‘Billions of dollars sitting on the sidelines’: NextEra executives cite big plans for renewables, hydrogen

NextEra’s solar and wind projects are back on track following an effort to move its supply chains out of China, and the company is now aggressively pursuing a stake in the green hydrogen and renewable natural gas sectors.

By Emma Penrod • April 26, 2023

IRA to accelerate renewables but financial challenges still acute: Bank of America, Ørsted Americas

Despite growing demand for renewable energy in the wake of the Inflation Reduction Act, many projects are running into costly delays, panelists said Monday during the BNEF Summit in New York.

By Emma Penrod • April 26, 2023

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

Clean energy projects welcome tax credits, but finding sites to plug into the grid is a challenge: ICF

“Many projects languish for years waiting for interconnection approval and others are canceled due to insurmountable transmission upgrade costs,” says consulting firm ICF.

By Diana DiGangi • April 25, 2023

Multifamily buildings: An untapped opportunity for managing load shifts

Hear how utilities like LADWP, Austin Energy, Seattle City Light and Alliant Energy are successfully engaging with this underserved audience.

April 24, 2023

North Carolina eases transition from fixed to variable net metering rates for some Duke Energy customers

Solar panel installers worried that the variable rate would discourage customers from installing solar panels because variable rates are less predictable.

By Patrick Cooley • April 21, 2023

Maine jury clears Avangrid’s 145-mile transmission line, reversing ballot vote that blocked project

Building clean-energy transmission lines won’t be possible with “this much of a fight for all involved,” said Amy Boyd of the Acadia Center.

By Stephen Singer • April 21, 2023

Solarcycle CEO, fresh off $31.5M in public and private funding, discusses solar recycling’s future

Solarcycle recently raised series A funding and received a U.S. Department of Energy research grant. CEO and co-founder Suvi Sharma said his company is scaling up as the solar industry begins to seriously contend with circularity.

By Jacob Wallace • April 21, 2023

DOE offers Sunnova $3B partial loan guarantee for low-income solar, storage

It would be the first time that the agency’s Loan Programs Office has guaranteed a collection of small assets, LPO Director Jigar Shah said. 

By Diana DiGangi • April 21, 2023

US firms behind global counterparts on clean hydrogen initiatives but will catch up by 2030: report

A broad swath of U.S. companies say they see potential in low-carbon hydrogen, with most looking to produce the fuel for sale to overseas customers.

By Emma Penrod • April 20, 2023

IRS guidance ‘appears to overestimate’ extent of energy communities under IRA: Charles River Associates

“At this time, I think we want to be careful not to say that the IRS was wrong per se, but that there is definitely a need for further diligence on this topic, and it should be monitored closely,” said CRA Associate Ryan Iyer.

By Diana DiGangi • April 19, 2023

Private equity to play growing role in renewable energy, storage and other cleantech: S&P Global

“This phase of acceleration in the energy transition may be the first major industrial and technology investment cycle that occurs primarily in opaque private markets,” S&P analysts said in a report released Wednesday.

By Ethan Howland • April 19, 2023

With looming EV load spikes, PG&E, Duke, other utilities adopt new rate design and cost recovery strategies

New dynamic time-varying rates and demand charge adjustments from California to the Carolinas could align customer usage with utility costs to make EVs a system benefit, rate design experts said

By Herman K. Trabish • April 18, 2023

Renewable energy PPA prices continue to rise despite Inflation Reduction Act relief: LevelTen

Renewable energy prices continued their two-year climb after a brief reprieve at the end of 2022, according to the latest data from LevelTen’s energy marketplace.

By Emma Penrod • April 18, 2023

Modernizing the last mile: Distribution is key to resilient power grid

Extreme weather continues to be a major threat to grid reliability and resilience.

April 17, 2023

Global wind energy set to hit 1 TW in 2023 and double in 8 years: WoodMac

Wind energy’s growth reflects an overall trend of big leaps in clean energy capacity that grid transmission and interconnection capabilities are struggling to keep up with, says the managing director of Advanced Energy United.

By Diana DiGangi • April 13, 2023

Price stability of residential solar may attract consumers amid high power prices: solar executive

The average person’s electric bill “may have increased 30 to 40%, while the cost of solar is an extra 10 to 15% versus what it was a year ago,” says Empower Energy Solutions owner and President Asim Hafeez.

By Diana DiGangi • April 13, 2023

Grid connections will remain a huge challenge for clean energy if FERC fails to meet this moment

To promote competition, interconnection reforms need standard processes and rules that leave little room for interpretation or discretion.

By Sean Gallagher • April 13, 2023

BLM clears way for $3B TransWest Express transmission project to start construction this year

The 732-mile project is designed to deliver 3,000 MW of wind generation from Wyoming to California and the Southwest.

By Ethan Howland • April 12, 2023

US grid interconnection backlog jumps 40%, with wait times expected to grow as IRA spurs more renewables

The good news, experts say, is there has been movement on short- and long-term solutions to interconnection backlogs.

By Emma Penrod • April 11, 2023

7 Northeast states submit $1.25B proposal for federal hydrogen hub

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, D, said the hub provides an opportunity to “leverage substantial federal funding to begin building a market for clean hydrogen that will address some of our most difficult to decarbonize sectors.” 

By Stephen Singer • April 10, 2023

PacifiCorp plans to reach 7.4 GW of storage by 2029, 20 GW of wind and solar by 2032 in latest resource plan

The utility’s resource plan is expected to reduce its system's greenhouse gas emissions 70% from 2005 levels by the end of the decade and 100% by 2050.

By Kavya Balaraman • April 7, 2023

Summit Ridge VP: IRA made Qcells deal possible, but Treasury guidance will be key

Summit Ridge Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Leslie Elder says the industry is “awaiting additional clarity” as companies make big investment commitments.

By Diana DiGangi • April 6, 2023

USDA offers $1B in renewables grants, including funds for ‘underutilized’ technology like small hydropower

Farmers, ranchers and rural businesses will be eligible to receive up to $1 million for renewable energy projects.

By Diana DiGangi • April 6, 2023

IRS guidance clarifies ‘energy community’ definition for IRA tax credit eligibility

The guidance establishes which brownfield sites and coal communities qualify as energy communities for project development, as well as including offshore wind transmission sites as credit-eligible. 

By Diana DiGangi • April 4, 2023

Solar panels and energy storage are worth the cost to integrate into US grid, executives say

“We have to figure out how people can pay for these resources, and to pay for them we have to value them correctly,” said Jon Wellinghoff, a former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman.

By Patrick Cooley • April 4, 2023