From vacant to vital: How commercial buildings could solve the power grid crisis

Turning empty offices into energy assets offers a win-win for real estate and the grid.

By Nate Walkingshaw • Jan. 13, 2025

AI applications in the energy sector — are you missing out on sustainable impact?

Despite the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence across the power and utility sector, its potential remains underutilized in many areas.

By Mike Duffy • Jan. 10, 2025

Explore the Trendline➔

Reliability

Rising peak demand, extreme weather and other factors are raising power outage risks in the U.S., but FERC and other stakeholders are pursuing multiple actions to address reliability concerns.

By Utility Dive staff

PJM ‘shovel-ready’ interconnection plan draws mixed reviews at FERC

State utility regulators and power plant owners told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission they support PJM’s Reliability Resource Initiative, but renewable developers and others oppose it.

By Ethan Howland • Jan. 9, 2025

Data centers drive growth, risk for PG&E, Constellation, NorthWestern: BofA

Electric utilities that can increase earnings related to data center energy demand should see their share prices rise in 2025, according to Bank of America Global Research.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 8, 2025

9 US electric power sector issues to watch in 2025

From rising electricity prices and demand to emerging opportunities and challenges around nuclear energy, virtual power plants, renewables and more, we’ve highlighted nine of the most important issues for the year ahead.

By Robert Walton, Ethan Howland, Diana DiGangi, Larry Pearl, Brian Martucci • Jan. 8, 2025

‘Take all appropriate actions’: NERC rings in 2025 with winter storm warning

Forecasts call for Arctic air to challenge the eastern half of the U.S. starting this weekend. Storms “could result in the lowest January temperatures in more than a decade in some places,” said meteorologists.

By Robert Walton • Jan. 2, 2025

Texas scraps $1B performance credit mechanism proposal as reliability benefits questioned

"We’ve spent countless hours evaluating the PCM — up until, literally, my last open meeting,” Commissioner Lori Cobos said Thursday. She announced her retirement in December.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 20, 2024

FERC floats ‘ride-through’ reliability standards for wind, solar, batteries, plus 5 other open meeting takeaways

The standards are the first in what is expected to be a suite of NERC rules for inverter-based resources, which can trip offline during grid disturbances.

By Ethan Howland • Dec. 20, 2024

‘Explosive’ demand growth puts more than half of North America at risk of blackouts: NERC

“Simply put, our infrastructure is not being built fast enough to keep up with the rising demand,” said John Moura, NERC’s director of reliability assessments and planning analysis.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 18, 2024

NERC adopts 2 new standards to boost extreme weather reliability

The board also adopted three standards modifications to bolster critical infrastructure protection and energy assurance.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 16, 2024

Texas task force aims to ‘tear down barriers’ to virtual power plant pilot as participation lags

The aggregated DER pilot, which includes Tesla and Bandera Electric as participants, aims to harness 80 MW of flexible resources on the Texas grid, but it has not reached that goal due to various limitations.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 11, 2024

Five-year US load growth forecast surges 456%, to 128 GW: Grid Strategies

U.S. electricity demand is forecast to increase 15.8% by 2029, according to a new report from Grid Strategies, which called the findings “shocking.” Six regions of the country are driving the growth.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 6, 2024

Clean firm generation is an important piece of the energy transition, but it’s no silver bullet

Due to the high cost of clean firm energy, it may be best considered as part of a broader generation portfolio that relies on much lower cost wind and solar most of the time.

By Michelle Solomon • Dec. 5, 2024

When TOU rates aren’t enough: BGE, other utilities expand active managed charging for rising EV load

With over 3 million electric vehicles on U.S. roads, managed charging pilots need to be scaled before infrastructure upgrade costs start rising, analysts and utility executives agree.

By Herman K. Trabish • Dec. 4, 2024

A costly lesson in supply and demand: How to address PJM’s capacity shortages

The first law of holes says that you should stop digging when you’re in one. It’s time to stop retiring dispatchable resources if we don’t want the hole we’re in to get any deeper.

By Michelle Bloodworth • Dec. 3, 2024

Critical infrastructure at a crossroads: Securing our distributed energy future

A resilient, secure energy grid requires a strong foundation and unified collaboration.

By Nate Walkingshaw, CEO & Co-Founder of Torus • Dec. 2, 2024

EPRI, Kraken advance DER interoperability standards to boost virtual power plant deployment

“Without interoperability standards, VPPs cannot reach scalability, affordability, and reliability as soon or as efficiently as they will be needed,” said Arshad Mansoor, CEO of the Electric Power Research Institute.

By Herman K. Trabish • Nov. 27, 2024

2024 election: US electric power sector impacts

The U.S. energy transition continues, but the shape and pace of change will be significantly impacted by the results of the federal election — for some issues more than others.

By Larry Pearl , Diana DiGangi , Robert Walton , Ethan Howland • Nov. 27, 2024

AI power demands are rising, and so are attacks on utilities. Here’s what they can do about it.

While the spike in electricity demand from artificial intelligence creates exciting new opportunities for utilities, it also makes them a prime target for both physical and cyberattacks.

By Carmelo McCutcheon • Nov. 27, 2024

New York City faces potential electricity resource shortfalls in 2033, 2034: ISO

Transportation and building electrification, along with commercial projects like data centers and chip fabrication, are driving peak demand higher, according to the New York Independent System Operator.

By Robert Walton • Nov. 26, 2024

Affordability, data center growth and more: 9 state utility regulators reveal their top challenges

Utility commissioners from across the U.S. say their most pressing issue is balancing affordability with the utility spending required to meet demand growth and maintain reliability.

By Ethan Howland • Nov. 26, 2024

As bitcoin’s price and energy demand surge, Texas requires some miners to register with utility commission

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz wants his state to be “an oasis" for bitcoin. But utility regulators say they need greater visibility into the stress that mining operators put on the electric grid. 

By Robert Walton • Nov. 25, 2024

A model tariff can speed distributed power plant deployment and lower grid modernization costs

Distributed power plants can improve system resilience now, complementing longer-term grid upgrades that will take years or decades to build.  

By America Garcia and Shannon Anderson • Nov. 22, 2024

Digital twins reimagined at scale for utilities

Digital twins of assets will play an increasing role in helping improve operational efficiency.

By Phil Schwarz • Nov. 18, 2024

Natural gas supply is a bulk power reliability risk this winter: NERC

Gas producers have taken “a multitude of proactive measures to prepare for winter weather," Natural Gas Supply Association CEO Dena Wiggins said.

By Robert Walton • Nov. 15, 2024