The Maryland General Assembly approved a bill on April 8 that would raise the state’s renewable portfolio standard to 50 percent by 2030 from 25 percent by 2020. The measure would require a study to create a comprehensive plan to achieve a 100 percent goal by 2040. The legislation adds to the growing list of state-level…...
Rep. Michael Doyle, a Democrat representing Pennsylvania, introduced legislation on April 4 that would expand the solar investment tax credit to include energy storage technology for utilities, businesses, and homes. The current tax code provides the credit for battery technologies paired with a solar installations. (H.R.2096) More than 100 House Democrats, led by Congresswoman Haley…...
New Mexico’s Democratic Governor Michelle Grisham has signed legislation on April 3, which amends the 2005 Efficient Use of Energy Act, creating better incentives for utilities to engage in energy efficiency and conservation by removing the economic incentive to sell more energy. The Efficient Use of Energy Act of 2005 allows electric and natural gas utilities to implement cost-effective energy…
U.S. President Donald Trump on March 29 issued a new presidential permit for the long-delayed Keystone Xl oil pipeline, replacing the one granted in March 2017. The move provoked a backlash from conservation groups, which called it an effort to bypass federal environmental laws. The action comes after a court blocked the project in November…
The U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska on March 29 overturned President Donald Trump’s executive order issued in 2017 to undo a ban on oil and gas drilling in most of the Arctic Ocean. The court ruled that only Congress has the authority to revoke the ban imposed by former President Obama in…...
National Grid plc, Unitil Corp., and Eversource Energy put forth revised performance metrics that they propose to use for evaluating the progress under their individual grid modernization plans, as well as the statewide goals of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, according to an April 3 filing. Last May, the department approved the companies’ grid modernization plans,…...
Both chambers of the Maryland legislature passed two bills on March 29, which seek to expand community solar and incentivize energy storage pilot programs in the state. House Bill 650 was proposed by Democratic Delegate Marc Korman on February 6 and requires the Public Service Commission to establish an energy storage pilot program by June 1. The pilot projects…
Utah Governor Gary Herbert, a Republican, signed the Community Renewable Energy Act, which will assist communities in achieving 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, setting up a framework between them and Utah’s largest electricity provider, Rocky Mountain Power Inc. House Bill 411 was introduced on February 26 by Republican Representative Steve Handy and allows municipalities or counties to apply for 100…
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission issued a secretarial letter on April 3 to all electric and natural gas suppliers in the state reminding them of sales and marketing guidelines for the state’s residential energy market. The letter follows the imposition of civil penalties and remedial action against multiple electric generation suppliers for violating rules that govern door-to-door…
PJM Interconnection LLC is joining forces with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory to study the integration of distributed energy resources, such as rooftop solar, into the operator’s grid, according to an April 2 press release. The Argonne laboratory will be supporting PJM’s Distributed Energy Resource Ride-Through Task Force in developing guidelines for so-called “ride through” and…
The Florida Public Service Commission approved cost recovery for two of Duke Energy Florida LLC’s solar projects, totaling about 150 megawatts of capacity, according to an April 2 press release. The two projects, located in the northern part of the state, are the 74.9-megawatt Hamilton Solar farm and the 74.9-megawatt Columbia Solar farm. Hamilton was originally developed by Tradewind…
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission is taking comments on a proposal by Idaho Power for a uniform increase to all base rates of 0.11 percent in order to finance the retirement of the North Valmy generating station, a two-unit coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 522 megawatts. The utility’s proposal calls for additional retirement costs to be…