The New York Public Service Commission approved a plan by Consolidated Edison Company to electrify New York school buses and use the vehicles as energy storage batteries to help meet swings in power demand on the grid. The agency said that the demonstration project will help the utility gain experience in managing distribution-level resources, which…
New York electric utilities proposed a joint tariff providing four options to compensate projects pairing clean energy and storage to ensure that the “value stack” pricing components are available only when it is clear that energy exported to the distribution system originates from the eligible generating equipment, according to a June 19 filing with the…
The smart grid evolution has unleashed opportunities for electric vehicles thanks to technologies that allow them to feed power back into the grid. Utilities and grid regulators are eyeing plug-ins as a flexible resource class helping address the intermittency of renewables and reduce peak power demand.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission on Oct. 2 authorized Minnesota Power’s agreement with Cypress Creek Renewables LLC to procure energy and capacity from the 10-megawatt Blanchard Solar LLC generation facility for a 25-year term. The state’s solar energy standard requires 1.5 percent of utilities’ retail sales to come from solar resources by 2020. Minnesota Power’s…
The dramatic fall in renewables costs have enticed several utilities to look at large-scale investments and also attracted a large number of independent developers seeking to qualify their projects for must-buy obligations under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA). Utilities have complained about having to overpay qualifying facilities and buy electricity even when they don’t need it. The must-buy requirements are also interfering with the utilities’ own plans of developing renewable plants, intensifying the pushback against PURPA.
Consolidated Edison Company wants to electrify school buses across the New York area under a plan to have the fleet of vehicles double as energy storage batteries capable of helping the utility meet swings in power demand on its grid. The 8,000-odd school buses operating in Westchester County and New York City, if electrified, could…
A unit of National Grid plc filed a plan to invest in renewable generation, electric vehicle infrastructure and energy storage, as well as hike rates to cover the cost of the initiatives, as the utility looks to adapt its system to emerging technologies and cut emissions of greenhouse gases. To pay for the program, National…
The California Public Utilities Commission authorized San Diego Gas & Electric Company to recover the entire costs for its procurement of 83.5 megawatts of energy storage and 4.5 megawatts of demand response, as the utility scrambles to lock in supplies after the closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, according to a June 7…
Public Service Company of Colorado, a unit of Xcel Energy Inc., filed its Colorado Energy Plan, a blueprint for the utility to source over half of its electricity supply from renewables and cut carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2026. The plan, filed June 6 with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, directs the company to…
U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat representing Colorado, introduced legislation on June 5 that would provide $5 billion in financing under the U.S. Agriculture Department’s rural utility service program for cybersecurity and grid security enhancements. A second bill would include energy storage under the department’s Rural Energy for America Program, providing financial support for agricultural…
