Georgia Power has overcharged customers nearly $1.9B since 2011, solar groups allege

Georgia Power’s complaint that net metering costs customers too much money is nonsensical in the face of the utility’s excessive profits, the Solar Energy Industries Association and other groups say.

By Emma Penrod • Oct. 25, 2022

Texas solar and wind resources saved consumers nearly $28 billion over 12 years: report

Intermittent fossil-free generation reduces Texans’ exposure to volatile natural gas and coal costs as well as emissions, according to the report from energy system analysis firm IdeaSmiths.

By Elizabeth McCarthy • Oct. 25, 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

Sunnova urges California PUC to dismiss PG&E, SCE ‘sky is falling’ concerns, review microgrid proposal

“This is a real opportunity to examine what's going to be a fairly prevalent use case,” said Robert Perry, a consultant for World Business Academy, one of 16 organizations supporting a commission review of the plan.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 25, 2022

Duke Energy to pass first $56 million wave of Inflation Reduction Act tax credits to customers

The company owns several solar projects in Florida that qualify for retroactive tax credits now available under the Inflation Reduction Act, a company spokesperson said.

By Emma Penrod • Oct. 21, 2022

BOEM to hold California offshore wind lease sale with 4.5 GW potential in December

How much revenue the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s unprecedented sale of leases off the Golden State’s central and northern coast can generate is an open question given the developing wind turbine technology at issue.

By Elizabeth McCarthy • Oct. 20, 2022

Venture capital interest in solar, energy storage is soaring in the first months post-Inflation Reduction Act

Solar and energy storage remain hot commodities among investors, but high interest rates have slowed the flow of capital into solar companies, according to new data on renewable energy finance.

By Emma Penrod • Oct. 18, 2022

PPA prices jump 9.6% in Q3 as growing demand hits supply chain, transmission roadblocks: LevelTen

While the Inflation Reduction Act has spurred greater excitement about renewable energy, it has yet to slow a 34% year-over-year increase in power purchase agreement prices, according to LevelTen Energy.

By Emma Penrod • Oct. 18, 2022

How solar installers can leverage the IRA to boost business

The Inflation Reduction Act is set to spur a major wave of home electrification across the country. But, achieving this depends on the expansion of renewable energy like solar and battery storage.

Oct. 17, 2022

New offshore wind best-practice guidance could speed project approvals, boost worker safety

The guidance will help provide greater transparency, consistency and certainty to the offshore wind energy industry’s regulatory process, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 13, 2022

Connecticut energy and environment chief outlines updated clean energy plan on path to zero emissions

Filling unmet portions of previous solicitations with solar, developing transmission for offshore wind and adding energy storage and anaerobic digesters are the focus of the updated plan.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 13, 2022

CAISO calls for near-term power procurement, even with possible Diablo Canyon extension

The California Public Utilities Commission is considering requiring utilities and others to line up near-term power supplies to make up for project delays in earlier procurements.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 11, 2022

GM takes on Tesla, others; launches unit focused on energy storage, solar and vehicle-to-grid charging

General Motors hopes the new services will spur EV adoption while improving grid resiliency, it said as part of a broader business announcement Tuesday.

By Dan Zukowski • Oct. 11, 2022

Duke Energy proposes green tariff for South Carolina customers seeking 24/7 renewables

Company leaders say the tariff, which could become a template for actions in other states, was prompted by a growing number of corporate customers who said they needed access to renewable energy 24/7.

By Emma Penrod • Oct. 10, 2022

GE begins restructuring its onshore wind unit to adjust for ‘market realities’

GE confirmed that it has begun to “streamline” its onshore wind operations after reports of hundreds of layoffs and falling revenues.

By Emma Penrod • Oct. 10, 2022

How an unlikely trio helped secure billions for rural electric cooperatives

As rural communities watch wind and solar farms begin to dot their landscape, many want to ensure rural America can own, not just host, the clean energy transition, the authors write.

By Duane Highley, Ramón Cruz and Erik Hatlestad • Oct. 10, 2022

EPA launches initiative to speed review of new chemicals for electric vehicle, clean energy sectors

The effort covers mixed metal oxides, which are a key component in lithium-ion batteries and can also be used in solar cells, wind turbines and other clean energy applications.

By Larry Pearl • Oct. 7, 2022

Washington to launch carbon cap-and-trade program in January, with tie to California program possible

“This new program will help us decarbonize our economy, improve air quality, and put Washington at the forefront of the fast-growing global era of clean energy,” Gov. Jay Inslee said.

By Elizabeth McCarthy • Oct. 6, 2022

Duke Energy ups 10-year capital spending plan to $145B to modernize grid, move to zero-carbon generation

The capital investment plan puts it on track to meet or exceed its decarbonization goals, Duke says, but environmentalists remain critical of the company’s pace of change.

By Emma Penrod • Oct. 5, 2022

97% of smart meters fail to provide promised customer benefits. Can $3B in new funding change that?

Interoperability standards can deliver “non-discriminatory access” to real-time data from new smart meters to fulfill promises of customer savings and other system benefits, energy managers say.

By Herman K. Trabish • Oct. 5, 2022

NextEra, PGE open US’ first wind-solar-battery project as Inflation Reduction Act ups storage options

“This is exactly the kind of development that we hoped would go forward under the Inflation Reduction Act,” said Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO at the American Council on Renewable Energy.

By Katie Pyzyk • Oct. 5, 2022

Exelon’s vice president of IT talks sustainability, cloud and the war for talent

Oracle Cloud and utility tech is helping Exelon lower costs and be more efficient and sustainable

By Rodger Smith, senior vice president and general manager of Oracle Energy and Water • Oct. 3, 2022

The Inflation Reduction Act upends hydrogen economics with opportunities, pitfalls

Regulators and policymakers must resist the temptation to overcommit to hydrogen for end uses where electrification will ultimately win out, the authors write.

By Dan Esposito and Hadley Tallackson • Sept. 30, 2022

A renewed wave of excitement for the energy transition seen at RE+

Last month’s conference in Anaheim, California, drew over 20,000 attendees and talk of industrywide transformation in the wake of the Inflation Reduction Act.

By Emma Penrod • Sept. 29, 2022

As more solar panels enter the US waste stream, producer responsibility standards emerge

A  recent Northeast Recycling Council webinar covered how manufacturing and standards must converge to handle this growing material stream.

By Megan Quinn • Sept. 29, 2022

‘It’s a good time to be a banker’: RE+ panel reports massive growth in corporate investment in renewables

Both the amount of capital flowing to the renewable energy space and the number and variety of investors interested in deals have greatly increased over the past year, panelists said.

By Emma Penrod • Sept. 29, 2022