U.S. President Donald Trump on May 1 issued an executive order prohibiting the acquisition or installation of bulk-power system equipment in which a foreign country has an interest if the transaction raises national security concerns. The move aims to protect the system from foreign adversaries that are increasingly creating and exploiting the vulnerabilities of the…...
The Arkansas Public Service Commission on May 5 approved a settlement agreement, allowing Southwestern Electric Power Co. to acquire up to 810 megawatts of wind energy from three projects in Oklahoma. The company will invest $1.01 billion to own 54.5 percent of a 1,485-megawatt portfolio of wind projects, which it plans to buy with Public…...
Dominion Energy Inc. on May 1 filed its 2020 integrated resource plan with the Virginia State Corporation Commission, reflecting the targets of the Clean Economy Act, which requires the company to produce its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045. Under the proposal, the company proposes to add 6.7 to 18.8 gigawatts of solar over the…...
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc. anticipates summer power demand to peak at 125 gigawatts, with 152 gigawatts of available capacity to meet the need, according to an April 29 news release. The grid operator said that impacts to the outage schedule from COVID-19 have been minor and no reliability impacts are foreseen due to…...
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on April 29 proposed regulations to advance the state’s portion of the 30 percent emissions cap reduction from 2021 to 2030, under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, which established the nation’s first regional program to cap and reduce power sector emissions. Following the program update,…...
Natural gas markets have a tendency to react to regional factors while crude oil markets respond swiftly and most times drastically to world events, according to a April 29 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The correlation of daily price movements across the West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, and Brent are typically above 0.90…....
U.S. petroleum consumption dropped to its lowest level in nearly three decades due to the travel restrictions in place to curb the spread of COVID-19, as well as the economic downturn resulting from the pandemic, according to an April 23 report from the Energy Information Administration. The U.S. demand averaged 14.1 million barrels per day…...
The U.S. Energy Department on April 23 released a report by the Nuclear Fuel Working Group, which outlines a strategy for the U.S. to regain its global leadership in nuclear energy and technology. The report recommends potential actions to enhance the positive attributes of nuclear power, restore the viability of the nuclear-fuel cycle, strengthen U.S…....
New Jersey and Maryland filed a lawsuit with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, challenging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s order directing PJM Interconnection LLC to extend the minimum offer price rule, or MOPR, to state-subsidized resources, according to an April 27 news release. Several states have criticized the move, citing its potential to harm…...
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on April 29 put off a decision on the Public Service Company of New Mexico’s plan for two solar-plus-battery projects to partially replace the generation from the San Juan Generating Station scheduled for retirement by 2022. In a March 27 recommended decision, hearing examiners suggested that the commission approve…...
The New England grid operator has proposed a long-term, market-based solution to the region’s energy security problem as the power generation fleet moves towards a mix of energy-limited resources. With the retirement of resources with stored fuel, the system is increasingly reliant on facilities that run on just-in-time natural gas deliveries and weather-dependent wind and solar energy. To address the ensuing challenge, the grid operator proposes to improve the current market structure by creating incentives for the region’s fleet to invest in the energy supply arrangements and technologies on which the region depends.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Board of Public Utilities, and Economic Development Authority on April 17 released a three-year plan to invest the proceeds from the carbon auctions held under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI. The state plans to invest an estimated $80 million each year in clean energy and climate…
