New Legislation Facilitates Renewable Development via Grid Enhancing Technologies (GETs)
June 24, 2021
"Coming from the wind industry, I understand the pain that renewable developers feel as they wait years and pay upwards of hundreds of millions of dollars to interconnect to the grid. This legislation would ensure that fast, low-cost solutions like Smart Wires and other GETs are considered as grid operators seek to resolve the system constraints created when new generators connect," commented Peter Wells, Smart Wires CEO.
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FERC Issues Policy Statement on Carbon Pricing in Organized Wholesale Markets
April 19, 2021
The policy statement explains that wholesale market rules incorporating a state-determined carbon price can fall within the Commission's jurisdiction under section 205 of the Federal Power Act (FPA). However, the statement does not indicate a preference for carbon pricing over any other state policy. It affirms that whether and how a state chooses to address greenhouse gas emissions is a matter exclusively within that state's jurisdiction.
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FERC to Examine Potential Wrongdoing in Markets During Recent Cold Snap
February 24, 2021
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced earlier this week (Feb 22) that its Office of Enforcement is examining wholesale natural gas and electricity market activity during last week's extreme cold weather to determine if any market participants engaged in market manipulation or other violations.
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FERC Enters into MOU with India to Share Regulatory Experiences, Practices
January 22, 2021
The agreement covers an array of issues ranging from development and oversight of power markets and related issues to regulatory initiatives for facilitating investment in the power sector, integrating renewable energy into the electric grid, transmission pricing, grid reliability, technical training and regulatory practices.
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New Paper Challenges FERC to Adopt More Prudent Regulation in the Face of a Changing Energy Landscape
January 18, 2021 | National Regulatory Research Institute
"There is much value in this paper for state and federal regulators alike, as well as anyone concerned with the course of energy regulation today and in the future," said NRRI and NARUC Executive Director Greg R. White. "It explains why the theory underlying the FERC's regulation of wholesale electric markets -- its magic pricing formula' -- is being rendered obsolete by the changing role of the consumer, advances in technology, and calls for decarbonization."
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State Agencies Adopt Rules to Implement Washington's 100% Clean Electricity Law
January 7, 2021
Electric utilities in Washington must eliminate coal-fired electricity by the end of 2025, transition to a carbon-neutral supply of electricity by 2030, and source 100% of their electricity from renewable or non-carbon-emitting sources by 2045. The rules apply to the investor-owned utilities operating in Washington - Puget Sound Energy, Avista and Pacific Power. The Commerce rules apply to 64 electric utilities in Washington, including municipal utilities, public utility districts and rural electric cooperatives.
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Arizona Corporation Commission Puts State on Clean Energy Path
November 2, 2020
Once final, the bipartisan package will require utilities to be 100 percent carbon-free by 2050 and meet benchmarks along the way, including a 50 percent renewable energy standard by 2035. These benchmarks ensure utilities cannot shelve their clean energy plans for decades before putting them into action.
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B20 and IEA Call on the G20 to Accelerate Clean Energy Transitions for a Resilient Economic Recovery
September 21, 2020
According to the IEA, global CO2 emissions are expected to be about 8% lower in 2020 than they were in 2019. However, the pandemic also threatens the pace and scope of energy transitions with a 20% decline in global energy investments in 2020. Between now and 2050, about 3.5 trillion US dollars (USD) of annual energy investments are required globally across all energy sectors to meet the targets for a sustainable path, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.
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CPUC Acts to Ensure Electricity Reliability Through Supply and New Technologies
August 28, 2020
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) this week approved various measures to ensure electric reliability for California, including new procurement of clean energy generation and storage, and a 10 year renewal of investments in research and development of new technologies. "Rolling outages recently left hundreds of thousands without power. My fellow Commissioners and I take very seriously the threat to people's well-being that comes with the loss of power, even for a short period, and particularly during this pandemic and the record heat wave," said CPUC President Marybel Batjer.
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Path to 100 Coalition Supports Governor Pritzker's Principles for a Clean & Renewable Economy
August 24, 2020
The Path to 100 Coalition of Illinois renewable energy businesses and trade groups announced its support for "Putting Consumers and Climate First," a set of eight principles released by Governor JB Pritzker to guide energy reform in Illinois. The document outlines an approach to expanding renewable energy in Illinois that aligns closely with the goals of the Path to 100 Act, proposed state legislation that has been championed by the coalition.
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Clean Energy Group Proposes 20 Federal Strategies to Advance Battery Storage Markets
August 20, 2020
Clean Energy Group, a national nonprofit organization that has worked on multiple battery storage issues over the last several years, has proposed a comprehensive series of new policy actions the federal government could take to accelerate the battery storage market. These policy recommendations are contained in comments CEG filed in response to the Energy Storage Grand Challenge Draft Roadmap and an accompanying Request for Information the U.S. Department of Energy released in late July 2020.
