ERCOT expects record peak demand Wednesday as Texas regulators continue work on reliability standard

 The grid operator for most of Texas anticipates sufficient resources as it forecasts demand near 83 GW on June 21, but observers note coal and gas plant outages are higher than anticipated.

By Robert Walton • June 16, 2023

Power plants remain vulnerable to outages in extreme cold, despite warnings, FERC and NERC find

Most power plant outages during Winter Storm Elliott were caused by problems with freezing, fuel supply, and mechanical and electrical issues, echoing challenges from previous cold spells, FERC staff said Thursday.

By Ethan Howland • June 16, 2023

Explore the Trendline➔

Top 5 Stories from Utility Dive

The U.S. clean energy transition is expected to accelerate in 2024 but faces question around transmission, financing, federal elections and other issues.

By Utility Dive staff

EPA could set tighter NOx limits for new gas-fired power plants under proposed consent decree

The standard for new gas-fired power plants hasn’t been updated in more than 16 years, so it no longer reflects achievable emission limits, according to the Environmental Defense Fund and Sierra Club.

By Ethan Howland • June 15, 2023

More regional transfer capacity is key to mitigating grid reliability risks: ACORE panel

Ensuring that electricity markets properly value demand response is also an important approach, experts said at a discussion hosted by the American Council on Renewable Energy.

By Robert Walton • June 14, 2023

As states differ on the benefits of Bitcoin, is there a solution to its climate and power-system impacts?

Bitcoin miners’ 24/7 electricity need and financial focus raise red flags for climate activists about increased fossil fuel use, but some miners are starting to see a new solution in clean energy.

By Herman K. Trabish • June 8, 2023

How to communicate rising energy costs to utility customers

Advice for how to use the right message to share rising energy prices, improving customer satisfaction.

June 5, 2023

FERC approves PG&E plan to spin off 5.6 GW in advance of possible minority stake sale

“We've actually seen pretty robust inbound interest in the asset, and so we do expect a fairly competitive process,” Carolyn Burke, PG&E Corp. CFO, said.

By Ethan Howland • June 2, 2023

DOE targets nuclear fusion pilot plant design in 5 to 10 years as it announces $46M in funding

The money will go to eight companies and is part of an agencywide initiative to accelerate the viability of commercial fusion energy in partnership with the private sector.

By Stephen Singer • June 1, 2023

PJM, PSEG, others urge FERC to reject generator pleas to drop Winter Storm Elliott non-performance penalties

“These failures could have had life and death consequences had events played out differently,” the PJM Interconnection said. “PJM operators preserved reliability while contending with unprecedented difficulties."

By Ethan Howland • May 31, 2023

Texas plan to provide generators with incentives worth up to $1B annually heads to Gov. Abbott

Lawmakers passed the reliability program a day before the end of Texas’ 2023 legislative session.

By Robert Walton • May 30, 2023

The generators who cry ‘wolf’: How competitive wholesale markets handle generator bankruptcy

Generators with competitive operating costs that enter bankruptcy have every incentive to remain in business and to produce as much energy as they can whenever they can earn more than their variable costs.

By Mike Hogan • May 24, 2023

Oklo announces plans for 2 nuclear plants in Ohio area touted as prime real estate for advanced reactors

The probability of “any significant unknowns relative to the site is extremely small,” said a 2017 report to the U.S. Department of Energy, referring to its past industrial use.

By Stephen Singer • May 22, 2023

As Texas eyes new gas power plants, ‘probably the most important bill for grid reliability is effectively dead’

The likely failure of a bill to expand energy savings targets for investor-owned utilities is a “significant disappointment,” said Cyrus Reed, conservation director of the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter.

By Robert Walton • May 22, 2023

The grid orchestration opportunity for America’s G&T cooperatives

Post-IRA, G&T co-ops have a historic opportunity to transform their relationship with member co-ops and lead the rural energy transition.

May 22, 2023

MISO capacity prices plunge over 93% as generation comes online, demand dips in first seasonal auction

Capacity prices fell to $2/MW-day to $15/MW-day depending on the season from $236.66/MW-day a year ago across the grid operator’s central and northern regions.

By Ethan Howland • May 19, 2023

Exelon, other generators urge PJM to reject proposal to reduce ‘capacity performance’ penalties

The proposal would undermine reliability when more frequent extreme weather and falling capacity margins make it more important for resources to meet their capacity commitments, the companies said.

By Ethan Howland • May 19, 2023

Georgia’s Plant Vogtle is a $35B boondoggle. We need new and better solutions for a carbon-free grid.

Urgent utility business model reforms are needed to create a 21st-century, people-centered grid that delivers affordable fossil-free solutions.

By Patty Durand • May 18, 2023

Most of US faces elevated risk of blackouts in extreme heat this summer, NERC warns

All areas are expected to have adequate resources for normal summer peak load, but extreme weather could create widespread challenges, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. said May 17.

By Robert Walton • May 17, 2023

Bipartisan Senate bill aims to preserve hydropower fleet, spur gigawatts of pumped storage

“We're optimistic that this can get through Congress this year, which is important because we do have that growing risk of license surrenders looming on the horizon,” Malcolm Woolf, National Hydropower Association CEO, said.

By Ethan Howland • May 17, 2023

Elliott Management urges leadership, operational changes at NRG after ‘meaningful underperformance’

The activist investment company projects that the changes it’s recommending to NRG Energy could create $5 billion in shareholder value.

By Diana DiGangi • May 16, 2023

NERC urges power plant, transmission owners to prepare for winter in highest-level alert ever issued

The “essential actions” alert issued Monday follows several winters when power plants failed to run in cold weather, hurting grid reliability.

By Ethan Howland • May 16, 2023

FERC’s Christie pushes review of power markets, deregulation ahead of agency’s PJM, ISO-NE scrutiny

The Electric Power Supply Association defended power markets, saying their shortcomings are driven by federal and state energy policies, not the markets themselves.

By Ethan Howland • May 16, 2023

EPA proposes power plant greenhouse gas limits with carbon capture, ‘green’ hydrogen main compliance options

The proposal won’t hurt grid reliability, with an estimated 22 GW of coal-fired capacity retirements offset by roughly the same amount of gas-fired additions, the agency said.

By Ethan Howland • May 11, 2023

Provisional winners of Pacific offshore wind auction call for procurement, port plans

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s lease sale last December drew $757.1 million in winning bids for lease areas the agency estimates can generate around 4.6 GW of offshore wind energy. 

By Kavya Balaraman • May 10, 2023

Hawai’i leads the way on advanced rate design with default time-of-use rates, fixed charge innovations

Hawai’i’s planned granular cost study still must prove to other states that the new TOU rates, fixed charge framework and new way of defining costs will allocate costs accurately, analysts said.

By Herman K. Trabish • May 9, 2023