Solar industry launches supply chain transparency tool amid pressure to ensure ethical component sourcing

The Solar Supply Chain Traceability Protocol was developed in response to reports of human rights abuses in China, where much of the world's polysilicon is manufactured.

By Jean Haggerty • May 4, 2021

Bechtel reaches construction milestone at Southern Company's $25B Vogtle nuclear plant

Bechtel last week set into place a passive containment cooling water tank, which the company says is the last major lift at the only two nuclear power plants under construction in the United States.

By Kim Slowey • May 3, 2021

Explore the Trendline➔

Sustainability

Companies are pursuing increasingly ambitous sustainability goals around clean energy, but integrating rising amounts of renewables, minimizing environmental impacts, and achieving carbon reduction targets can be challenging.

By Utility Dive staff

Xcel takes nearly $1B fuel cost hit from February storms but still sees Q1 profit rise

The majority of the $965 million incurred net costs came from the gas distribution and generation portions of its subsidiaries, according to the company's quarterly earnings report.

By Catherine Morehouse • April 30, 2021

PG&E will fight criminal charges tied to 2019 Kincade Fire, CEO Patti Poppe says

The Sonoma County District Attorney’s office earlier this month filed a criminal complaint charging PG&E with five felonies and 28 misdemeanors connected to the fire. 

By Kavya Balaraman • April 30, 2021

GE Renewable Energy reports $234M Q1 loss, despite orders and revenue growth

Revenues for the comany's renewables arm came in at $3.25 billion last quarter, about 2% above Q1 2020. By comparison, Q1 revenues for the power division were $3.6 billion, 12% below the year-ago quarter.

By Jean Haggerty • April 28, 2021

Musk touts Tesla's move to only sell home solar and storage together, admits mistakes with solar roof

The combination will streamline installation by ensuring that all the power generated goes to the battery system before reaching the house's circuit breaker, while also making strides to shore up the grid, Musk said.

By Jason Plautz • April 27, 2021

Citigroup sees $2-4 trillion clean energy spending gap; analysts weigh private capital's ability to fix that

The rapid growth of renewables will help close that gap, an attorney said Wednesday during a webinar hosted by Our Energy Policy, but more consistent policies are needed to ensure carbon emissions are eliminated, panelists said.

By Emma Penrod • April 23, 2021

NextEra sees hydrogen as key to deep decarbonization, takes small steps for now

Incorporating hydrogen into the company's analysis of decarbonization "substantially changes the value equation for customers to fully decarbonize in the electricity sector," NextEra CFO Rebecca Kujawa said.

By Larry Pearl • April 22, 2021

Corporate funding for solar surges in Q1, but venture capital eyes are on storage, Mercom finds

"Everyone expects positive outcomes" in renewable energy based on the Biden administration's policy support and the recent economic recovery, said Mercom Capital CEO Raj Prabhu.

By Emma Penrod • April 21, 2021

Republicans test lines of attack on White House jobs, infrastructure plan

President Joe Biden's $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan spends too much on unproven programs and technologies while ignoring traditional investment in roads and bridges, Republicans say.

By Robert Walton • April 21, 2021

As climate concerns grow, how is it getting cheaper to finance gas in the US?

These transactions speak volumes about what financial institutions believe or don’t believe about the energy transition in the U.S. and its inherent risks, the author writes.

By Justin Guay • April 20, 2021

Mississippi Power to retire 976 MW of fossil fuels by 2027

The utility announced planned retirement dates after Mississippi regulators prompted it to reduce generation capacity amid evidence of "very little, if any, customer load growth."

By Iulia Gheorghiu • April 20, 2021

JPMorgan, Citi follow Bank of America with trillion-dollar ESG pledges

JPMorgan's $2.5 trillion commitment could rebalance the scales. The bank has financed about $317 billion in fossil-fuel activity since 2015, an activist group found. In that time, it has put nearly $210 billion toward green initiatives.

By Dan Ennis • April 19, 2021

ConEd, other utilities with biggest decarbonization targets have seen the most progress: SEPA

A Smart Electric Power Alliance survey of 135 utilities found that those with the most ambitious, detailed decarbonization commitments have made the most progress toward their goals.

By Emma Penrod • April 16, 2021

Duke, Dominion, other utility executives lay out critical steps to achieve decarbonization targets

To continue increasing renewable investments, utilities need to communicate details about what the money is funding and have access to streamlined permitting applications for transmission infrastructure, executives said.

By Jason Plautz • April 15, 2021

Facebook meets 100% renewable energy goal with over 6 GW of wind, solar, 720 MW of storage

The tech giant lowered its greenhouse gas emissions 94% from 2017 levels, and it aims to achieve net zero emissions across its entire value chain by 2030.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • April 15, 2021

PG&E, Apple, 300+ other companies urge Biden admin to set ambitious federal climate target

National Grid, GE and Microsoft also signed a letter calling for the U.S. to cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 50% below 2005 levels.

By Cailin Crowe • April 13, 2021

Bank of America boosts its ESG financing goal to $1 trillion by 2030

Combined with the bank's $500 billion pledge toward socially inclusive finance, the figure effectively doubles Goldman Sachs's landmark $750 billion ESG pledge from 2019.

By Dan Ennis • April 13, 2021

Putting the 'E' back in ESG: Lessons from the field

To make environmental, social and governance investments more of a mandate than a moment, there needs to be a way to track and verify their impact, particularly for climate-related investments, the author writes.

By Bob Hinkle • April 12, 2021

California tees up proposals to securitize $7.5B in PG&E wildfire costs

Without the securitization, "ratepayer costs will be higher as it will take PG&E longer to achieve investment grade credit ratings," according to the California Public Utilities Commission. 

By Kavya Balaraman • April 7, 2021

State of the Electric Utility 2021

The 8th annual State of the Electric Utility Survey Report provides a pulse on industry trends from nearly 500 utility professionals, many at the VP level and above, along with insight from a broad range of industry experts.

By Nami Sumida • April 1, 2021

Duke, other utilities see dollar signs in becoming EV experts

Prospects for EV adoption are compelling utilities to consider providing related services to fleet customers as a business opportunity, including using EVs as a distributed resource, in concert with solar and battery storage.

By Matthew Bandyk • March 24, 2021

Southern Company identifies 'likely' nuclear construction delay on Vogtle unit

Vogtle Unit 3's in-service date could be pushed back at least a month from its November 2021 target, which would add $25 million per month in additional costs for Georgia Power.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • March 22, 2021

Rhode Island court clears way for PPL acquisition of National Grid's Narragansett Electric

The Superior Court's decision followed a settlement agreement between PPL and the Rhode Island attorney general's office.

By Robert Walton • Updated May 24, 2022

SEC official: Companies avoiding ESG disclosures 'risk higher costs of capital'

Disclosing some ESG-related issues may eventually prove as important for companies as reporting asbestos-related risks, a top SEC official said.

By Jim Tyson • March 17, 2021