The New York Public Service Commission completed a draft environmental review analysing the potential impacts associated with the procurement of up to 1.8 gigawatts of additional offshore wind generation in the near term, according to a Feb. 6 notice. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority on Jan. 28 asked the commission to…
The Maryland Public Service Commission approved a process allowing an electric or natural gas utility to propose a multi-year rate plan, an alternative rate-setting process that would extend utilities’ approved rates for up to three years, according to a Feb. 4 news release. The order establishes a framework for the first utility that requests for…
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission granted a permit allowing Lookout Solar LLC to construct a 110-megawatt solar generation facility in Oglala Lakota County, according to a Feb. 4 news release. The $100 million facility, spanning an area of about 810 acres on the pine Ridge Reservation, is expected to reach completion in the second…
The U.S. Energy Department will invest $125.5 million to advance research and development of solar technologies that lower costs, increase the competitiveness of manufacturing and businesses, and support grid reliability, according to a Feb. 5 news release. The agency will also spend $43.8 million to support geothermal technologies. The funding opportunities will be made available…
The ISO New England Inc.’s annual forward capacity auction closed at a clearing price of $2.00 per kilowatt-month, the lowest in the auction’s history, according to a Feb. 5 news release. The closing price was about 47 percent lower than the last year’s auction, which valued capacity at $3.80 per kilowatt-month. The primary auction received…
Hydropower is moving to the forefront of clean energy and climate policy debates as a growing number of U.S. states are setting targets to achieve zero-carbon power. About half a dozen state-level laws were enacted last year to establish 100 percent clean energy transition, showing how the nation’s decade-long renewable push is ramping up. Hydroelectricity…
New Jersey is making strides to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. Among recent actions, the state released a comprehensive plan for economy-wide decarbonization, enacted a law to boost electric vehicle use targeting 2 million EVs on the road by 2035, and doubled the offshore wind power goal to 7.5 gigawatts by 2035.
U.S. electricity generation from renewable sources such as wind and solar are projected to surpass nuclear and coal by 2021 and to surpass natural gas in 2045, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook 2020. The share of U.S. electricity generation from renewable sources is projected to double, accounting for 38 percent…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on Jan. 24 vacated three orders issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2017 granting extensions of small refinery exemptions under the Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, program. The court ruled that the agency cannot allow extensions of exemptions that had lapsed, noting that none of…
The New Mexico Supreme Court on Jan. 29 ruled that the Public Regulation Commission must apply the Energy Transition Act, or ETA, to the closure and replacement of the San Juan coal-fired plant, granting a petition by New Mexico Governor Lujan Grisham, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, and the legislators who sponsored the act. The…
Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company on Jan. 23 asked the Kentucky Public Service Commission to approve a 20-year contract with Rhudes Creek Solar LLC, to purchase the output of a 100-megawatt solar generation facility to be built in Hardin County, Kentucky. The project is expected to come online by the end…
Southwestern Electric Power Co. reached an agreement with the Arkansas Public Service Commission’s staff, the Office of Arkansas Attorney General, and Walmart Inc. to acquire 810 megawatts of wind energy from three projects in Oklahoma, according to a Jan. 24 filing. SWEPCO will own 54.5 percent of a 1,485-megawatt portfolio of wind projects, which it…