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…
The Southwest Power Pool Inc.’s Board of Directors approved the grid operator’s 2020 transmission expansion plan report, a comprehensive listing of transmission projects in the region for the 20-year planning horizon, according to a Jan. 28 news release. The plan includes 78 projects to be constructed over the next six years in eight states at…
The District of Columbia Public Service Commission issued an order outlining the initial steps to achieve the vision of Power Path DC, which was launched last August to advance the next phase of the agency’s grid modernization efforts, according to a Jan. 29 news release. The order approves a set of recommendations from the PowerPath…
Democratic Governor Phil Murphy on Jan. 27 released a comprehensive plan, outlining strategies to reach the administration’s goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2050 and achieve the target of 80 percent emissions reduction from 2006 levels set by the Global Warming Response Act enacted last year. To support the strategies, Murphy signed an executive…
Republican lawmakers introduced legislation on Jan. 16 that would allow all hydroelectric generating facilities in operation as of Jan. 1, 2021, and nuclear power plants to qualify for California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard program. The legislation would also suspend the renewable power mandates, and direct the savings from the temporary pause to investor-owned utilities’ infrastructure investments to…
Virginia Delegates Mark Keam, a Democrat, and Lee Ware, a Republican, introduced legislation on Jan. 17 that would enable customers to purchase electricity from the retail provider of their choice, ending monopoly control over the state’s energy system. The bill would require each incumbent investor-owned utility, electric cooperative, and municipal electric authority to separate its…