The Virginia State Corporation Commission will conduct a hearing on Dominion Energy Inc.’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Commercial project, a 2.6-gigawatt wind facility off the coast of Virginia Beach. The project, estimated to cost about $9.8 billion, would help the state reach its legislated goal of securing 5.2 gigawatts of offshore energy by 2034 and also support the national goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. Dominion Energy is already operating a two-turbine, 12-megawatt pilot wind farm near the proposed project location that is expected to provide data to inform the commercial-scale project. PUR-2021-00142

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority will hold a public hearing on draft criteria for identifying disadvantaged communities to guide the equitable implementation of the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Under the law, New York must reduce economywide greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels, and attain a carbon-free power system by 2040. The draft provides an interactive map and a list of communities as well as criteria to direct initiatives that cut emissions, open economic development opportunities, and support investments in clean energy and energy efficiency. The department has scheduled 11 hearings during May and June to receive public input on the draft criteria based on geographic, public health, environmental hazard, and socioeconomic factors.

The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority will hold a hearing to review United Illuminating Company’s annual rate adjustment mechanisms, or RAMs. The agency is examining the company’s 2022 adjustments to its RAM as well as the prudence of the actual costs associated with the 2021 mechanisms. In March, the company filed an application detailing its over- or under-recovery of bypassable and non-bypassable federally managed congestion charges, transmission adjustment clause, systems benefit charge, and generation service charge for the year 2021 and subsequently submitted multiple revisions. The agency will receive testimony and additional evidence regarding the prudence of costs related to the 2021 RAM as detailed in the application and the revisions and any related issues raised in responsive filings. 22-01-04

The California Energy Commission will discuss a draft report on proposed findings and recommendations to establish offshore wind planning goals pursuant to a 2021 law that called for a strategic plan to develop wind energy off the California coast in federal waters. The law directed the commission to evaluate and quantify the maximum feasible capacity that supports reliability, ratepayer benefits, employment, and decarbonization, and establish megawatt goals for 2030 and 2045, by June 1, 2022. The commission must submit the strategic plan to the California Natural Resources Agency and the legislature by June 30, 2023. Earlier this month, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed an environmental review of the potential impacts from future commercial leasing within the Humboldt Wind Energy Area off the state’s northern coast. The 206-square-miles area, if developed, could generate up to 1.6 gigawatts of renewable energy.

The California Air Resources Board and Québec’s Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change will hold their 31st joint carbon auction, which will offer allowances for current and future years. The current auction will offer years 2016, 2020, and 2022 vintage allowances totaling nearly 58.33 million. The advance auction will offer 2025 future allowances totaling about 7.94 million. The auction results will be published on May 26. The previous auction sold all of the nearly 58.52 million current allowances at a price of $29.15 per allowance and over 7.07 million future allowances at $19.70 each. California’s cap-and trade program, which places an economy-wide cap on major emitting sources, is a central part of the state’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.