The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority said that it’s planning to redesign its NY-Sun program in the second quarter, responding to changing market conditions and to reflect the transition to the new “value stack” solar compensation. The agency plans to add more capacity to “rest of state” commercial and industrial blocks; add incentives for solar installations on brownfields, landfills and affordable housing rooftops; accelerate payouts of performance-based awards to lower project finance costs; and increase the incentive cap on small commercial projects to 750 kilowatts, from 200 kilowatts. Under the NY-Sun program, the state seeks to promote the installation of 3 gigawatts of solar by 2023 and strives to build a self-sustaining solar market.

The Illinois Commerce Commission has approved the Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan, which outlines the path for Illinois to acquire a quarter of its energy from renewable sources by 2025, according to the April 3 order. The plan includes the procurement of about 700 megawatts of community and distributed solar, and lays out the purchase requirements for the state’s utilities, Ameren Corp., ComEd Co., and MidAmerican Energy Co.

DTE Energy Co. announced March 30 that it’s seeking approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission for its 2018 Renewable Energy Plan that would add 1,000 megawatts of wind and solar generation in the state by 2022, or enough power to serve more than 450,000 homes. The plan calls for the roll out of a pilot energy storage program as well as a voluntary renewable energy program for large businesses. DTE said that the plan amounts to a significant step toward meeting its goal to cut carbon emissions by more than 80 percent by 2050, and builds off $2.5 billion in renewable investments over the last 10 years.

The North Carolina Utility Commission approved Duke Energy’s solar rebate program, which will award a rebate of 60 cents per watt for residential solar energy systems that are 10 kilowatts or less, according to an April 3 order. Non-residential customers will be eligible for 50 cents per watt and non-profit organizations, such as schools and churches, will be eligible for a rebate of 75 cents per watt for systems up to 100 kW. The programs are part of the state’s Competitive Energy Solutions law. Duke Energy Progress LLC and Duke Energy Carolinas LLC are subsidiaries of Duke Energy.

The ISO New England Inc. projects that annual energy consumption in the six-state regional market will slip by just under 1 percent per year, falling from 124,252 gigawatt-hours in 2018 to 114,981 gigawatts in 2027, according to its preliminary long-term forecast issued March 28. The lower demand follows continued deployment of energy efficiency as well as behind-the-meter solar generation, which is expected to grow by about 3440 megawatts over the period.Generators in the region have had to endure falling electricity sales and a glut of supplies, most recently reflected in the New England’s supply auction, which saw capacity prices slump to a five-year low.

Apex Clean Energy seeks approval with the New York State Public Service Commission to construct the 109-megawatt Galloo Island Wind Project in Jefferson County, according to an April 2 filing. The proposal includes a 30-mile, 145-kilovolt, alternating current underwater electric transmission cable to deliver electricity to the New York State electric grid. New York seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and increase renewable generation to 50 percent by 2030.

Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Company Inc. asked for authorization from the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities for an annual revenue requirement of $308,000 to cover its investment in a 1.3-megawatt solar generation facility at Sawyer Passway, Fitchburg, according to the company’s April 2 filing. The company requests approval for rates to take effect on June 1. The department approved the construction of the facility and the associated cost recovery, called a solar cost adjustment tariff, in October 2016 as part of a settlement with the attorney general. The settlement capped the construction costs at about $3 million.

The Georgia Public Service Commission has approved $330 million in refunds to Georgia Power Company customers over the next three years as a result of the lower corporate tax rate under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, according to an April 3 press release. This order follows a unanimous decision last month to cut the fees collected from Georgia Power customers to finance an expansion of the Vogtle nuclear plant, a project that’s been long delayed and over budget. The latest round brings the total amount of refunds over the next three years to $482.6 million. Georgia Power Company is a subsidiary of Southern Company.

The South Carolina House passed legislation on April 4 that would create a nine-member committee to explore the sale of the state-owned Santee Cooper to help pay off billions in debt accumulated from the abandonment of a project to add reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear plant. SCANA subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. and Santee Cooper scrapped the project last July after spending about $9 billion. (H 4376)

The Michigan Public Service Commission announced new rules ordering utilities to issue timely notifications of cyber attacks and to provide annual reports on programs and training to guard against future incidents, according to a March 29 press release. The agency is accepting public input on the draft regulations through May 29. Cybersecurity has emerged as a top priority for regulators as the expansion of digital access points in the modernized grid raise the risk of service disruptions or a breach of customer data from network attacks.

