Generation
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Utilities should develop data center tariffs to protect consumers, decarbonize: SWEEP
Rising data center electricity demands threaten utility decarbonization efforts, potentially requiring fossil fuel generation and pulling renewables away from other electrification efforts, per a Southwest Energy Efficiency Project report.
By Robert Walton • March 28, 2025 -
Moody’s upgrades PG&E on reduced credit risks from wildfires
“In the backdrop of the recent LA wildfires, we expect any legislative and regulatory actions resulting from the state's continued wildfire risk will remain supportive for utilities,” Moody's said.
By Ethan Howland • March 28, 2025 -
Opinion
Outsmarting outages: AI predicts disruptions before they happen
As the energy landscape evolves with renewable resources and electric vehicles, the predictive outage model equips utilities with the agility needed to prioritize maintenance based on real-time data.
By Michael Juchno and Zaki Arifulla • March 27, 2025 -
PJM fast-track interconnection process draws 26.6 GW in proposals
LS Power offered 700 MW and AlphaGen proposed 450 MW in the grid operator’s Reliability Resource Initiative, the companies said.
By Ethan Howland • March 27, 2025 -
Oklo reveals 75-MW reactor design, eyes late 2027 commercial deployment
A partnership with gas-fired “prime power” provider RPower will support “urgent” short-term needs for the advanced nuclear company’s data center customers, Oklo said Monday.
By Brian Martucci • March 26, 2025 -
Deep Dive
Trump executive order threatens transmission, interconnection initiatives: former FERC commissioners
President Trump’s executive order compromises FERC’s independence, is “unhealthy, unwarranted, and unprecedented,” threatens power system reliability and is “plainly illegal,” the former commissioners say.
By Herman K. Trabish • March 26, 2025 -
Ratepayer advocates urge FERC to reject proposed Constellation-Calpine deal
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should require measures to prevent Constellation from exercising market power if the deal goes forward, PJM's market monitor said.
By Ethan Howland • March 26, 2025 -
Texas Senate passes bill to establish ‘dispatchable’ power credits trading program
The scheme would incentivize new gas and other “dispatchable” generation at the expense of renewables and batteries, which constitute the vast majority of recent capacity additions in ERCOT.
By Brian Martucci • March 24, 2025 -
FERC approves SPP’s RTO West, plus 4 other open meeting takeaways
The White House has not directed the commission to bolster coal-fired generation, and the agency is eyeing reorganization possibilities, Chairman Mark Christie said Thursday.
By Ethan Howland • March 21, 2025 -
Opinion
Labor-industry collaboration is key to US energy security, dominance and job growth
The power grid requires a workforce equipped to design, install and maintain a system that integrates increased energy production, new energy sources, smart grid technologies and energy storage.
By Calvin Butler and Kenneth Cooper • March 20, 2025 -
MISO proposes framework to speed generation interconnection
But the Clean Grid Alliance said the proposed Expedited Resource Addition Study process “overcomplicates an already complex system.”
By Robert Walton • March 20, 2025 -
Retrieved from US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
LPO shows signs of life with $56.8M Palisades disbursement
The disbursement under a $1.5 billion Biden-era loan guarantee restart the nuclear power facility furthers the Trump administration’s goal of promoting “affordable, reliable and secure” energy, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said.
By Brian Martucci • March 19, 2025 -
Industry groups, utilities encourage more ‘efficient’ Part 53 changes
The Nuclear Energy Institute and other organizations weighed in last month on the latest version of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s technology-neutral Part 53 licensing pathway.
By Brian Martucci • March 18, 2025 -
PJM’s capacity ‘price collar’ proposal sparks market confidence concerns
North Carolina regulators and others urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reject the plan, partly because of its proposed price floor.
By Ethan Howland • March 18, 2025 -
Southwest Power Pool could need $263B generation investment by 2050: Brattle
The Southwestern grid operator could need up to to 48 GW of new wind generation, 130 GW of solar and 59 GW of battery storage in the next quarter century.
By Robert Walton • March 18, 2025 -
FERC reaffirms approval of Southeastern SEEM market
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected arguments made by Advanced Energy United, the Clean Energy Buyers Association and others that the market unfairly limits market access.
By Ethan Howland • March 17, 2025 -
The image by DJSlawSlaw is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0Deep Dive
Santee Cooper wants to sell its unfinished reactors. What happens next?
Completing V.C. Summer Units 2 and 3 could spark a “nuclear renaissance,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster says, but questions remain on the project’s scope, timeline and cost.
By Brian Martucci • March 17, 2025 -
Some SMRs could bypass environmental review step under Arizona bill
Utilities building SMRs in rural Arizona could skip a review step if the units are colocated with certain large industrial loads or built at power plants that previously received environmental certification.
By Brian Martucci • March 14, 2025 -
Retrieved from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
EPA to end environmental justice programs, monitoring tools
As part of the Trump administration’s end to environmental justice programs, the waste industry no longer has access to EJScreen, a monitoring tool used to track environmental justice metrics near facilities.
By Megan Quinn • March 13, 2025 -
EPA aims to roll back power sector regulations in broad deregulatory push
It would likely take several years — potentially into the next presidency — to revise at least some of the targeted regulations, according to analysts.
By Ethan Howland • March 13, 2025 -
Opinion
Growing demand for electricity requires new policy solutions
We need forward-thinking policies that allow public power utilities to finance and build critical infrastructure projects faster without raising costs for the communities they serve.
By Tom Falcone • March 12, 2025 -
Ontario suspends tariff on electricity exports to US
The tariff spat may signal the Trump administration’s willingness to pursue “muscular interventions” to reopen coal-fired power plants, ClearView Energy Partners said.
By Ethan Howland • March 12, 2025 -
Ontario imposes 25% tariff on power exports to US
The Canadian province on Monday adopted a US$7/MWh fee on exports to Michigan, Minnesota and New York, which it expects will generate about $243,000 a day in U.S. dollars.
By Ethan Howland • March 11, 2025 -
Opinion
Proposed FERC price cap settlement will intensify looming electric capacity crisis
Artificially deflating PJM's capacity prices by lowering the price cap does nothing to fix the grid operator’s power-supply problems and could lead to blackouts.
By Anthony “Tony” Campbell • March 10, 2025 -
Utilities may subsidize data center growth by shifting costs to other ratepayers: Harvard Law paper
“The public faces significant risks that utilities will … profit from new data centers by making major investments and then shifting costs to their captive ratepayers,” the report’s authors said.
By Ethan Howland • March 10, 2025