As Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) awareness sweeps boardrooms around the world, procurement managers are forced to examine the business practices and environmental stewardship of their supply chain.
Wildfires have significantly impacted the utility industry in recent years. Utilities in the U.S. West have come under intense scrutiny for failing to implement critical safety measures to prevent wildfires caused by power lines. The types of challenges that utilities face are changing, calling for new methods of reliability, resilience, and response programs to address the risks of power lines igniting a wildfire.
Federal and state regulators are actively pursuing efforts to promote the use of electric vehicles (EVs) and expand investment in charging infrastructure. Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) took a major step to support an equitable transition to EVs by providing grants and loans to retrofit existing automotive manufacturing facilities. Several states, including California, New York, Minnesota and Colorado, have expanded funding and incentives to support EV adoption and charging solutions.
Regulators across the U.S. are advancing grid transformation measures to support the growth in new sources of power generation driven by clean energy commitments. Recent actions include reforms adopted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to address backlogs in the interconnection queue, New York’s grid planning process to identify transmission investments, and Maine’s proceeding examining priorities for utility grid plan filings to assist the transition towards a clean electric grid.
The U.S. offshore wind industry is faced with a host of challenges including opposition over impacts to the environment and coastal economies, escalating costs, and delays despite several projects reaching major milestones.
U.S. carbon markets demonstrated robust participation in recent auctions including Washington’s two consecutive auctions that sold out of carbon permits and raised over $850 million under the state’s cap-and-invest program launched this year. However, carbon-trading programs continue to face opposition in some jurisdictions over concerns of higher ratepayer bills.
The completion of a new reactor at Georgia’s Plant Vogtle is viewed as a significant milestone for the U.S. nuclear industry despite massive cost overruns and years of delays. The lessons learned are expected to inform best practices for new projects even as a host of advanced technologies ranging from small modular reactors to microreactors are being developed. The development comes at a time when focus on decarbonization and energy security has elevated the importance of nuclear power as a critical technology to achieve national and state goals.
Low-carbon fuel programs are gaining prominence as an important avenue to help decarbonize the transportation sector, which accounts for a third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Recent actions range from biofuel mandates under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program to legislative proposals across half a dozen states to establish clean fuel standards.
The deployment of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies is expected to increase in the U.S., driven by federal and state initiatives to meet emissions reduction targets. Supportive policies, including $12 billion in funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 and enhanced tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, are driving carbon capture projects across the U.S. Initiatives to expand carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines to connect to sequestration sites have also gained momentum.
Utility commissions across U.S. states are exploring issues surrounding electric vehicle (EV) charging rates to ensure that rate structures foster effective and equitable use of the power grid for the benefit of all consumers.
Emphasis on energy efficiency and related measures, such as building electrification, have been gaining significance as lawmakers and regulators across the U.S. strive to set policies that spur climate-friendly activity to progress toward a low-carbon economy.
As competitive electric suppliers expand their product and service offerings, state lawmakers and utility commissions across the U.S. continue to explore actions to improve oversight.