Republican Governor Charlie Baker introduced legislation on April 3 that would score the energy efficiency of homes, in the latest of the administration’s ongoing efforts to drive emissions reductions in the energy-intensive residential building sector, a source of over a quarter of the state’s greenhouse gasses. The bill would require that residential energy assessments include an estimate of annual energy use; an estimate of energy costs based on the home’s lighting, insulation and heating equipment; and recommendations for efficiency improvements. The bill would require the energy performance ratings be made available to homebuyers starting in 2021. Massachusetts has topped the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy’s state energy efficiency scorecard for the past seven years.

California state Senator Henry Stern, a Democrat, introduced legislation on April 4 that would direct the public utilities commission to determine whether it should require the state’s three large electric corporations to procure more energy storage to maintain long-term reliability. Each corporation would own up to half its procurement share and recover the costs of procurement from retail customers. Current law requires the commission to determine the targets and require the corporations to devise programs to accelerate distributed storage deployment. (SB 1347)

The Electric Power Supply Association, in an April 5 filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, asked for prompt action to address distorted prices in the New York grid operator’s capacity market, arguing that every month thousands of megawatts of subsidized generation are offered at prices much lower than the actual going forward costs. The group said that “market-crushing subsidies” continue to influence the bidding behavior of owners of the subsidized resources, underscoring that the commission acknowledged the market threat three years ago. Of particular concern to the coalition is New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s payments for zero-emissions credits for ailing nuclear power plants and the possible subsidies to repower the Dunkirk Generating Station.

Idaho Power Company and Powerex Corp., of Vancouver, Canada, successfully joined the western Energy Imbalance Market, extending the reach of the market to over half of the western U.S. grid, according to an April 4 announcement by California Independent System Operator Corp. The market’s eight participants now serve more than 42 million consumers and address energy imbalances within about 55 percent of the load in the Western Interconnection. The western Energy Imbalance Market is a real-time, bulk-power trading market that uses advanced systems to optimize the delivery of low-cost electricity across eight states, that reduces costs by enabling utilities to pool energy reserves, and that improves the integration of renewable energy. Idaho Power is a subsidiary of IDACORP Inc., and Powerex is the electricity marketing subsidiary of BC Hydro, Canada’s third largest electric utility.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, on April 2, accepted PJM Interconnection LLC’s revisions to its energy offer cap in compliance with the commission’s November 2016 order that required grid operators to cap incremental energy offers at the higher of $1,000 per megawatt-hour or a verified cost-based offer, and set a hard cap of $2,000. Offer cap reforms were intended reduce the suppression of price below the marginal cost of production to ensure that generators receive fair compensation.

U.S. retail electricity sales last year fell by 2 percent, or 80 billion kilowatt-hours, posting the largest drop since the recession in 2009, as a cooler summer and a warmer winter cut demand for air-conditioning and heating, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Retail power sales in 2017 reached 3,682 billion kilowatt-hours, about the same as the levels seen in 2006.

UNS Electric Inc. asked for approval from the Arizona Corporation Commission to cut the rate used to calculate payouts for surplus generation from net metered customers to $0.025121 per kilowatt-hour, down from the rate of $0.0262112 per kilowatt authorized in August, according to a March 30 filing. The utility said it seeks to update the rates to reflect anticipated costs and asks for a June 1 start date. UNS Electric is a subsidiary of Unisource Energy Services Inc.

The California Public Utilities Commission proposed a budget of $589 million for four projects to expand the deployment of electric vehicles to cut greenhouse gas emissions and meet clean air goals, down from the $1 billion requested by the state’s investor-owned utilities. Funds for San Diego Gas & Electric Company would go toward rebates for residential customers to install up to 60,000 at-home charging stations. Funds for Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Southern California Edison Company would go toward make-ready installations at a minimum of 700 sites each, to support electrification of at least 13,000 vehicles. Southern California would also create three time-of-use rates for commercial customers with electric vehicles. The proposal may be voted on by the commission on May 10 at the earliest. More than 350,000 electric vehicles are in use in California, making up about half of the electric vehicles sold across the nation.

