Hurricane Fiona made landfall on Puerto Rico on Sept. 18 as a category 1 hurricane with torrential rain and damaging winds – at 80 miles an hour – leading to an island-wide power outage, as the electric system experienced several transmission line disruptions. The storm hit nearly five years after Hurricane Maria destroyed 80 percent…...
The Virginia State Corporation Commission on Sept. 16 authorized a rise to the fuel rate for customers of Dominion Energy Inc. that involves a mitigation plan, which would lay out the recovery of the $1.02 billion projected fuel deferral over three years. Moreover, the commission approved a provision under which Dominion agreed to renounce recovery…...
The Biden administration on Sept. 15 announced that it will aim to deploy 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind capacity by 2035 and create a “Floating Offshore Wind Shot” to reduce floating technology costs by over 70 percent by 2035 to $45 per megawatt hour. The initiative targets deep-water lease areas to reach the 15-gigawatt…...
The U.S. Transportation Department, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Housing and Urban Development, and U.S. Energy Department have entered into a memorandum of understanding to coordinate efforts to advance innovative solutions and technologies towards achieving a decarbonized transportation sector, according to a Sept. 16 press release. The transportation sector is a major source of greenhouse gas…...
The New York State Public Service Commission has launched a proceeding to commence the implementation of the Utility Thermal Energy Network and Jobs Act, according to a Sept. 15 press release. The law, enacted in July, is part of initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through decarbonizing buildings and homes throughout the state. The law…...
The New York Public Service Commission on Sept. 15 commenced its review of a number of its innovative clean energy programs, incorporating utilities’ endeavour’s under New Efficiency: New York, or NENY and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s Clean Energy Fund, or CEF. Collectively, these initiatives represent approximately $10 billion in customer…...
The 2021 supplier diversity spend reported by Illinois’ six investor-owned utilities showed that of the $5.1 billion spent among the utility companies, 2.2 billion – 44 percent – was diverse spend. The largest investor owned electric, natural gas, water, and sewer companies in Illinois on Sept. 16, presented progress reports at the Annual Utility Supplier…...
The U.S. nuclear energy sector is now on the verge of a revival after years of premature plant closures and dim forecasts. Investments and tax incentives included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), enacted in August, add new momentum to the nuclear power industry.
The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement on Sept. 14 proposed new and revised safety rules and standards for oil and gas operations at the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. This proposal is in the extension of the 2019 Well Control Rule and mainly focuses on well integrity and…...
The California Public Utilities Commission on Sept. 15 announced the removal of subsidies for new natural gas connections, a first-in-the-nation move to accelerate the decarbonization of the state’s buildings. This decision, which eliminates the subsidies effective on July 1, 2023, is expected to lower utility bills, saving consumers about $164 million per year by accelerating…...
The New York Public Service Commission on Sept. 15 approved compliance filings for three major wind and solar projects in upstate New York. The approval allows 602 megawatts worth of clean energy projects to move forward that will benefit the state by reducing the usage of fossil fuels, increasing renewable energy investment, and creating job…...
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Sep. 14 announced it has accepted 307 valid high bids from lease sale 257 in the Gulf of Mexico totalling about $190 million. The sale, held in November 2021, offered about 80 million acres, but only 1.7 million were leased. A January 2022 decision by the District Court…...
