Western U.S. states are evaluating options to join or form a regional transmission organization (RTO) as regional coordination would strengthen electric system resilience and reliability, enhance clean energy adoption, and address transmission challenges.
Discussion around performance-based regulation (PBR) continues to evolve as utilities and regulators explore a framework aimed at strengthening the connection between utility returns and performance.
Eastern Gas Transmission and Storage Inc. (EGTS), which provides natural gas transportation and storage services with one of the largest underground natural gas storage systems in the U.S., has requested a whopping 214 percent increase in cost of service rates in its first general rate case filed with federal regulators since 1998. The proposed changes have drawn protests from over two dozen companies that rely on the EGTS system for transportation and storage services.
Interest in carbon pricing mechanisms has deepened as lawmakers and regulators explore policy tools to address emissions reductions in order to reach ambitious clean energy and climate goals. Cap-and-trade is figuring more prominently as an efficient market-based means to achieve significant carbon reductions and create an incentive to invest in non-emitting technologies.
Carbon reduction goals are driving policy support to keep financially-struggling nuclear generation plants operating and encourage new reactors. The fuel diversity and zero-carbon attributes of the resource are fueling the policy debate over its role in meeting state and federal energy and environmental goals.
Energy storage is becoming an increasingly important part of the power mix to accommodate the exponential growth of intermittent renewables required to accomplish ambitious decarbonization targets set by U.S. states and utilities.
The growing adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is driving interest in vehicle-grid integration technologies that enable EVs to inject power from their batteries onto the grid, thereby enhancing reliability benefits across the distribution system.
A growing number of states are turning to grid modernization initiatives aimed at creating a more flexible system that can accommodate the proliferation of distributed energy resources (DER) and other solutions that meet changing customer needs and climate goals.
As the power and transportation sectors shift toward decarbonization, federal and state regulators are examining hydrogen's untapped potential in lowering emissions across industries ranging from energy storage to heavy-duty vehicles.
The importance of U.S. state renewable portfolio standards (RPS) continues to grow, with recent changes reflecting the trend of strengthening renewable energy targets. Several states have expanded their RPS programs to broader clean energy standards, which establish milestones to achieve a carbon-free electricity supply.
As the distributed solar landscape evolves, revisions and successors to net metering programs seek to ensure that the compensation rate and other and program elements avoid cost shifting to non-participating customers while supporting a value proposition for new solar customers.
The expansion of renewable portfolio standards (RPS) has prompted several states to reshape their solar incentive programs. The market for solar renewable energy certificates (SRECs) is driven by solar carve-outs in RPS programs, which require utilities to procure a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable resources.