The Washington legislature on April 24 passed legislation aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by implementing an economy-wide cap-and-invest system. Upon enactment, Washington will become the second state – next to California – to have a comprehensive carbon-pricing program. The state would auction carbon allowances starting in 2023, aligned with the 2030, 2040, and 2050…...
Texas state lawmakers are exploring solutions to address the issues faced during and after the mid-February winter storm event that caused widespread outages across the state. California, which faced a similar predicament due to an unprecedented heatwave in August 2020, albeit smaller in scale and severity, has advanced measures to ensure reliability this summer.
U.S. President Joe Biden on April 22 announced a new target for the U.S. to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent in 2030 relative to 2005 levels. In January, Biden took action to recommit the U.S. to the Paris Climate Agreement, as part of a series of executive actions reflecting his energy agenda…...
Utility resource planning continues to evolve as state regulators take a holistic approach to evaluate the energy delivery process and strive to provide more transparency in the planning process. Carbon reduction is becoming a key component of integrated resource plans (IRPs) amid the influx of distributed energy resources and new renewable generation under various state programs. IRPs provide an evaluation of utilities’ future electricity needs and potential means to meet the requirements.
The Ohio legislature on March 25 passed a bill to repeal the provisions of a 2019 law that provided FirstEnergy Solutions Corp., which is now known as Energy Harbor Corp., with annual subsidies of nearly $150 million over seven years to keep its ailing nuclear plants operating. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, is expected…...
As the Biden administration takes action to address climate change through federal policies including rejoining the Paris Agreement and increasing the social cost of carbon, states continue to strengthen existing carbon pricing programs and advance new initiatives. State-level activity on emission-trading programs and carbon pricing is expected to remain on the rise as more jurisdictions embrace policy goals to transition to a lower-carbon power system and economy.
The fallout from severe arctic weather during February has prompted regulators from Texas to Montana to examine utility infrastructure, preparedness and response, and impacts to customers. Texas, which experienced the worst power outages resulting from Winter Storm Uri, has issued multiple orders and initiated investigations to address the impacts of the grid event. Following announcements of an inquiry into the grid event and the possibility of market violations, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is now set to examine the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events on electric system reliability. Regulators across several U.S. states are investigating the after-effects of the storm to mitigate bill impacts to customers while exploring cost-recovery for utilities which faced extraordinary expenses as natural gas prices soared to unprecedented levels.
The widespread power outages across Texas during the extreme winter weather conditions brought about by a polar vortex in mid-February has raised questions about the reliability of the power grid operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. (ERCOT). The grid operator, which manages about 90 percent of the state’s electric load, reported that 48.6 percent of generation was forced out at the highest point due to the winter storm.
The Electricity Reliability Council of Texas Inc. (ERCOT) Board of Directors on Feb. 24 convened for an emergency meeting to discuss and analyze the issues that led to grid infrastructure failures across Texas from Feb. 12 onwards. These outages were prompted by the presence of a polar vortex which brought about severely cold weather conditions…...
EnerKnol is committed to providing real-time transparency of the fragmented and highly technical landscape of energy regulation. With this as our guiding principle we are examining our database of over 35,000,000 regulatory records for insights into last week's Texas outages.
Innovations in energy planning continue to emerge as state regulators devise programs and explore solutions that effectively meet customer needs and support policy goals. Recent state initiatives range from New York’s efforts to align gas planning with climate goals, to Maine’s investigation into the future design of the grid to accommodate growing renewables, and California’s transmission planning guidance to achieve ambitious decarbonization goals.
EnerKnol is committed to providing real-time transparency of the fragmented and highly technical landscape of energy regulation. With this as our guiding principle we are examining our database of over 35,000,000 regulatory records for insights into last week's Texas outages.