Democratic Governor Ralph Northam on April 11 signed into law the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which sets the state on the path to carbon-free power by 2050. The law replaces the voluntary renewable energy portfolio program with a mandatory standard, and paves the way for an enormous expansion of wind and solar power, and energy…...
The Michigan Public Service Commission on April 15 approved DTE Electric Co.’s revised integrated resource plan, which incorporates changes to address the shortcomings that the agency identified in the original plan. The company revised the rate impact analysis to reflect the selection of a single pathway instead of four possible scenarios and removed unapproved supply-side…...
The U.S. electric power sector will add 19.4 gigawatts of wind capacity and 12.6 gigawatts of utility-scale solar capacity in 2020, according to the Energy Information Administration’s Short-Term Energy Outlook issued on April 7. These annual wind and solar capacity additions are 5 percent and 10 percent lower, respectively, compared to the previous report. Renewable…...
Democratic Governor Ralph Northam on April 6 signed legislation that requires utilities seeking to recover the cost of a natural gas capacity contract to prove that they need the fuel capacity to maintain reliable service and that it is the lowest-cost available option. The law requires utilities to first demonstrate that they cannot maintain reliable…...
Xcel Energy Inc. will sell the Mankato Energy Center, a 760-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant, to Denver-based Southwest Generation, according to an April 6 filing with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. Xcel purchased the facility from Southern Power for $650 million in January through a non-regulated affiliate after Minnesota regulators rejected the company’s earlier proposal…...
The U.S. Energy Department plans to announce a funding opportunity for energy storage technologies that can improve the performance, reliability, and flexibility of fossil-fueled power generating facilities, according to an April 7 news release. The department expects co-location of energy storage with fossil energy assets to enable multiple benefits, including more reliable and affordable energy supply,…...
The District of Columbia Public Service Commission approved a pilot program to procure renewable energy through a long-term power purchase contract to supply five percent of the district’s standard offer service, or SOS, procurement portfolio, according to an April 8 press release. The commission directed Potomac Electric Power Company, which administers the SOS program, to…
The New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment on April 9 denied petitions seeking rehearing of the agency’s December 2019 decision permitting Bluestone Wind LLC to construct a 124-megawatt wind energy project in Broome County. Petitioners challenged the factual and legal findings of the board with regard to the project’s impact…
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission on April 10 approved a proposal by Puget Sound Energy to use $11 million of the previous years’ unspent funds from the company’s Home Energy Lifeline Program to aid customers in need without affecting current programs or increasing rates. The agency also approved temporary changes to Avista Corporation’s Low-Income…
The Illinois Commerce Commission ended a three-year investigation into the possible adoption of a process that would allow non-retail electric suppliers to access the energy usage data of customers, according to an April 2 news release. While acknowledging the potential benefits of data sharing via grid modernization, the commission pointed to concerns that the proposal…
New York lawmakers passed legislation as part of the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 state budget to establish an Office of Renewable Energy Permitting, which will create a siting process specifically designed for renewable energy projects, according to an April 3 announcement from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. The office, the first of…
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on April 6 ordered the closure of the Solar Renewable Energy Certificate, or SREC, program effective April 30, declaring that the state has attained the milestone set by the 2018 Clean Energy Act to phase out the program. The law directed the board to close the program when…