Virginia governor calls for easing clean energy goals, injecting competition into utility sector

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R, also aims to create a nuclear innovation hub and develop an advanced reactor within a decade.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 4, 2022

FERC OKs $500K fine for ISO-NE over alleged violations of capacity rules with Salem Harbor power plant

ISO New England improperly prevented its market monitor from having access to information about the Footprint Power project, among other violations, according to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 4, 2022

Explore the Trendline➔

The Energy Transition to Renewables

New policy and business actions are giving a significant boost to renewable energy in the U.S., but opposition is growing and grid interconnection, permitting, labor and other challenges remain.

By Utility Dive staff

FERC, state utility regulators, and the arsonist’s dilemma

State and federal officials have saturated power markets with unworkable policies and are now openly lamenting the inability of those markets to deliver the results they expect, the author writes.

By Todd Snitchler • Oct. 3, 2022

A real page-turner: How the Inflation Reduction Act changes everything

The IRA will radically reshape the energy industry through tax credits, direct investments and loan guarantee programs.

Oct. 3, 2022

EV charging network plans approved for all 50 states

The FHWA’s approval unlocks $1.5 billion in NEVI program funds through fiscal years 2022 and 2023 for all jurisdictions across the U.S., allowing the build-out of chargers covering about 75,000 miles of highway.

By Danielle McLean • Sept. 28, 2022

Republicans oppose ‘sweeping’ transmission reforms, force Manchin to withdraw energy permitting bill

Progressives feared the bill would enable further development of fossil fuel infrastructure with less environmental review while Republicans worried it gave the federal government too much power over transmission development.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 28, 2022

New environmental justice office at EPA aims to raise the issue’s national profile

The Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, which will employ about 200 people, is seen as another step by the Biden administration to prioritize environmental justice in its policies.

By Megan Quinn • Sept. 27, 2022

Virginia governor acting like the CEO he used to be in trying to leave regional GHG compact: state senator

“If the governor wants to withdraw from RGGI, he has to learn how to govern,” Sen. Adam Ebbin said.

By Rod Kuckro • Sept. 27, 2022

Avoiding the ‘tax on God’ dilemma when transitioning to dynamic rates

Dynamic rate design is one of the most important tools for decarbonizing the grid. But it is imperative to figure out how to make these types of choices more accessible and better for customers to achieve targets.

By Brad Langley, VP of Marketing, GridX • Sept. 26, 2022

FERC rejects complaint from generators seeking strict MOPR in New York

The agency’s decision “should be the final nail in the MOPR’s coffin,” Sarah Ladin, senior attorney at the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law, said Friday.

By Ethan Howland • Sept. 23, 2022

NYPA burns up to 44% green hydrogen in GE turbine in first such retrofit of a US natural gas plant

Fuel blends from 5% to 44% hydrogen were tried in the demonstration project.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 23, 2022

Is the Inflation Reduction Act the end of the wholesale clean attribute market?

The IRA may reduce any real or perceived tension between wholesale markets and state policies and the need for other mechanisms to harmonize wholesale markets and state policies, the authors write.

By Sarah Ladin & Burçin Ünel • Sept. 23, 2022

The maxim of the SEC’s climate rule: What you don’t know can hurt you

The standardized disclosures of climate risks will effectively lay bare companies’ readiness to transition to low-carbon operating models and the mounting physical hazards they face, the authors write.

By Bob Hinkle and Lisa Jacobson • Sept. 22, 2022

High electricity rates could jeopardize California’s electrification efforts: report

The analysis estimates that California’s rate structures raise the cost of operating an electric vehicle by roughly $600 a year, which could reduce EV adoption by between 13% and 33%.

By Kavya Balaraman • Sept. 22, 2022

Manchin permitting-reform bill allows DOE to designate ‘national interest’ transmission projects

While it’s supported by renewable energy groups, the bill faces opposition from some House and Senate Democrats.

By Ethan Howland • Sept. 22, 2022

California could phase out gas heaters by 2030 to cut smog amid electrification push

The home and building appliances are “an underappreciated driver of unhealthy air quality in California cities,” nonprofit advocates said in a report Tuesday, as state regulators consider only allowing zero-emissions alternatives.

By Maria Rachal • Sept. 21, 2022

SoCalGas, SDG&E outline plan for hydrogen blending demonstration projects in California

The utilities intend to use a phased approach to blending hydrogen into utility distribution infrastructure at a 5% level and above.

By Kavya Balaraman • Sept. 20, 2022

Secretive committee of utility insiders could undermine Texas energy leadership and affordability

The Texas Legislature needs to ensure that self-interested electric generation actors are not sacrificing Texas families and businesses to protect their market share, the author writes.

By Landon Stevens • Sept. 20, 2022

California becomes first state to eliminate subsidies for gas line extensions amid electrification push

Current subsidies for gas line extensions are “a vestige of the past” that no longer makes sense in light of California’s greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, CPUC Commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen said Thursday. 

By Kavya Balaraman • Sept. 16, 2022

Taking the utility monopoly door down to put more solar up

A proposal by Sunnova would end nearly a century of guaranteed monopoly for California utilities by letting other companies not just sell power but use an alternative delivery system to the utility's platform, the author writes.

By John Farrell • Sept. 15, 2022

Fixing California’s resource adequacy woes

The real questions are what level of bulk reliability we want and whether we are willing to invest in the institutional change needed to support it, the author writes.

By Fredrich Kahrl • Sept. 14, 2022

Real-time pricing, new rates and enabling technologies target demand flexibility to ease California outages

Price signals linked to power market needs through smart technologies could make distributed energy resources that are aggregated and automated by third parties an answer to California reliability threats, industry observers said.

By Herman K. Trabish • Sept. 13, 2022

IRA ‘turbocharging’ of clean energy tax credits could boost NextEra, AES, other renewable developers: S&P

Brookfield Renewable Partners, Clearway Energy and Pattern Energy Group are among other companies that also could benefit by providing electricity to make green hydrogen, S&P analysts said in a Sept. 8 report.

By Ethan Howland • Sept. 13, 2022

White House eyes power reliability standards, energy efficiency rules for Bitcoin, other crypto mining

Crypto operations consume up to 1.7% of U.S. electricity and have a climate impact “similar to emissions from diesel fuel used in railroads,” according to a new report from the White House.

By Robert Walton • Sept. 12, 2022

Congress should require FERC, NERC to monitor gas pipeline capacity to ensure reliability, manufacturers say

The federal agencies should delay nuclear and coal-fired power plant retirements if the shutdowns would lead to gas pipeline constraints, the Industrial Energy Consumers of America said Friday.

By Ethan Howland • Sept. 12, 2022