The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will discuss its draft Environmental Justice Policy, which expands and improves upon the existing policy, which has been in effect since 2004. The draft attempts to integrate environmental justice into additional aspects of the department’s work. Proposed changes include revising definitions of environmental justice areas or populations, enhancing collaboration and planning between state government agencies, developing resources and data for community use, and prioritizing environmental justice in grantmaking practices.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation will hold a public hearing of the Climate Action Council to discuss its draft scoping plan, which describes recommended policies and actions to help the state meet its ambitious climate goals as part 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. The act requires New York to attain a carbon-free power system by 2040, setting ambitious goals to make the transition – 9 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035, 6 gigawatts of distributed solar by 2025, and 3 gigawatts of energy storage by 2030. The department has scheduled 10 hearings during April and May to receive public input on the draft and advance work on a final scoping plan to guide the implementation of the law.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission will hold a conference on Summit Natural Gas of Maine Inc.’s proposal to increase its gas delivery revenues. The company has proposed a seven-year rate plan for the 2023-2030 period with a return on equity of 11.10 percent. The proposal would result in additional revenues of $2.8 million, after which the company seeks authorization to increase rates on an annual basis, subject to a cap. Summit currently operates under an alternative rate plan that expires on Dec. 31, 2022. 2012-00258

The Maryland Public Service Commission is due to file a draft report on recommendations regarding a new goal structure for EmPOWER Maryland, the state’s energy efficiency program. The current goal structure is mandated by legislation through the end of the 2021-2023 program cycle and the commission is required to provide the General Assembly with recommendations on future goals and cost-effectiveness tests by July 1, 2022. An order issued in December 2020 authorized the transition to the next three-year program cycle and approved various proposals by the program administrators to continue operating the core energy efficiency programs in 2021-2023. 9648

The California Energy Commission will conduct a public meeting of the Clean Transportation Advisory Committee to discuss the proposed allocations in the draft version of the 2022-2023 investment plan update for the program and implementation activities. The plan is part of the state’s Clean Transportation Program aimed to develop and deploy alternative and renewable fuels and advanced transportation technologies to help meet the state’s climate policies. The commission has an annual budget of about $100 million for the program to provide financial and technical support for a range of projects including initiatives that reduce transportation sector emissions, support the deployment of electric vehicle charging and hydrogen refueling infrastructure, and address clean air, employment, and mobility needs of low-income or disadvantaged communities. READ MORE

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will hold in-person meetings to discuss Dodge County Wind LLC’s application for a site permit to build an up to 259-megawatt wind project in Dodge, Mower, and Steele Counties. The NextEra Energy Resources subsidiary proposes to construct the project over an area of approximately 28,348 acres with up to 79 turbines, at an estimated cost of $300 million to $400 million. Dodge County Wind has entered into a power purchase agreement with Great River Energy for the full output of the project for a 30-year term. A remote access meeting will be held on April 13. WS-20-866

The California Energy Commission is due to receive comments on consulting firm Energy and Environmental Economic Inc.’s project assessing the role of energy storage, including long duration energy storage, in meeting California’s clean energy goals. A 2018 state law requires all retail electricity to be supplied by zero-carbon resources by 2045. Previous studies by the firm have indicated that greenhouse gas reductions of 90 percent or more in the electricity sector are achievable with current technology, which includes a mix of solar photovoltaics, wind resources – both in-state and out-of-state – and existing energy storage technologies such as lithium-ion batteries and pumped hydro or compressed air. However, reaching a 100 percent emissions reduction goal may require newer technologies, including different types of long-duration energy storage. This project will evaluate scenarios with different mixtures of existing and emerging long-duration storage technologies, including thermal, kinetic, and chemical energy storage. 20-MISC-01

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is due to receive comments on Hayward Solar LLC’s proposal to build an up to 150-megawatt solar project in Freeborn County. The final design is expected to occupy about 1,272 acres within an overall project area of nearly 2,000 acres. The company anticipates executing a generator interconnection agreement with the Midcontinent Independent System Operator in early 2022. The company is working towards securing power purchase agreements, and intends to sell the project output to wholesale customers, including Minnesota utilities and cooperatives that have identified a need for additional renewable energy and capacity, and commercial and industrial customers that have set clean energy goals. GS-21-113

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is due to receive reply comments in response to initial filings in its proceeding on evaluating the liability of a wholesale, opt-out model for community choice energy, or CCE. The proceeding follows a law enacted in June 2021 to study the concept of CCE under which, a community, or group of communities, may choose to purchase their electricity from a wholesale supplier other than the local investor-owned electric utility. The law underscores the potential of CCE to help communities meet their renewable energy goals and lower electricity rates through wholesale competition and local control over the supplier and energy mix without changing the local utility’s status as the transmission and distribution provider. The study must identify best practices and lessons learned from the experiences of other states that have implemented the model to determine whether CCE could provide net benefits to Colorado communities. READ MORE