Massachusetts offered its first green bond sale in June 2013, and several additional states have offered green bonds over the last two years. Green bonds offer issuers access to capital to finance projects for water quality and infrastructure, energy efficiency, renewable energy, pollution cleanup, and other capital-intensive projects.. With the Green Bond Principles gaining marketplace…...
The DOE has issued a final rule establishing standards for green building rating systems that provide certification for federal buildings. On October 10, 2014, the Department of Energy (DOE) issued a final rule establishing standards for green building certification systems to strengthen federal buildings’ energy management through enhanced energy use measurement and energy efficient design…....
According to EIA, the share of imports in U.S. energy consumption for the first half of 2014 reached the lowest level in 29 years. On October 10, 2014, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a report showing that net U.S. energy imports as a share of consumption for the January-June 2014 period reached the lowest…...
ISO-NE’s eighth Forward Capacity Market Auction (FCA-8) rates became effective September 16, 2014, despite FERC being unable to reach agreement on whether the filing was “just and reasonable.” The final price for existing sources was set at the administrative price of $7.025/kW-month, a 123 percent increase from the FCA-7 clearing price. The Northeast Massachusetts (NEMA)/Boston…...
The Massachusetts Attorney General has sought DPU action to mitigate spikes in winter rates and extend the state’s Winter Moratorium by one month. On October 2, 2014, Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) Martha Coakley wrote to the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) requesting an investigation into ways to mitigate National Grid’s winter rate spikes that will…...
Starting October 1, CAISO will open its subhourly wholesale electricity market to PacifiCorp’s service areas, marking the first time that CAISO will dispatch electricity to regions outside its footprint. On September 30, 2014, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a report on the California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO) effort to open subhourly wholesale electricity markets to…...
Governor Brown has signed SB 1414 into law to include demand response into resource adequacy and procurement planns. On September 29, 2014, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed Senate Bill 1414 (SB 1414) into law, facilitating implementation of demand response (DR) programs to meet the state’s growing electricity needs. SB 1414, sponsored by Sen…....
On September 17, 2014, the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance held a hearing entitled “Reforming America’s Outdated Energy Tax Code.” Retroactively extending tax provisions has significant impact on financial accounting for multiple energy industries, including wind and solar, and also small and mid-sized businesses such as commercial building owners, architects, engineers, contractors, and design-construction companies…....
Massachusetts has awarded the first round of grants under the Community Clean Energy Resiliency Initiative for six municipal resiliency projects. On September 25, 2014, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) awarded $7.4M in the first round of project implementation grants under the Community Clean Energy Resiliency Initiative. The funding will support six projects designed…...
The DOE has announced a decision to issue a Presidential Permit for the proposed 336-mile Champlain Hudson Power Express transmission line from Canada to New York. On September 24, 2014, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability announced a Record of Decision to issue a Presidential Permit to Champlain Hudson…...
Massachusetts’ second Green Bond sale resulted in orders exceeding $1B for $350M worth of bonds and $429M in refinancing transaction that will save taxpayers $45M. On September 22, 2014, Massachusetts Treasurer Steven Grossman announced that the Commonwealth’s second Green Bond sale generated more than $1B in buy orders for a $350M bond offering. Retail investors placed…...
On September 9, 2014, FERC accepted ISO-NE’s Transmission, Markets and Services Tariff revisions to aid its 2014/2015 Winter Reliability Program (Docket No. ER14-2407-000). ISO-New England’s Winter Reliability Programs offer incentives to oil-fired generators to hold increased inventory to meet peak winter demand, as much of natural gas pipeline capacity is dedicated to firm service contract…...