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PIMs for Progress: Aligning Utility Performance with the Public Interest
August 12, 2020 | Rocky Mountain Institute
RMI's new report reviews a selection of historical performance incentive mechanism (PIM) examples and provides a simple taxonomy of their results to identify important lessons for future PIM development. By exploring why some PIM proposals are rejected by regulators and others are accepted, as well as what happens to PIMs after acceptance, we can learn how these regulatory tools can be best leveraged to support public interest goals in a shifting energy landscape.
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The Trouble With Electric Technologies
August 11, 2020 | by Michael J. Zimmer, Washington Counsel, Microgrid Institute
Partnering with the federal and/or state governments on R&D commercialization would create new electricity value -- especially in a post COVID 19 recovery searching for increased technology solutions on all fronts. Modernization of stale regulation from the New Deal to remove barriers, and accessing new markets while fostering partnering for risk management has been missing from the last decade of the Smart Grid debate.
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CPUC Launches New Effort to Accelerate and Coordinate Energy RD&D Outcomes
August 10, 2020
The California Public Utilities Commission is taking further action to focus electricity research, development, and deployment (RD&D) projects to better connect ratepayer-funded projects with current and emerging policy issues. Through four new workstreams, the CPUC will aggregate lessons learned from RD&D leaders and other stakeholders around key areas of shared interest across projects.
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Select Committee Democrats Release 'Solving The Climate Crisis', A Congressional Roadmap for Ambitious Climate Action
July 1, 2020
Led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Chair Kathy Castor (D-FL), members of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis recently unveiled a comprehensive plan titled "Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America." The report lays out the Climate Crisis Action Plan, which contains climate solution actions that Congress could enact to benefit American families in communities across the nation.
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Passage Urged of American Energy Innovation Act On Senate Floor
June 30, 2020
Earlier this week, U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Chairman Senator Lisa Murkowksi delivered remarks on the Senate floor encouraging the passage of their bipartisan
American Energy Innovation Act (AEIA). The AEIA is an all-of-the-above approach to the U.S. energy future that brings together innovative solutions that is designed to keep energy affordable and reliable and protect the grid while reducing emissions across the economy.
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NARUC Files Protest Opposing NERA Net Metering Petition
June 17, 2020
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners this week filed a protest opposing the New England Ratepayers Association net energy metering petition, currently before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. NERA has asserted that there is exclusive federal jurisdiction over the wholesale energy sales from generation sources located on the customer side of the retail meter, and that the rates for such sales be priced in accordance with federal law.
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DCPSC Approves Next Set of Grid Modernization Recommendations
June 9, 2020
This week, the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia issued a decision approving the next set of grid modernization recommendations for the District of Columbia, in its grid modernization proceeding, including enhancing data access for all residential customers through Pepco's "Green Button Connect My Data".
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$500B Transportation Bill in House Emphasizes Low- and Zero-Emission Vehicles Infrastructure
June 4, 2020
The legislation prioritizes carbon pollution reduction, investing in public transit and the national rail network, building out fueling infrastructure for low- and zero-emission vehicles, and deploying technology and innovative materials. "The INVEST in America Act is our opportunity to replace the outdated systems of the past with smarter, safer, more resilient infrastructure that fits the economy of the future," says Committee Chair Peter DeFazio (D-OR).
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Impacts of COVID-19 on ESG and Clean Technologies
June 2, 2020 | Michael J. Zimmer, Washington Counsel, Microgrid Institute
COVID-19 recovery will face cheap, lower cost energy as a strategy to return the US economy to greatness. Increasing reliance on investment risks, sustainability and ESG principles will ensure that reinvestment is wiser, grounded in durability and resilience. This is essential to ensure that US investment, infrastructure and recovery strategies don't become tomorrow's stranded assets in the face of new economic risks, climate change, pandemics and technological transformation.
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MPSC Approves DTE Electric's Revised Integrated Resource Plan
April 28, 2020
The Michigan Public Service Commission recently approved a revised integrated resource plan for DTE Electric Co. that addresses concerns raised when the Commission in February recommended substantial changes to the utility's long-term strategy for providing reliable, cost-effective electric service to its customers.
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Anterix Announces FCC Consideration of 900 MHz Report and Order
April 22, 2020
"The utility and enterprise ecosystems in the United States are eager to put this spectrum to work fueling industrial 5G and delivering the benefits of secure, innovative, private LTE broadband networks," says Morgan O'Brien, CEO of Anterix. "This decision will lead to new jobs, new investment, and new technology development."
