Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo on July 18 announced the selection of two projects totaling 1.7 gigawatts in New York’s first comprehensive offshore wind solicitation. Cuomo also signed legislation, which requires a carbon-neutral power system by 2040 and codifies the state’s targets of 6 gigawatts of solar by 2025, 3 gigawatts of energy storage by 2030,…
The Ohio state Senate approved legislation on July 17 that would require electric customers to pay new monthly surcharges from 2021 through 2027, raising $150 million per year to subsidize FirstEnergy Solutions Corp.’s ailing nuclear plants. The revised version of the bill, which passed the House in May, would scale back the state’s renewable portfolio…
The Georgia Public Service Commission on July 16 approved Georgia Power’s integrated resource plan, allowing the company to invest in 80 megawatts of battery storage and increase its renewable generation by 72 percent over the next five years. The IRP calls for 2,260 megawatts of new renewables, increasing the capacity to 5,390 megawatts by 2024…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accepted the California Independent System Operator Corporation’s revisions requiring equipment improvements for renewable power generators, facilitating higher integration of wind and solar power into the grid, according to a July 16 news release. The changes will avoid “temporary and sporadic losses” of inverter-based generation connected to the grid. These generators…
National Grid plc completed a $100 million transaction through its competitive non-regulated unit National Grid Ventures, acquiring Geronimo Energy LLC, a prominent wind and solar developer in North America, according to July 15 news release. The company also entered into an agreement with the Washington State Investment Board for a 51 percent stake in a…
The Public Service Co. of Oklahoma and Southwestern Electric Power Co. are seeking regulatory approval to buy three wind projects, with a combined capacity of 1,485 megawatts, that are being developed by Invenergy LLC in Oklahoma, according to a July 15 filing with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. The projects were selected through a competitive solicitation…
The Maine Public Utilities Commission on July 12 approved a 20-year contract for a Weaver Wind LLC’s 72.6 megawatt wind power project, which is expected to come online by the end of 2020. The commission determined that the contract price of 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour, which is set to increase at 2.5 percent annually,…
Battery storage has long held the promise of eventually replacing the costliest, most-polluting fossil-fuel fired generators that are used to meet surging electricity demand on the grid. That day may now be upon us as costs of batteries plummet and as state regulators from Massachusetts to Arizona weigh new incentives for the technology.
Vineyard Wind LLC on July 12 announced it will seek an order from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to overrule the Edgartown Conservation Commission’s denial of a permit to install offshore transmission cables. The decision came after the U.S. Interior Department informed that it was not yet prepared to issue a final environmental review,…
Minnesota Power, a unit of ALLETE Inc., proposed a rate adjustment to recover the costs related to on-going transmission projects, which include the 500-kilovolt Great Northern Transmission Line that will deliver 383 megawatts of hydropower from Manitoba Hydro beginning in 2020, according to a July 9 filing with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. The company…
U.S. utility-scale battery capacity is expected to nearly triple by the end of 2023 if planned additions of about 1,623 megawatts come online as scheduled, according to a July 10 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Grid-scale battery capacity more than quadrupled to almost 900 megawatts in March 2019 from 214 megawatts at the…
The New York Department of Public Service on July 1 released a unit-by-unit study of replacing or repowering peaking units, which are fossil‐fuel generators that typically operate during high demand periods. The analysis identified at least 275 megawatts, representing about 6 percent of the state’s peaking fleet, as potential candidates for substitution with 6-hour batteries…