Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, a Republican, signed legislation on March 23 limiting the penalties imposed on investor-owned utilities that fail to meet the state’s renewable energy goals, which are poised to more than triple to a target of 50 percent by 2030, under a measure backed by environmental advocate NextGen America.

The U.S. Court of International Trade on March 26 rejected a request by a group of Canadian solar companies to suspend the administration’s solar tariffs as the legal challenge plays out. Silfab Solar Inc., Heliene Inc., Canadian Solar (USA) Inc., and Canadian Solar Solutions Inc. argue that they should be exempt from the 30 percent tariff because it violates the Trade Act and the North American Free Trade Agreement. The tariffs, announced in January, stem from a complaint last year by bankrupt solar manufacturers Suniva Inc. and SolarWorld, which asked for trade restrictions to stop a flood of cheap imports. The case is Silfab Solar Inc. v. United States (1:18-00023).

Utah Governor Gary Herbert, a Republican, enacted legislation on March 22 extending a $1,600 tax credit for residential solar installations by two years, through 2023. Another bill enacted on March 19 requires solar companies to disclose contract terms, with the aim of protecting consumers. Utah ranks eighth in the U.S. for its supply of solar generation, with about 1,600 megawatts of capacity, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Stuttgart Solar LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, asked for approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to transfer ownership in its Solar Energy Center to Arkansas County under a deal in which the county will then lease it back to the company through industrial revenue bonds, according to a March 23 filing. The sale and leaseback arrangement was offered to incentivize the company to locate the photovoltaic facility in the county. The transaction is generally used by municipalities to support development in their jurisdictions by acquiring physical assets of a project in exchange for proceeds raised by municipal bonds.

The Massachusetts Senate Committee on Rules introduced legislation on March 26 that would provide a 20-year tax exemption for solar or wind powered installations capable of producing up to 125 percent of the annual electricity needs of the residence the system is sited on. Current law provides exemption for installations used as primary or auxiliary systems to supply heating or energy needs of the property. (S 2364)

A group of New York state Democratic Assembly members proposed legislation on March 26 that would establish a 2030 goal to transition to an energy system powered exclusively by non-emitting sources, including solar, wind, geothermal, and tidal generators. The bill also orders the phase out of nuclear plants and bans the sale of fossil-fuel powered vehicles, by 2025. The bill would provide legal standing for state residents to sue to ensure the plan is implemented. (A 5105A)

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on March 30 accepted complaints from electric storage companies that argued that a redesign of PJM Interconnection LLC’s market for grid-balancing, known as regulation service, is discriminatory, and set a technical conference to explore the issues. The Energy Storage Association and battery developers complained that PJM failed to justify revisions on how offer prices are set, and the implementation of a cap on the procurement of such resources as well as failed to update the methodology for its dispatch signal redesign. Developers say that the rules threaten to squeeze revenue for energy storage batteries, which will stifle investments and ultimately lead them to look to other markets outside of PJM.

The California Independent System Operator unveiled a sharply scaled back investment plan for the state’s grid on March 23, cancelling 18 transmission projects while revising 21 others to account for lower-than-expected electricity demand, surging rooftop solar power and energy efficiency, according to an agency press release. The project cancellations and other changes are expected to save about $2.6 billion in future costs. The system operator approved 17 new transmission projects, valued at $271.3 million.

The U.S. Energy Department withdrew its participation in Clean Line Energy Partners’ Plains & Eastern Project, a 700-mile direct current transmission line proposed to deliver about 4,000 megawatts of wind power from the Oklahoma Panhandle region to the Mid-South and Southeast, according to the department’s March 23 announcement. Last December, the developer sold the Oklahoma assets of the project to NextEra Energy Resources. In partnering with the project in 2016, the department, for the first time, used congressional authority under the 2005 Energy Policy Act to bypass state approval by directly partaking in a major interstate infrastructure project. The project, which has been under development for eight years, faced opposition from landowners in Arkansas.

New Jersey state Assembly member John McKeon, a Democrat, introduced legislation on March 26 that would require electric utilities to install smart meters at customer premises, enabling the collection of real-time prices to aid in energy efficiency and identify outages more accurately. The board would allow electric power suppliers to access smart meter data with customers’ consent and allow utilities to include the costs associated with smart meter deployment and operations in base rates. (A 3732)

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities announced March 27 that it scheduled hearings for April 5 and 12 to examine the storm response of the state’s four utilities in FirstEnergy Corp.’s Jersey Central Power & Light Company service area. Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, directed the board to investigate whether utilities followed the more than 100 protocols in their response to winter storms Quinn and Riley.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc.’s move to raise the hard cap on energy offers to $2,000 per megawatt-hour. The offer cap reforms are intended to prevent prices from falling below the level needed to cover the costs generators incur for providing power supplies.