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Clean Energy Sector Disappointed in FERC's MOPR Decision
April 17, 2020
"This decision intrudes on states' authority to determine the fuel mix within their own borders, undermining policies aimed at moving toward a cleaner, more cost-effective, and more reliable electric system for their residents," says Amy Farrell, Senior Vice President, Government & Public Affairs at the American Wind Energy Association.
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Virginia Governor Signs Historic Clean Energy Legislation
April 14, 2020
The Virginia Clean Economy Act requires Dominion Energy Virginia to be 100 percent carbon-free by 2045 and Appalachian Power to be 100 percent carbon-free by 2050. It requires nearly all coal-fired plants to close by the end of 2024. The new law requires Virginia's largest energy companies to construct or acquire more than 3,100 megawatts of energy storage capacity.
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Cal ISO Welcomes Two Public Power Utilities to the Western EIM
April 6, 2020
Together with Salt River Project and Seattle City Light, the current EIM participants also include the ISO, PacifiCorp, NV Energy, Arizona Public Service, Puget Sound Energy, Portland General Electric, Idaho Power, Powerex, and the Balancing Area of Northern California. The entities represent 61 percent of the load in the Western Electric Coordinating Council (WECC).
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FERC, NARUC Join Efforts to Help Ensure Essential Services During Pandemic
March 27, 2020
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) yesterday announced they are joining forces in their COVID-19 pandemic response efforts to help ensure the reliability of the nation's energy transmission and distribution systems.
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Clean Energy Sector Emphasizes Its Role in Repowering America in Light of COVID-19 Crisis
March 26, 2020
"If federal and state lawmakers want to get America back to work, one of the most proven ways is with policies that expand America's fastest-growing job sector - clean energy - and support the nearly 3.4 million workers employed in every state and county across the country," says Bob Keefe, executive director of the national, nonpartisan business group E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs).
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AEE's Kreamer Calls on Congress to Switch Clean Energy Tax Credits to Direct Pay
March 24, 2020
"When the economy suddenly grinds to a halt, as with the COVID-19 pandemic now, the banks that dominate the market for tax credits forecast little tax liability to be offset - and the tax credits become worthless," said Kreamer, who also served as CEO of Spruce Finance and its predecessor Clean Power Finance. "Consequently, projects on the drawing board for solar, wind, fuel cells, and energy storage get put on hold, or cancelled altogether. Jobs are lost, companies implode, and consumers as well as businesses pay more for energy."
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U.S. Senate Introduces American Energy Innovation Act
February 28, 2020
"This bill is our best chance to modernize our nation's energy policies in more than 12 years," U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska said. "By working together to pass it into law, we can promote a range of emerging technologies that will help keep energy affordable even as it becomes cleaner and cleaner." The legislation focuses on energy efficiency; renewable energy; energy storage; carbon capture, utilization, and storage; advanced nuclear; industrial and vehicle technologies; the Department of Energy; mineral security, cyber and grid security and modernization; and workforce development.
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New Jersey Master Plan Opens New Doors for Distributed Energy
February 28, 2020
Finalized by Governor Phil Murphy on January 27, the "New Jersey Energy Master Plan Policy: Vision to 2050" lays out a path for the state to achieve 100% clean energy by 2050, and 80% emissions reductions from 2006 levels by 2050. To get there, it counts on both public and privately held energy assets as well as residential and large energy consumers adopting energy reducing or emission-reducing strategies.
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New York Governor Announces 30-Day Amendment To Accelerate Renewable Energy Projects
February 24, 2020
The state's existing energy generation siting process was designed for permitting fossil-fuel electric generating plants and created prior to the current nation-leading clean energy and environmental goals under the CLCPA. This new robust siting process will create modernized standards for developing renewable energy projects at an expedited pace to meet the urgency of the climate crisis.
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Western EIM Benefits Top $861 Million Since Launching Five Years Ago
February 3, 2020
The Western EIM, which will represent over 77 percent of the load in the Western Electric Coordinating Council (WECC) by 2022, uses advanced technology to find and deliver the lowest-cost energy to consumers throughout the west. The EIM has steadily grown to nine active participants, with two more anticipated to join this year, and nine entities on record to join through 2022.
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Through a Ruling issued recently (12/16), the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is taking steps to ensure that the 2020 wildfire mitigation plans that utilities will submit focus on increasing the safe performance of utilities, reducing the need for Public Safety Power Shut-off events, creating more resilient communities, and providing results to help mitigate wildfires and their impacts on Californians.
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"From the beginning of the Chapter 11 process, getting wildfire victims fairly compensated, especially the individuals, has been our primary goal. We want to help our customers, our neighbors and our friends in those impacted areas recover and rebuild after these tragic wildfires," said CEO and President of PG&E Corporation Bill Johnson.
