The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has awarded two offshore wind projects totaling nearly 2.7 gigawatts to Denmark-based Orsted A/S’ Ocean Wind II and Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind LLC, a joint venture of EDF Renewables North America and Shell New Energies US LLC. The selection, which represents the largest combined offshore wind award in…...
U.S President Joe Biden on June 26 announced an agreement with a bipartisan group of senators on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure framework including $73 billion for power infrastructure. Among the key initiatives, the plan would create a new Grid Development Authority at the Department of Energy, deploy long distance, high voltage transmission, integrate the highest…...
States are exploring ways to utilize the multiple benefits that energy storage provides to the grid, from enabling the increased penetration of renewable resources and reducing dependence on emitting generation, to bolstering reliability.
The California Public Utilities Commission on June 24 directed utilities to procure 11,500 megawatts of new generation from clean energy sources. This is the largest clean energy procurement ordered to date and is a step towards California’s goal of transitioning to 100 percent clean electricity by 2045. The resources, required to come online between 2023…...
Clean energy mandates and goals adopted by U.S. states and utilities are driving efforts to plan and build out the transmission infrastructure needed to accommodate the exponential growth of wind and solar to facilitate power sector decarbonization.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) have formed a joint-federal state task force to explore transmission-related issues. The first-of-its-kind task force will identify barriers inhibiting planning and development of transmission infrastructure, which is key to facilitating the transition towards clean energy resources, and potential solutions to…...
Legislation enacted across U.S. states so far in 2021 reflects the evolving discussion around a wide range of policies ranging from accelerating the transition to cleaner energy and strengthening emissions reduction targets, to enhancing grid resilience, and preempting municipal natural gas bans. Delaware enacted legislation to increase the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) for regulated…...
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission on June 12 authorized a $210 million investment toward Xcel Energy Inc.’s wind repower portfolio. This investment is an effort to support Minnesota’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to reduce carbon emissions by displacing fossil energy sources. The repowering project, Northern Wind, is a build-operate-transfer proposal between the…...
Performance-based regulation (PBR) continues to evolve in the face of transformational changes brought about by new technologies, changing customer preferences, and state policy mandates. Recent actions range from Hawaii’s approval of performance incentive mechanisms to accelerate clean energy goals, the District of Columbia’s ratemaking pilot that contains climate goals-driven tracking mechanisms, and Washington’s law to move towards PBR to help utilities adapt to rapidly changing societal expectations and public policy objectives.
The Mississippi Public Service Commission approved the construction of a 200-megawatt wind turbine electric generation facility in Tunica County. The project will be developed by Tunica Wind Power LLC, whose parent company is Vestas—a company based in Denmark, that designs, installs, and services wind turbines having more than 132 GW of wind turbines in 83…...
The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission approved performance incentive mechanisms, scorecards, and metrics as part of its performance-based regulatory framework for the Hawaiian Electric Companies. The framework was created on Dec. 23, 2020, aiming at becoming a system that rewards “utility for exemplary performance,” while reducing utility costs for customers, and moving towards more renewable energy…....
U.S.energy consumption totaled 92.9 quadrillion British thermal units in 2020, a record 7 percent decrease from 2019, according to a June 4 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Renewable energy consumption increased by 2 percent, whereas all other fuels decreased: coal by 19 percent, petroleum by 13 percent, natural gas by 2 percent, and…...