The California Public Utilities Commission launched a probe against Southern California Gas Company to determine the fines and penalties to be imposed for the failures and systemic issues that led to the four-month gas leak from the disastrous blowout at the Aliso Canyon storage facility in October 2015, according to a June 27 news release.…
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority initiated a proceeding to examine the value of distributed energy resources, according to a July 3 notice. The move stems from legislation enacted in June directing the agencies to launch a joint study and report their findings to the joint standing…
The Public Service Company of New Mexico, a unit of PNM Resources Inc., asked the Public Regulation Commission to approve its plan to retire 497 megawatts of the San Juan Generating Station coal-fired plant in 2022 after the current coal supply and operating agreements expire, according to a July 1 filing. The company evaluated four…
The California Independent System Operator Corporation launched RC West on July 1, becoming the official reliability coordinator with grid oversight responsibility for 16 balancing authorities and transmission operators in California and one in northern Mexico. The launch marks the first operational phase, with RC West taking over responsibility from Peak Reliability. The grid operator expects…
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on July 2 announced that it is not necessary to impose financial responsibility requirements for the electric power industry to cover the costs associated with the cleanup of hazardous substances released from power plants. The agency said that modern industry practices, along with current state and federal regulations, address risks…
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on July 5 proposed set a blending volume of 20.04 billion gallons for 2020 under the Renewable Fuel Standard, up from the current level of 19.92 billion gallons. The proposal would keep the target for conventional biofuel, mainly corn-based ethanol, at 15 billion gallons. However, proposal drew criticism for failing…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on June 27 turned down a proposal by PJM Interconnection LLC to require demand response to conform to the requirements of supply-side capacity performance resources. The agency found that the changes would improperly charge load-serving entities participating in the grid operator’s price-responsive demand, or PRD, program by not providing a…
The Tennessee Valley Authority on June 28 released its 2019 integrated resource plan, which calls for up to 14 gigawatts of new solar and 5.3 gigawatts of battery storage to meet the electricity needs of the seven-state region through 2038. The utility said that the plan is designed to facilitate a more flexible power generation…
Public Citizen Inc issued a protest to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requesting it release the name of utilities that violated reliability standards, according to June 24 filing with the federal regulator. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which is responsible for enforcing the nation’s cybersecurity and reliability standards for the electric utility industry, issued a…
Democratic Governor Janet Mills signed a measure on June 26 establishing a climate council tasked with developing an action plan to achieve emissions reductions of 45 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050, relative to 1990 levels. Mills also signed a bill that strengthens the state’s renewable portfolio standard to 80 by 2030 and…
The California Public Utilities Commission on June 28 finalized the procurement levels required under the state’s renewable portfolio standard program for years beginning in 2021 that were revised by Senate Bill 100 enacted last year. The law requires 60 percent of electricity retail sales to come from renewable resources by 2030. The agency revised the…
The Nevada Public Utilities Commission announced that net metering credits for grid-exported energy will decrease to 81 percent of the retail electricity rate from 88 percent after customer subscriptions reached the 80-megawatt threshold under the second tier of the program, according to a June 26 press release. New and existing solar capacity on the system…