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"We are on pace for our best year ever," said Joe Dominguez, CEO, ComEd. "More than 90 percent of the energy delivered to our customers comes from clean sources, and we've delivered record reliability and customer service in the face of huge weather challenges."
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Leading public opinion research firm Global Strategy Group (GSG) surveyed voters across the country, including in key battleground states and districts, and found that 89% of voters support extending clean energy tax incentives for solar, wind and energy storage. Voters overwhelmingly believe that these tax credits are not only an effective tool to combat climate change, but also benefit the economy and public health.
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The executive order directs state agencies to develop a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the highest emitting sectors. It also seeks to better align existing agency efforts under the state's clean energy and climate commitments, including newly increased renewable energy requirements and efforts to bolster in-state energy production and advanced energy deployment.
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The survey's five and ten-year assessment indicates less photovoltaic and more utility-scale solar growth. The ten-year view suggests central station generation to remain dominant across the nation, and that net metering is likely to be replaced by locational valuation to create equitable, sustainable valuation.
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The CPUC decision orders procurement by California's load-serving entities to ensure electric system reliability beginning in 2021, including requiring all load-serving entities to procure 3,300 megawatts of new, non-emitting electricity resources. Load-serving entities must make 10-year, long-term investments in new in-state generation that maintains reliability and keeps California on its present trajectory toward meeting its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.
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The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently (11/3) issued its annual Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) report showing that the program, which is one of the most ambitious in the country, remains on track and is helping to drive down renewable contract prices and increasing in-state procurement.
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"It's not every day that you see higher ed advocates and farm families agree on energy policy," said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). "Extending the Investment Tax Credit is common sense and this effort shows us just how many people, communities, and interests it touches. Whether you want to reduce emissions, stimulate economic investment, or create jobs, we're showing Congress that the ITC is a proven policy that can do all of those things."
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After another unprecedented series of Public Safety Power Shut-offs and historic wind events creating red flag warnings throughout much of the state, the California Public Utilities Commission recently took additional urgent actions focused on public health and safety to drive down risks of ignitions from utility infrastructure, risks that result from power loss, and the disruption to communities and commerce.
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"Electricity storage must be able to participate on an even playing field in the wholesale power markets that we regulate," FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee said. "Breaking down these market barriers encourages the innovation and technological advancements that are essential to the future of our grid."
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In a landmark decision that could help expand the application of energy efficiency statewide, the Ohio Supreme Court today overturned a 2017 ruling by the state Public Utilities Commission establishing a first-of-its-kind cost cap on energy efficiency program spending for utility giant, FirstEnergy.
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The California Independent System Operator (ISO) is pleased with the Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA) decision to sign an implementation agreement for the Western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM), a move the agency says positions it to join the Western EIM in 2022.
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NV Energy Offers Eligible Commercial Customers Low-Cost Renewable Energy Rate Option
March 5, 2019
Last week NV Energy filed additional information with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) about the Nevada GreenEnergy Rider (NGR 2.0) that makes available more than a million megawatt hours of renewable energy resources for large commercial customers such as casinos and government entities. This offering will reduce the cost most eligible commercial customers pay for electric service.
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The proposal will establish lower thresholds for emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), which contribute to harmful levels of ozone, or smog, on hot summer days. Dozens of simple cycle and regenerative combustion turbines at power plants across the state -- many approaching 50 years old and operating infrequently -- emit NOx at levels that are at least 30 times more than newer turbine emissions.
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SDG&E Begins Transitioning Customers to Time-Of-Use Plans
February 25, 2019
As part of a California Public Utilities Commission initiative to support the state's continuing shift to clean energy, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) will begin to transition their residential customers to new Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing plans starting in March. Approximately 750,000 customers -- roughly 75,000-100,000 per month -- will be moved to TOU plans by mid-2020.
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"The electricity industry has been struck by conditions it has never seen or experienced before," said Tracy McCormick, RESA Executive Director. "In the last decade we have seen either flat or lower demand for electricity combined with the shift toward natural gas. But what's most unsettling is that, while it affects every single state, it is consumers in monopoly states who are paying the price."
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The new report by the N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) finds that 44 states and the District of Columbia took actions related to grid modernization during 2018, with the greatest number of actions relating to energy storage deployment, advanced metering infrastructure rules, utility business model reforms, smart grid deployment, and distribution system planning.
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In a historic breakthrough for clean, distributed energy, Sunrun Inc. this week won a bid to deliver home solar and batteries as a source of energy capacity to ISO New England, the grid operator for one of the largest electricity markets in the United States.
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