The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission on Aug. 15 announced a partial multi-party settlement in Puget Sound Energy’s existing rate increase request, explicitly addressing the company’s Green Direct Program. The agreement is subject to authorization by the three member commission. The program permits commercial and governmental clients to willingly purchase 100 percent of their energy…...
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), passed by the U.S. Congress on Aug. 12, includes a historic $369 billion investment in energy security and climate change programs over the next ten years.
The Supreme Court of Ohio issued a decision upholding the Ohio Power Siting Board’s issuance of a certification of environmental compatibility and public necessity to build the Icebreaker project in Lake Erie. The six-turbine, 20.7 megawatt offshore project would be constructed by the Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation, around 10 miles off the coast of…...
The New York Public Service Commission on Aug. 11 approved compliance filings for five major wind and solar farms in upstate New York. The move allows 517 megawatts worth of renewable energy projects to move forward. These actions are necessary for the projects to begin construction or become operational. In a separate press release, the…...
The California Energy Commission on Aug. 10 adopted a report establishing an offshore wind planning goal of 25 gigawatts by 2045. The report sets an interim planning goal range of 2 to 5 gigawatts by 2030, which could result in sufficient electricity to power 3.75 million initially and 25 million homes by mid-century. The commission…...
The U.S. Energy Department on Aug. 9 released a request for information on a $675 million critical materials research, development, demonstration, and commercialization program. The program, funded by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, aims to advance domestic production and sourcing of critical materials to mitigate vulnerabilities in the domestic supply chain. Several clean…...
The Department of the Interior on Aug. 8 announced that the California-based 457-megawatt Palen photovoltaic solar project has reached its full capacity operation. In 2018, the Bureau of Land Management approved EDF Renewable Energy Inc.’s submission to construct the solar photovoltaic project and a 230-kilovolt generation interconnection transmission line. In December 2020, the first phase…...
In 2020, seven U.S. states experienced the largest declines in their annual energy production in the last six decades, according to an Aug. 8 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This is due to the decrease in economic activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among all the states in the U.S., Wyoming experienced a…...
The U.S. Senate on Aug. 7 approved the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which includes $369 billion for energy security and climate change programs over the next ten years. Among the key climate and clean energy provisions, the bill would expand the investment tax credit for clean energy manufacturers, establish the first hydrogen production tax…...
Grid modernization efforts are increasingly focused on resilience and reliability to protect the system against extreme weather and cyberattacks. Lawmakers and regulators are pursuing reforms to ensure that policies keep pace with the rapidly changing resource mix to facilitate the transformation to a future grid capable of integrating the increasing number of intermittent resources and electric vehicles.
The Virginia State Corporation Commission on Aug. 5 approved Dominion Energy Inc.’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Commercial project, a 2,587-megawatt wind facility 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. The project , the state’s first utility-scale offshore wind facility, will help the utility meet its requirements under the renewable portfolio standards. Regulators also granted…...
The California Public Utilities Commission on Aug. 5 approved a plug-in electric vehicle submetering protocol for Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, PacifiCorp and two smaller utilities. The commission demands the stated utilities implement the submetering protocol for all customers with plug in electric vehicles and customer owned submeters…....
