Virginia lawmakers approved legislation on March 5 that requires the State Corporation Commission to determine the amortization period for the recovery of any costs associated with the early retirement of coal and natural gas generation. The commission is tasked with performing an independent analysis of economic factors pertaining to the operation of each electric utility’s…...
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems on March 10 announced a contract with Utah’s Intermountain Power Agency for the first advanced class gas turbines designed to facilitate the transition of a power plant in central Utah from coal, to natural gas and ultimately to renewable hydrogen fuel. The transition will begin in 2025, with a fuel mix…...
Indiana lawmakers approved legislation on March 10 that requires utilities to provide at least three years advance notice to the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission before retiring a legacy generation resource. A public utility may not retire otherwise transfer the ownership of a reliable capacity resource before May 2021 without receiving regulatory approval. The measure comes…...
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…...
The Bureau of Land Management on Feb. 26 concluded that lifting an Obama-era moratorium on federal coal leasing will not have significant impact on cumulative greenhouse gas emissions compared to waiting for the pause to expire. The move responds to a court decision issued last April, finding that former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s order, which…
The Michigan Public Service Commission on Feb. 20 sent DTE Electric Company back to the drawing board on its long-term resource plan, citing fundamental flaws including lack of competitive bidding for supply-side resource additions. The agency recommended that DTE issue a request for proposals for new generation, and raise the proposed energy efficiency targets. Considering…
The U.S. Energy Department announced funding for cost-shared projects focused on developing the critical components required under its Coal FIRST initiative and transformational coal-fired systems, according to a Feb. 7 news release. The initiative aims to develop modular coal-based power plants built with advanced methods to meet the requirements of the evolving electric grid. The…
Coal-fired electricity generation and coal consumption in New England and New York have fallen to near minimal levels as many of the coal plants in the region have either retired or switched fuels, according to a Feb. 4 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Coal’s share of generation will be less than one percent…
U.S. electricity generation from renewable sources such as wind and solar are projected to surpass nuclear and coal by 2021 and to surpass natural gas in 2045, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook 2020. The share of U.S. electricity generation from renewable sources is projected to double, accounting for 38 percent…
The New Mexico Supreme Court on Jan. 29 ruled that the Public Regulation Commission must apply the Energy Transition Act, or ETA, to the closure and replacement of the San Juan coal-fired plant, granting a petition by New Mexico Governor Lujan Grisham, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, and the legislators who sponsored the act. The…
Climate change and clean energy are figuring more prominently in Pennsylvania, which has been historically associated with coal and nuclear until the shale gas boom. Over the past year, Pennsylvania set the first statewide climate goals, committed to join the regional carbon market, funded solar projects, established alternative ratemaking, and unveiled a roadmap to boost electric vehicle adoption.
About 42 gigawatts of new power generating capacity is expected to come online in 2020, with solar and wind accounting for almost 32 gigawatts of the capacity, according to a Jan. 14 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Wind represents the largest share at 44 percent, followed by solar at 32 percent and natural…