State of the Electric Utility 2021: Despite sharp drop, cost remains key obstacle to more storage, some say

Two-thirds of participants in the latest State of the Electric Utility Survey Report identified high costs as the biggest challenge to adding more storage onto their system.

By Kavya Balaraman • 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

Explore the Trendline➔

Virtual Power Plants

Virtual power plants and their ability to balance energy supply and demand are increasingly sought by utilities as electricity demand increases, but their lack of standardization remains a barrier.

By Utility Dive staff

Amid rising rooftop solar battles, emerging net metering alternatives could shake up the sector

As distributed resource penetrations rise, a shift of costs to non-solar owners due to retail rate net energy metering is driving innovations in policy and rate design that can replace it.

By Herman K. Trabish • March 18, 2021

'We're going from cigarettes to crack': Hawaii regulators grill HECO on fossil fuel transition plan

Regulators worry delays to renewable projects, planned to help replace a coal plant on Oahu, could require the state to turn to oil-fired generation next year. 

By Kavya Balaraman • March 17, 2021

Hawaiian Electric defends renewable, storage project delays as fossil fuel plants near retirement

Project delays are not solely attributable to Hawaiian Electric, and depend also on developers and their consultants, the utility said in a filing. 

By Kavya Balaraman • March 10, 2021

Federal bills creating standalone storage tax credit raise hopes for significant boost, akin to solar

The legislation would apply to residential systems, as well as commercial and utility-scale energy storage projects, including batteries and hydrogen.

By Kavya Balaraman • March 10, 2021

A new program is making battery storage affordable for affordable housing (and everyone else)

ConnectedSolutions, available in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire, is beginning to transform the landscape for battery storage in homes, businesses and nonprofits, the author writes.

By Seth Mullendore • March 9, 2021

'A total mindshift': Utilities replace gas peakers, 'old school' demand response with flexible DERs

Utility-customer cooperation can balance renewables' variability with flexibility without using "blunt" demand response or natural gas.

By Herman K. Trabish • March 8, 2021

Storage deployments shatter records — again — in Q4 2020

"We expect an uptick in home battery sales in Texas in the aftermath of February’s devastating outages,” Chloe Holden, energy storage analyst with Wood Mackenzie, said in a press release.

By Kavya Balaraman • March 4, 2021

Texas must increase ties to the national grid and DER to avoid another power catastrophe, analysts say

Planning for inter-regional transmission and distributed resources could do what ERCOT's competitive, energy-only market didn't – keep the heat and lights on, energy advisors say.

By Herman K. Trabish • March 2, 2021

FERC gives preliminary permit to 2.2 GW storage project that would use Navajo coal plant power lines

The proposed pumped-storage hydropower project would deliver power to markets in California, Arizona and Nevada, according to its developer. 

By Kavya Balaraman • Feb. 22, 2021

S&P: Despite storage growth, US to achieve 'marginal' carbon-free capacity increases through 2035

The generation market share for zero-carbon resources will increase from 39% to 47% in the next 15 years, and will require policy commitments at either the federal or state level, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

By Robert Walton • Feb. 18, 2021

SCE turns to 400 MWh AES storage facility, facing summer reliability concerns

Southern California Edison entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement for the project in 2014.

By Kavya Balaraman • Feb. 18, 2021

SEPA/ESA report details multiple ways utilities can make battery storage financially viable

Some of the options, like creating various revenue streams from batteries, hinge on whether or not a state decides if they qualify as "generators," a report author said.

By Leslie Nemo • Feb. 16, 2021

Grid operators to request extension on FERC Order 2222 compliance, regulator cites 'short' timeline

"FERC, when issuing Order 2222, left many of the most difficult challenges to be dealt with by the RTOs in their stakeholder process," said Ted Thomas, chair of the Arkansas Public Service Commission.

By Catherine Morehouse • Feb. 10, 2021

DOE lab aims to answer the 'big questions' about storage and help dramatically increase deployment

A new National Renewable Energy Laboratory paper outlines four “phases of battery deployment and will be followed by four more studies examining other factors influencing future storage conditions.

By Leslie Nemo • Feb. 9, 2021

Building domestic supply chain for battery storage could be a priority for lawmakers, Senate aides say

"I’m not a betting woman, but I would bet that we would have at least a hearing — if not five or six — this Congress, very soon, on this topic," said an aide to Senate Energy Committee Chairman Joe Manchin.

By Kavya Balaraman • Feb. 5, 2021

Groups fear California blackout prevention plan could increase gas use, threaten climate goals

Regulators proposed three kinds of resources utilities could consider for additional capacity: energy storage, generation at risk of retirement, and efficiency upgrades as well as revised PPAs at current plants.

By Kavya Balaraman • Feb. 1, 2021

New York approves utility revenue sharing for battery storage systems

Although utility companies have to share revenue from battery systems with customers, ratepayers will only see money return once contracts with battery operators are satisfied.

By Leslie Nemo • Jan. 29, 2021

Want a more distributed and lower cost power system? Try this new planning tool

Vibrant Clean Energy offers system modeling to match today's granularity and breaks the barrier between bulk system and distribution system planning.

By Herman K. Trabish • Jan. 28, 2021

National Grid petitions NY PSC to approve small battery project's dispatch, wholesale market roles

If approved, the small system will let the company learn how much larger battery projects will cope with the New York Independent System Operator's requirements for both processes.

By Leslie Nemo • Jan. 26, 2021

California approves PG&E, SDG&E, SCE microgrid tariffs with eye to upcoming fire season

As battery storage capacity is added in California, developers are preparing to meet the summer peak demand through new projects, including microgrids.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • Jan. 19, 2021

Hawaii finalizes utility regulation considered potential template for US power system transformation

Stakeholders agree the state's final performance-based regulation order includes opportunities and safeguards that can lead to a new regulatory paradigm.

By Herman K. Trabish • Jan. 19, 2021

2021 Outlook: Greening natural gas while planning for service reliability

Natural gas remains essential to the U.S. energy grid despite deep decarbonization targets, experts say, as utilities and generators pilot lower emission projects, while also looking to energy storage and other options.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • Jan. 15, 2021

California releases final root cause analysis of August rolling blackouts

Renewables and storage advocates said the report shows California should invest more aggressively in long-term energy storage, to ensure power from intermittent resources, such as solar, can be available during peak hours.

By Catherine Morehouse • Jan. 15, 2021