installations as well certain types of batteries. According to the U.S. Trade Representative’s Sept. 18 announcement, the tariffs go into effect on Sept. 24 and are set to jump to…
The New York Public Service Commission ruled in favor of NRG Community Solar LLC, finding that the power supplier’s community solar project should be awarded more generous so-called volumetric credits than the rates offered by Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corp. and Orange and Rockland Utilities Inc. In its Sept. 12 ruling, the commission dismissed…
The Arizona Corporation Commission announced Sept. 12 that it approved applications by Tucson Electric Power Co. and UNS Electric Inc. to adjust compensation to customers exporting electricity onto the grid, wrapping up the agency’s years-long bid to develop a replacement of its net metering program. Export rates for Tucson Electric customers who connected solar power…
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission approved Public Service Company of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy Inc., to retire two-coal fired units in the Comanche Station, a decade ahead of schedule, as part of the company’s 2016 electric resource plan, according to the agency’s Sept. 10 decision. The commission found that the retirement of the…
Duke Energy Florida LLC seeks to cut to two years the duration for fixing prices for the purchase of electricity from small renewable power suppliers that is mandated under a federal statute, citing the need to protect consumers from rate hikes and overpayments resulting from rapidly changing market conditions. Under the statute, the Public Utility…
The Georgia Public Service Commission on Sept. 6 approved Georgia Power Company’s sixth batch of power purchase agreements for 4.3 megawatts of customer-sited generation under its Renewable Energy Development Initiative, or REDI. The program, designed to procure 50 megawatts of customer-sited solar, was approved last October as part of the commission’s order adopting the company’s…
The California Public Utilities Commission proposed to develop a solar information packet to help utility customers planning to install solar on single-family homes and take service under a net metering successor tariff, according to the agency’s Aug. 29 proposed decision. Investor-owned utilities would have to configure their interconnection portals to ensure that only solar providers…
The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities will open a new docket to investigate Eversource Energy’s proposed revisions to its net metering tariff to ensure compliance with legislation enacted on Aug. 9 amending the requirements for considering demand charges for net metered customers, according to an Aug. 29 memo. In January, the department approved demand charges…
The California legislature approved legislation on Aug. 29 that reinforces the state’s clean energy leadership with a goal of procuring 100 percent of the state’s electricity from renewable and zero-carbon resources by 2045. The bill would strengthen the Renewable Portfolio Standard to 60 percent by 2030, up from the current 50 percent. Hawaii was the…
Public Service Company of New Mexico filed a request to join the Western Energy Imbalance Market on Aug. 22, noting that a transition to the system’s more flexible supply resources could see benefits soar to $21 million by 2024. Public Service Company of New Mexico said that it seeks to use the imbalance market’s intra-hour…
The North Carolina Utilities Commission on Aug. 21 authorized a permit for Recurrent Energy LLC’s 75-megawatt solar facility in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. The project, expected to come online this year, has a 10-year power purchase agreement with Duke Energy Carolinas LLC. In May, Recurrent announced it has closed $106.7 million in financing for the…
A 40-year-old U.S. statute designed to encourage energy diversity and conservation helped drive 2 gigawatts of solar capacity in 2017, representing just under half of all new utility-scale solar projects added to the grid that year, according to a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Over the last decade the federal mandate, called the…
