PJM Interconnection LLC on March 29 filed a proposal with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to revise its energy and reserve market rules to properly value the energy reserves that support grid reliability by providing the flexibility needed to accommodate the evolving resource mix. The grid operator said that the growing variability of power demand…...
The Massachusetts electric distribution companies Unitil Corp., National Grid plc, and Eversource Energy, and the state’s Department of Energy Resources proposed a timetable and procedure to solicit and execute long-term contracts for up to 800 megawatts of offshore wind power, according to a March 29 notice from the Department of Public Utilities. The companies are…...
The Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources advised the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission on March 22 to approve the proposed twenty year Power Purchase Agreement between National Grid’s subsidiary Narragansett Electric Company and the 400-megawatt Revolution offshore wind project developed by Orsted, a Danish energy giant. The contract, which details the terms and conditions by which the…
Democratic Representative Seth Berry has introduced legislation on March 26 which seeks to study measures that would boost the adoption of renewable energy in the state. The bill has been referred to the Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology. LD 1401 will focus on transmission solutions that help enable more renewable energy investment in the…
The U.S. territory has passed the “Ley de Política Pública Energética de Puerto Rico” or Public Energy Policy Law of Puerto Rico on March 25, which among other energy reforms will set a 100 percent renewable portfolio standard by 2050. The measure, introduced by Senator Larry Seilhamer Rodríguez, a member of the New Progressive Party, and Senator Eduardo Bhatia…
Fossil-fuel rich New Mexico may be among the more unlikely states to join the 100-percent-clean-energy club, but it did just that in March, in the strongest sign yet of the momentum building for pro-renewable policies across the U.S. New Mexico's Democrat-led House charted a course for the state to obtain all of its power from carbon-free resources by 2045, with intermediate goals of 50 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2040, following passage of the Energy Transition Act.
The Missouri Public Service Commission on March 20 unanimously approved Clean Line Energy Partners LLC’s 780-mile Grain Belt Express transmission system designed to deliver 4,000 megawatts of wind power from Western Kansas to Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and the neighboring states. The move follows a July 2018 ruling from the Missouri Supreme Court, which found that…...
Renewables generated a record 742 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity in 2018, almost double the 382 million MWh produced in 2008, accounting for 17.6% of electricity generation in the United States last year, according to the Energy Information Administration’s Electric Power Monthly. About 90 percent of renewable capacity additions were wind and solar, largely driven by federal and state policies in…
Illinois lawmakers are considering a bill known as the Path to 100, which would boost the state’s renewable portfolio standard to 40 percent by 2030, up from the current 25 percent by 2025, as well as improve opportunities for utility-scale renewable projects to get approval and begin construction, putting the state on a path to 100 percent clean…
Democratic Senator Chris Brooks introduced legislation on March 18 that would raise Nevada’s renewable portfolio standard to 50 percent by 2030 from the current level of 25 percent by 2025. The bill would also set a goal of achieving all of the state’s electricity from carbon-free resources by 2050. The legislation adds to the number…...
Democratic State Representative Anna Eskamani and Democratic Senator José Javier Rodríguez have introduced identical bills which direct the Office of Energy within the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to create and implement a plan that would move the state to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050, including an interim goal of at least 40 percent renewables by…
Ameren Corporation published a report on March 11 called Building a Cleaner Energy Future, in which it sets out the company’s strategy for tackling climate risks and moving toward cleaner energy. The company wants to reduce carbon emissions by 35 percent by 2030, 50 percent by 2040 and an 80 percent reduction by 2050 from 2005 levels. Ameren expects…
