The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on July 26 vacated a permit granted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for Dominion Energy to construct the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline in areas inhabited by threatened or endangered species. The court found that the agency “fast-tracked” its decision and appears to have lost sight of…
Massachusetts state lawmakers on July 22 passed a bill that authorizes the Barnstable Town Council to grant an easement for a portion of Covell’s Beach to construct the interconnection between Vineyard Wind LLC’s offshore wind project and the New England power grid. The 800-megawatt project, jointly owned by Avangrid Renewables LLC and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners,…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on July 23 announced the formation of the Division of LNG Facility Review & Inspection to manage the growing number and complexity of proposals to develop liquefied natural gas export terminals. The new division, which will be a part of the agency’s Office of Energy Projects, will include 20 existing…
Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s proposed allocation of customer service-related costs in its rate case for the 2020-2022 period fails to reflect the cost differentials between bundled and unbundled electric distribution customers, according to a group of community choice aggregators operating in the utility’s territory. The differentials have become important with the advent of community…
U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat representing Nevada, introduced legislation on July 25 that would provide a five-year extension of the solar investment tax credit at its full 30 percent value. Representative Mike Thompson, a California Democrat, joined by Republican Representatives Paul Cook of California and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, introduced a bipartisan companion…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on July 25 directed PJM Interconnection LLC not to move forward with its annual capacity auction scheduled for Aug. 14-28, recognizing the need to ensure certainty for market participants who make resource investment and retirement decisions. The agency has not yet rendered a decision on the grid operator’s proposal filed…
Republican Governor Christopher Sununu vetoed legislation on July 24 that sought to revise the state’s renewable portfolio standards for solar to 5.4 percent by 2025. Currently, the state’s RPS requires 25.2 percent of power to come from renewables by 2025, with a solar carve-out of 0.7 percent by 2020. This is the second solar bill…
Duke Energy Renewables LLC on July 22 announced the purchase of its largest solar energy project, a 200-megawatt facility, which is being developed by 8minute Solar Energy in Texas. The solar farm, which is expected to be complete in the summer of 2020, will sell much of its output through a 12-year hedge agreement to…
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission on July 24 granted a permit allowing Triple H Wind Project LLC to construct a 250-megawatt wind energy facility in Hyde County at an estimated cost $300 million. Triple H Wind, a subsidiary of Engie North America Inc., has entered into two 30-year power purchase agreements to sell the…
The California Independent System Operator Corporation called for an immediate plan to address near-term reliability needs through 2022, according to a July 23 filing in response to the Public Utilities Commission’s rulemaking to refine long-term procurement planning requirements. The grid operator projects a gap of up to 2 gigawatts beginning in the summer of 2021…
Virginia, followed by Ohio and Pennsylvania ranked as the top states within the PJM Interconnection LLC system for the amount of solar capacity requesting to be connected to the network, according to a July 26 report from the system manager. The bulk of the wind project requests, mostly large offshore projects, are from New Jersey…
Democratic Governor Kate Brown signed legislation on July 15 that sets goals to promote zero-emissions vehicles in the state, including a requirement that all light-duty vehicles owned or leased by the state of Oregon be ZEVs by 2029. The new law aims for at least 50,000 registered ZEVs by 2020 and 250,000 by 2025. At…
