The New Mexico House of Representatives passed the Energy Transition Act on Tuesday afternoon, which orders the state to source all of its power from carbon-free supplies by 2045. The bill passed the Democratic-controlled state legislature with 32-9 votes in the Senate and 43-22 in the House. Democratic governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham is expected to sign it into…
The Arizona Public Service Company is set to install 850 megawatts of energy storage and at least 100 megawatts of new solar by 2025, according to a Feb. 21 press release. The first part of the new plan is upgrading existing solar plants with 200 megawatts of battery storage systems. The utility is partnering with…
Dominion Energy Inc. has bumped up the estimated cost of its 604-mile natural gas pipeline from $6 to about $7 billion, adding that it also expects the project to be delayed until early 2021 following permitting issues. Thomas Farrell, Chief Executive Office, said in a Feb. 1 press release that the company is “actively pursuing multiple paths to…
The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities issued an order on Feb. 1 clarifying ownership of capacity and energy rights of facilities under net metering and Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target, or SMART, programs participating in the ISO New England Inc.’s forward capacity market. The order allows owners of storage-paired facilities to retain their energy or capacity…...
Hydro One Ltd. and Avista Corp. have decided to terminate plans to merge after regulators in Washington and Idaho refused to approve the deal, according to a Jan. 23 press release. After weighing the chances of getting those decisions reversed, both companies have decided to kill the plan, with Hydro One having to pay Avista a $103 million termination…
Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo on Jan. 17 announced new goals as part of the state’s “Green New Deal” to achieve 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040. The initiative, outlined in Cuomo’s 2019 policy agenda, calls for an offshore wind target of 9 gigawatts by 2035, up from 2.4 gigawatts by 2030, adding to the combined…...
The Hawaiian Electric Companies submitted power purchase agreements for seven grid-scale, solar-plus-storage projects to the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, according to a Jan. 3 press release. The projects total 262 megawatts of solar and 1,024 megawatt-hours of energy storage, with contract prices ranging from $0.08 to $0.12 per kilowatt-hour. The utilities said that the contracts…...
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc. on Dec. 3 proposed revisions to facilitate deeper integration of energy storage resources across its region. The grid operator proposed a new electric storage resource category providing unique modeling, offer parameters, operating limitations, and settlement provisions that recognize the characteristics of energy storage resources. MISO said that the filing…
The New York Public Service Commission on Dec. 13 set an energy storage target of 3,000 megawatts by 2030 pursuant to legislation enacted last year, with an interim goal of 1,500 megawatt by 2025. The new storage target is the most ambitious nationwide compared to California’s goal of 1,300 megawatts by 2020 and New Jersey’s recently adopted target of…
The United Nations twenty-fourth annual climate conference concluded on Dec. 15, following a week of intense discussions culminating in the adoption of rules for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, which aims to prevent the worst impacts of climate change by keeping global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius. The deal establishes uniform standards that will be used by…
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management auctioned three leases off Massachusetts’ coast earmarked for the development of offshore wind farms, reaping a record-breaking $405-million, according to a Dec. 14 press release. The bureau sold commercial wind energy leases comprising nearly 390,000 acres, which are expected to support about 4.1 gigawatts of power. Out of 11 bidders,…
The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, in a Dec. 12 decision, found that the state’s local distribution companies took a prudent approach to managing their gas supply portfolio during the 2013 to 2016 winter seasons and properly met their “supplier-of-last-resort” or SOLR obligations. The agency analyzed data for the peak demand days from the three…