The New York Public Service Commission on April 23 authorized the State Energy Research and Development Authority to issue a solicitation for 1 gigawatt or more of offshore wind capacity in 2020, in order to maintain the state’s trajectory in meeting its clean energy goals. The authorization allows the flexibility to evaluate a range of…...
The Illinois Commerce Commission on April 21 opened a proceeding to establish a method for calculating the rebate values for distributed generation within Ameren Illinois Company’ service territory. The Future Energy Jobs Act, which took effect in 2017, directed the commission to start such a process when the total generating capacity of net metering customers…...
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on April 16 largely rejected requests to reconsider its December 2019 order that directed PJM Interconnection LLC to extend the minimum offer price, or MOPR, to state-subsidized resources attempting to enter the capacity market. The agency also denied rehearing of its June 2018 order which found that state subsidies distort…...
The Michigan Public Service Commission on April 15 granted Consumers Energy Co.’s request for approval of 31 power purchase agreements for 394 megawatts of solar power. The contracts stem from September 2019 settlement between Consumers Energy and numerous developers of proposed solar projects in the company’s interconnection queue, resolving issues under the Public Utility Regulatory…...
Democratic Governor Ralph Northam on April 11 signed into law the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which sets the state on the path to carbon-free power by 2050. The law replaces the voluntary renewable energy portfolio program with a mandatory standard, and paves the way for an enormous expansion of wind and solar power, and energy…...
The Michigan Public Service Commission on April 15 approved DTE Electric Co.’s revised integrated resource plan, which incorporates changes to address the shortcomings that the agency identified in the original plan. The company revised the rate impact analysis to reflect the selection of a single pathway instead of four possible scenarios and removed unapproved supply-side…...
The U.S. electric power sector will add 19.4 gigawatts of wind capacity and 12.6 gigawatts of utility-scale solar capacity in 2020, according to the Energy Information Administration’s Short-Term Energy Outlook issued on April 7. These annual wind and solar capacity additions are 5 percent and 10 percent lower, respectively, compared to the previous report. Renewable…...
The District of Columbia Public Service Commission approved a pilot program to procure renewable energy through a long-term power purchase contract to supply five percent of the district’s standard offer service, or SOS, procurement portfolio, according to an April 8 press release. The commission directed Potomac Electric Power Company, which administers the SOS program, to…
The New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment on April 9 denied petitions seeking rehearing of the agency’s December 2019 decision permitting Bluestone Wind LLC to construct a 124-megawatt wind energy project in Broome County. Petitioners challenged the factual and legal findings of the board with regard to the project’s impact…
New York lawmakers passed legislation as part of the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 state budget to establish an Office of Renewable Energy Permitting, which will create a siting process specifically designed for renewable energy projects, according to an April 3 announcement from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. The office, the first of…
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on April 6 ordered the closure of the Solar Renewable Energy Certificate, or SREC, program effective April 30, declaring that the state has attained the milestone set by the 2018 Clean Energy Act to phase out the program. The law directed the board to close the program when…
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities issued a report on March 31, forecasting that 5.1 percent of electricity sold in the state will be supplied by qualified solar generation facilities around or before May 2020. The forecast for the attainment of 5.1 percent, the threshold set by legislation enacted in 2018 to phase out…