The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on March 27 opened a proceeding to examine whether the state can achieve its long-term clean energy and environmental goals under the current resource adequacy procurement paradigm. The commission will assess alternatives to the state participating in the regional capacity market administered by PJM Interconnection LLC as the…...
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on March 19 conditionally approved the Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas export project and the associated Pacific Connector pipeline in Oregon. The approval is conditioned on the project qualifying for state permits, but Oregon regulators have declined several key regulatory approvals. The LNG terminal would be located in Coos County,…...
The Virginia State Corporation Commission on March 26 rejected portions of Dominion Energy Inc.’s grid transformation plan including a $752 million proposal to deploy smart meters over the next decade. The agency found that Dominion failed to justify its smart meter proposal with a well-crafted plan including rate design that would maximize the potential for…...
Since the beginning of this year, crude oil prices fell significantly in response to the economic contraction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden crude oil glut after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and partner countries suspended agreed production cuts. Daily price changes for the U.S. benchmark crude oil West Texas Intermediate…...
U.S. President Donald Trump on March 27 signed into law the CARES Act, a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus package aimed to provide financial and emergency relief to alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The rescue package does not include tax credit extensions and direct pay provisions that wind and solar groups sought as…
Even modest carbon fees can facilitate emissions reductions in the short term, especially in the power sector where natural gas and renewables supplant coal, according to a March 17 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. However, once the emissions level linked to coal consumption is reached, the remaining gas- and petroleum-related emissions are harder…...
DTE Electric Company on March 20 filed a revised integrated resource plan with the Michigan Public Service Commission incorporating changes that the agency recommended to the original plan. The new IRP includes a single pathway and eliminates the four possible scenarios in the previous plan, applies higher energy waste reduction targets, and removes unapproved supply-side…...
The Virginia State Corporation Commission opened a proceeding on March 24 to explore the impact of increased electric vehicle deployment on the affordability and reliability of utility electric services. The proceeding will address a broad range of issues including existing development and projected growth, rate design, storage-specific issues, and public charging stations. The commission is…...
The Missouri Public Service Commission approved an agreement reducing Ameren Missouri’s revenues for electric service by $32 million, starting April 1, according to a March 23 news release. The change will lower residential electric rates by about 1.15 percent. Ameren’s previous rate decrease in 2018 resulted in a six percent rate cut as part of…
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities issued a report on March 20 showing that 447 megawatts of solar capacity came online in 2019, setting a new record for solar installation in a single year. This brings the state’s total capacity to 3,190 megawatts, which represents five percent of its energy needs. The previous record…
The Bureau of Land Management on March 20 released a draft environmental assessment for Yellow Pine Solar LLC‘s 500-megawatt solar generating project spanning about 3,000 acres of public land in Nevada. The review includes analysis of the proposed photovoltaic generation station and ancillary facilities including battery storage, as well as an associated substation and transmission…
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission on March 20 rejected a request by Avista Corp., PacifiCorp, and Puget Sound Energy to recover $15.4 million in replacement power costs associated with the 2018 outage of the Colstrip coal-fired power plant in Montana. The commission found that the companies failed to prove that the costs for obtaining…...