Democratic Governor Phil Murphy on Jan. 27 released a comprehensive plan, outlining strategies to reach the administration’s goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2050 and achieve the target of 80 percent emissions reduction from 2006 levels set by the Global Warming Response Act enacted last year. To support the strategies, Murphy signed an executive…
The U.S. Energy Department will provide funding to advance sustainable transportation resources and technologies, with a focus on spurring further innovation in advanced batteries, innovative hydrogen concepts, and biofuels. The funding opportunity will be issued on behalf of the agency’s three transportation offices – Vehicle, Fuel Cells, and Bioenergy Technology Offices. The investment aims to…
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on Jan. 22 proposed a framework to administer energy efficiency and peak demand reduction programs following a 2018 law that established annual energy use reductions of at least 2 percent for electric utilities and 0.75 percent for gas utilities. The Clean Energy Act of 2018 directed the board…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accepted Daybreak Power Inc.’s application for a preliminary permit for its proposed 2,200 megawatt Navajo Energy Storage Station, Arizona, according to a Jan. 14 notice. The estimated $3.6 billion pumped storage hydro project would utilize transmission infrastructure that was previously used by the retired Navajo Generating Station coal plant. The…
The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management will offer 25 parcels of land, totaling about 32,700 acres located on Uintah County, at the March quarterly oil and gas lease sale, according to a Jan. 23 news release. The bureau will hold the lease sale online on March 10. The agency will conduct an additional…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved two reliability standards developed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation to enhance transmission planning and cybersecurity, according to a Jan. 23 news release. The commission also accepted NERC’s performance assessment, endorsing the continued work of the corporation, now in its 13th year as the Electric Reliability Organization. In…
Republican lawmakers introduced legislation on Jan. 16 that would allow all hydroelectric generating facilities in operation as of Jan. 1, 2021, and nuclear power plants to qualify for California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard program. The legislation would also suspend the renewable power mandates, and direct the savings from the temporary pause to investor-owned utilities’ infrastructure investments to…
The Michigan Public Service Commission authorized a settlement agreement, allowing Indiana Michigan Power Co. to raise electric rates by $36.4 million per year, about 38 percent lower than the utility’s request, according to a Jan. 23 news release. The new rates, which take effect on Feb. 1, will increase monthly residential bills by about 15…
Net U.S. natural gas exports more than doubled in 2019, compared with 2018, and are projected to almost double again by 2021 from 2019 levels, according to a Jan. 23 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Growth in net exports is largely driven by increases in liquefied natural gas shipments and pipeline exports to…
The U.S. Interior Department issued a decision allowing the Bureau of Land Management to offer a right-of-way grant for TC Energy to construct the Keystone XL pipeline across 44 miles of federal lands in Montana, according to a Jan. 22 news release. The decision brings the $8 billion project a step closer to construction despite pending…
Virginia Delegates Mark Keam, a Democrat, and Lee Ware, a Republican, introduced legislation on Jan. 17 that would enable customers to purchase electricity from the retail provider of their choice, ending monopoly control over the state’s energy system. The bill would require each incumbent investor-owned utility, electric cooperative, and municipal electric authority to separate its…
The Maryland Public Service Commission requested rehearing of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s order issued last December to revamp PJM Interconnection LLC’s capacity market rules, according to a Jan. 21 news release. The ruling would expand the minimum offer price rule, or MOPR, to new or existing resources entitled to state subsidies, with certain exemptions.…
