Wind generation represented 32 percent of total U.S. energy capacity growth last year, according to an Aug. 16 news release from the U.S. Energy Department. The sector employs 120,000 people and currently supplies adequate energy to power about 40 million households. The agency issued three reports discussing the onshore utility-scale, offshore utility-scale, and distributed wind…...
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 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…...
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…....
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator board approved a $2.23 billion investment for new transmission lines which are completely or partially in Minnesota, according to an Aug. 2 press release from the Minnesota Commerce Department. The investments are expected to advance and expand the electric grid to ensure reliability during the state’s transition to clean energy…....
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) and the State Department of Commerce (DOC) on Aug. 1 adopted new rules for electric utilities, marking an important step forward in the state’s transition to a clean energy future. The rule addresses various key aspects of the 2019 Clean Energy Transformation Act, or CETA, including the requirement…...
The growth in power generation from small-scale, customer-sited solar installations is altering the hourly pattern of metered electricity demand in New England during spring – March to May, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Since 2016, New England has added 3.8 gigawatts to its grid, with small-scale solar accounting for 60 percent of that…...
U.S. utility-scale battery capacity grew by 229 percent between 2020 and 2021, reaching 4.6 gigawatts, according to a July 27 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Battery power capacity more than tripled during 2021, with more than 93 percent of the installations co-located with solar power plants. U.S. Utility Battery System Application: To better…...