The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on March 6 issued its final environmental review for the Alaska LNG project, a $40-$45 billion, 800-mile pipeline and liquefied natural gas export facility expected to be the largest in the U.S. The project is being developed by Alaska Gasline Development Corp. in partnership with BP and ExxonMobil. The commission…...
Democratic Governor Kate Brown signed an executive order on March 10, setting a goal for the state to achieve 45 percent emissions reductions by 2035 and 80 percent by 2050, relative to 1990 levels. The order, which comes after the legislature failed to pass a cap-and-trade bill for the second year in a row, directs…...
The Michigan Public Service Commission on March 5 approved settlements expanding energy efficiency programs for low-income customers of Consumers Energy Co. and DTE Energy. The energy waste reduction, or EWR, program, which includes efforts to cut waste, improve efficiency, and lower energy use, have saved 1.5 million megawatt hours of electricity and 5 million cubic…...
The final version of Virginia’s Clean Economy Act cleared the state’s House of Delegates and Senate on March 7, and now awaits Democratic Governor Ralph Northam’s signature. The legislation codifies the 2050 clean energy goal that Governor Northam laid out in an executive order issued last September. The bill calls for more wind and solar…...
Democratic Governor Phil Murphy on Feb. 28 announced the state’s offshore wind procurement schedule, which calls for the next 1.2-gigawatt solicitation to be opened by September, with an award made by the second quarter of 2021. The plan calls for four more rounds in 2022, 2024, 2026 and 2028 to achieve the state’s 7.5-gigawatt offshore…
U.S. natural gas consumption rose by 3 percent last year, reaching a record of 85 billion cubic feet per day, according to a March 3 report from the Energy Information Administration. The agency attributed the increase to new gas-fired electric capacity and lower natural gas prices. In 2019, the electric power sector accounted for 36…...
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Feb. 27 announced the passage of a new energy code that establishes additional energy efficiency requirements that are specific to the city and its unique urban environment. The code is part of the city’s Green New Deal, a bold plan announced last April to combat climate change…....
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. expects more than 82,400 megawatts of resource capacity to be available to meet the projected peak demand of 76,696 megawatts for the upcoming summer season from June through September, according to a March 5 announcement. The preliminary summer assessment anticipates record electric use this summer, with grid operations…
Democratic Governor Michelle Grisham signed a suite of bills on March 3 including legislation that reinstates the solar tax incentive that expired in 2016, helping the state move toward its goal achieving 50 percent renewable energy 2030. A second bill provides that transmission line projects qualify for industrial revenue bonds available through cities and municipalities,…...
The U.S. Energy Department on Feb. 28 issued a notice of sale of crude oil from three Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, sites – Bryan Mound and Big Hill in Texas, and West Hackberry in Louisiana. In fiscal year 2020, the Energy Secretary is authorized to sell up to $450 million worth of oil from…...
The Michigan Public Service Commission authorized rate increases totaling $417.5 million in five electric and natural gas rate cases last year, $245.5 million less than what the utilities requested, according to the agency’s annual report issued on March 2. The increases were driven largely by investments needed to replace aging infrastructure to improve safety and…
The Florida Power & Light Company received approval to launch the nation’s largest community solar program called SolarTogether, according to a March 3 news release. Under the program, the utility will install 1,490 megawatts of solar at 20 new facilities across its service territory by mid-2021. The initiative is projected to yield long-term savings of…