The Hawaiian Electric Companies found that charging electric vehicles, trucks, buses, and heavy equipment serve a key role in balancing the state’s renewable-heavy grid, siphoning off excess power when supplies from rooftop solar panels and grid-scale wind projects surge beyond the system’s capacity. The electric vehicles helped Hawaiian Electric Companies accommodate about 200,000 new rooftop solar panels and multiple grid-scale renewable projects since the start of the year, and will be key for the island chain to achieve the state’s goal to transition to a 100-percent renewable energy grid by 2045. The conclusions were drawn in the company’s long-term transportation electrification plan submitted to the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, and also outlined measures to accelerate adoption of the autos. The state has about 7,000 electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles accounted for about one percent of the fleet of on-demand ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft last fall, according to a report by the California Public Utilities Commission, prompting the agency to consider setting rules requiring higher adoption in the sector. The agency’s report also found that the industry’s limited use of EVs may jeopardize a state goal announced in January to deploy five million electric cars by 2030. California’s transportation sector makes up the largest source of greenhouse gases in the state, accounting for about 40 percent of its overall emissions in 2015, the commission said.

Enbridge Energy LP said that it objected to the addition of facts that may be taken as evidence in the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission’s assessment of the Line 3 oil pipeline project, arguing that the information fails to meet the “generally-accepted standard.” In a March 29 order, an administrative law judge presented certain facts, including the company’s property tax appeal and land rights disputes for part of Enbridge’s mainline, which may be taken into judicial notice. Enbridge has faced stiff opposition from environmental groups in its bid for regulatory approval of its Line 3 project, which is designed to fully replace 1,031 miles of pipeline between Hardisty, Alberta, and Superior, Wisconsin.

Pipeline companies are getting help from state lawmakers to wage the latest offensive against opponents of their energy projects amid intensifying protests. A coalition of state legislators in the Louisiana House floated a bill on March 26 that would designate oil and gas pipelines as critical infrastructure and would subject trespassers, saboteurs and conspirators to stricter prison sentences and higher fines. That comes on the heels of a similar bill introduced by Minnesota state lawmakers that would impose a felony offense against conspirators. Both states are home to controversial projects including Enbridge Inc.’s $7-billion Line 3 oil pipeline in Minnesota, and the $750-million Bayou Bridge oil pipeline in Louisiana. Bayou Bridge is a joint venture of Energy Transfer Partners and Phillips 66 Partners LP, a subsidiary of Phillips 66 Project Development Inc. (HB 727, HF 3693)

The Iowa legislature passed legislation on April 3 that would punish saboteurs of oil and gas pipelines and other critical infrastructure with prison sentences and stiffer fines. The legislation comes as opponents ramp up protests against Energy Transfer Partners’ controversial Dakota Access Pipeline. The bill awaits approval by Governor Kim Reynolds, a Republican. (SF 2235)

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on April 5 announced it will conduct an environmental review for Texas Eastern Transmission LP’s proposed Texas – Louisiana Markets Project, which includes upgrades to the Gillis Compressor Station in Louisiana. The expansion would add 157,500 dekatherms per day of firm capacity for customers from receipt points in Louisiana to delivery points in Louisiana and Texas. The environmental review is scheduled for May 31, after which the commission has 90 days to reach a decision on authorizing the project. Texas Eastern Transmission is a subsidiary of Enbridge Inc.

Southwest Generation Operating Company LLC won approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on March 30 to sell its 107-megawatt Harbor generator in Los Angeles County and its 90-megawatt Colton generator in Colton, to Clarion Energy LLC, a unit of Linger Trust. Southwest Generation is a privately held energy company based in Denver with additional power plants in New Mexico and Colorado, according to the company website.

The nation’s crude oil production is poised to reach a record annual average of 10.7 million barrels per day this year and 11.3 million barrels in 2019, breaking the last all-time high set in 1970 of 9.6 million, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest oil supply report. Drillers are poised to build off surging production last year, which jumped to 9.3 million barrels per day, a gain of 5 percent from the prior year. Supplies from prolific tight-rock shale formations now account for just over half of the nation’s total production, up from less than 10 percent about a decade ago, thanks to the advent of advanced drilling techniques, particularly fracking and horizontal drilling, which have cut extraction costs.