Unitil Energy Systems Inc. moved to cut its revenue requirement by $2.2 million while recognizing a liability through April of about $770,000, according to a March 27 filing with the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission. The proposal follows an order by the commission in January directing utilities to submit plans to revise electric rates to account for the lower corporate income tax rate of 21 percent set under historic reforms that were signed into law late last year by President Trump. New Hampshire is one of dozens of states seeking to ensure customers reap the savings from the reforms. Unitil Energy is a subsidiary of Unitil Corporation.

New Jersey state Assembly member Nancy Pinkin, a Democrat, introduced legislation on March 26 that would require the state to become a member of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the nation’s first mandatory carbon emissions trading program. In January, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy issued an executive order to start the process of rejoining the RGGI after his predecessor, Chris Christie, a Republican, withdrew the state in 2012. (A 3733)

The Iowa Utilities Board agreed to review the rates that it determined Interstate Power and Light Company must pay to small power producers and renewable generators, amid confusion over how the payouts should be calculated. The board found that the rates should be based on real-time hourly power prices instead of historical prices. IPL, however, argued that the real-time pricing method wouldn’t be consistent with the net metering billing rules, as required. The board recognized the need to clarify the rules and set a meeting for March 28.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved a total rate reduction of about $215 million for electric and gas utilities to account for savings from the federal tax cuts, according to the board’s March 26 press release. The money will be returned to customers in the form of lower monthly bills. The companies are Pepco Holdings subsidiary Atlantic City Electric Company, Southern Company Gas subsidiary Elizabethtown Gas Company Inc., FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiary Jersey Central Power and Light Company, Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated subsidiary Public Service Electric and Gas Company, New Jersey Resources Corporation subsidiary New Jersey Natural Gas, and Consolidated Edison Inc. subsidiary Orange and Rockland Electric. The federal corporate income tax rate was sliced to 21 percent from 35 percent under historic legislation passed late last year by the Trump administration.

The U.S. Energy Department concluded in a report that coal was the most resilient form of generation during the “bomb cyclone,” providing 55 percent of the incremental daily generation across the six regional grid operators’ regions, according to a March 27 press release from the department’s national lab. The report found that the continued retirements of coal-fired power plants threaten the reliability of the electric grid during severe weather events, such as the bomb cyclone, the winter storm that swept across the eastern U.S. at the turn of the new year. The Trump administration has been an ardent supporter of the coal industry and attempted to revive the sector’s fortunes through a subsidy program that recognized the plants as an essential component for grid reliability.

Governor Jim Justice, a Republican, signed legislation on March 9 that will permit oil and gas drilling on parcels with seven or more royalty owners so long as persons with 75 percent of the property provide consent. Opposing owners will receive royalties or interests in the production. The law will take effect on July 1. West Virginia ranks ninth in the U.S. for natural gas production, while its crude oil production has nearly tripled over the past five years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. (HB 4268)

The nation’s demand for coal will stay constant through the next three decades at about 750 million short tons per year as closures of power plants using the fossil fuel become nearly non-existent from 2030 through 2050, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Also maintaining consumption, use of the coal fleet is projected to ramp up from 56 percent in 2017 to near 70 percent by 2030. Coal-fired power generation has lost ground, with natural gas taking over as the leading source of electricity production in 2016. A wave of retirements saw coal-fired capacity tumble to 260 gigawatts last year from a peak of 310 gigawatts in 2011.

U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas, all of which originated from Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Sabine Pass Terminal in Louisiana, soared to 1.94 billion cubic feet per day, up from 0.5 billion cubic feet the previous year, according to a March 27 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. U.S. exports are poised to grow amid the widening discount between the index for LNG contracts, the Henry Hub natural gas price, and crude oil prices, which sets the value for LNG supplies in Asia. U.S. export capacity is expected to reach 9.6 billion cubic feet per day by 2020, making the nation the third-largest supplier in the world after Australia and Qatar.

Net energy imports to the U.S. dropped to 7.3 quadrillion British thermal units in 2017, the lowest since 1982 and 35 percent lower than 2016, according to a March 28 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The plummeting net energy trade balance stems largely from record-breaking exports of petroleum products, natural gas and coal, which soared to 18 quadrillion British thermal units in 2017, a 27 percent jump from 2016. Booming production from prolific shale formations saw the nation become a net export of natural gas last year.