The Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission on Aug. 24 approved a settlement cutting National Grid plc’s one‐year base rate request by 75 percent and lowering the company’s allowed return‐on‐equity to 9.275 percent from the current 9.5 percent. The agreement slashes the company’s originally requested revenue hike by about $54 million and refunds all the benefits…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Aug. 23 rejected Southern California Edison Company’s proposal to curtail electricity delivery for customers with energy storage devices before considering other retail and wholesale users, in order to maintain system reliability during periods of high demand. The commission said it would be unduly discriminatory to treat storage customers differently…
Public Service Company of New Mexico filed a request to join the Western Energy Imbalance Market on Aug. 22, noting that a transition to the system’s more flexible supply resources could see benefits soar to $21 million by 2024. Public Service Company of New Mexico said that it seeks to use the imbalance market’s intra-hour…
The North Carolina Utilities Commission on Aug. 21 authorized a permit for Recurrent Energy LLC’s 75-megawatt solar facility in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. The project, expected to come online this year, has a 10-year power purchase agreement with Duke Energy Carolinas LLC. In May, Recurrent announced it has closed $106.7 million in financing for the…
The New England grid operator has identified fuel security as the most pressing issue affecting regional reliability and energy affordability. Growing dependence on natural gas for power generation has been a concern, particularly during winter when natural gas is largely used for heating. The retirement of nuclear, coal, and oil powered plants has pushed the region to rely on costly, carbon-intensive oil-fired units to meet peak demand.
The California Independent System Operator Corp. proposed amendments to broaden options for energy storage and customer-sited generation to earn revenue in wholesale power markets, according to an Aug. 20 filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, as the grid manager looks to break down barriers for the emerging technology. The proposal would add three new…
A 40-year-old U.S. statute designed to encourage energy diversity and conservation helped drive 2 gigawatts of solar capacity in 2017, representing just under half of all new utility-scale solar projects added to the grid that year, according to a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Over the last decade the federal mandate, called the…
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Aug. 16 dismissed a lawsuit by renewable advocates against a rule that cuts credits for solar power exported to the grid, finding that the challenges need to be brought to the lower Superior Court. Solar and environmental advocates, led by the Conservation Law Foundation, sought to overturn the rule,…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Aug. 15 accepted proposals by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc. to clarify that energy storage batteries are eligible to provide up and down ramping service, if technically capable. The measure is part of a broader push to open up markets to the emerging technology. FERC also affirmed MISO’s…
Gateway Energy Storage LLC, a unit of LS Power Development LLC, seeks an order from federal regulators directing San Diego Gas & Electric Co. to provide transmission and grid-connections services to deliver the output of its battery storage system onto the California grid. The commission’s consent is needed to preserve the status of San Diego…
The U.S. Energy Department will award funds to over two dozen projects aimed at tackling key technical challenges and to boost efficiency and lower costs of the technology, according to the agency’s Aug. 14 press release. With lower costs, hydrogen power holds the promise for use in energy storage, fueling large turbines at power plants,…
