The California Independent System Operator Corp. proposed amendments to broaden options for energy storage and customer-sited generation to earn revenue in wholesale power markets, according to an Aug. 20 filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, as the grid manager looks to break down barriers for the emerging technology. The proposal would add three new…
A 40-year-old U.S. statute designed to encourage energy diversity and conservation helped drive 2 gigawatts of solar capacity in 2017, representing just under half of all new utility-scale solar projects added to the grid that year, according to a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Over the last decade the federal mandate, called the…
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Aug. 16 dismissed a lawsuit by renewable advocates against a rule that cuts credits for solar power exported to the grid, finding that the challenges need to be brought to the lower Superior Court. Solar and environmental advocates, led by the Conservation Law Foundation, sought to overturn the rule,…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Aug. 15 accepted proposals by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc. to clarify that energy storage batteries are eligible to provide up and down ramping service, if technically capable. The measure is part of a broader push to open up markets to the emerging technology. FERC also affirmed MISO’s…
Gateway Energy Storage LLC, a unit of LS Power Development LLC, seeks an order from federal regulators directing San Diego Gas & Electric Co. to provide transmission and grid-connections services to deliver the output of its battery storage system onto the California grid. The commission’s consent is needed to preserve the status of San Diego…
The U.S. Energy Department will award funds to over two dozen projects aimed at tackling key technical challenges and to boost efficiency and lower costs of the technology, according to the agency’s Aug. 14 press release. With lower costs, hydrogen power holds the promise for use in energy storage, fueling large turbines at power plants,…
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican, signed legislation on Aug. 9 that strengthens the state’s renewable portfolio standard by requiring a 2 percent boost in procurement of the supplies each year from 2020 to 2029, up from the current 1 percent annual increase. The current goal requires 15 percent by 2020, followed by a one…
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican, signed legislation on Aug. 9 that strengthens the state’s renewable portfolio standard by requiring a 2 percent boost in procurement of the supplies each year from 2020 to 2029, up from the current 1 percent annual increase. The current goal requires 15 percent by 2020, followed by a one…
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management found that First Solar Development LLC’s 450-megawatt Desert Quartzite Solar Project in eastern Riverside County, California, will result in temporary exceedances of air quality standards, temporary visual qualify impacts from dust, and potential groundwater contamination from releases of fuels and other materials, according to a draft environmental review from…
Solar photovoltaic cells were the second-most popular technology installed in 2016, after wind turbines, as average construction costs of the projects have dropped to $2,436 per kilowatt, a 34 percent fall from $3,705 per kilowatt in 2013, according to an Aug. 8 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The agency said that crystalline silicon…
