Facing trade, tax and economic uncertainties, clean power installations fall in Q2 Energize Weekly, August 3, 2022 Beleaguered by uncertainties over the future of tax subsidies and trade policy, new clean power installations plummeted 55 percent in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. Solar…
North American power grid faced extreme weather and cyberattack risks in 2021 Energize Weekly, July 27, 2022 The North American electric grid faced unprecedented challenges from severe weather, cyberattacks and problems with natural gas supplies in 2021, but with except one exception – in Texas – utilities and grid operators…
Experts Concerned Texas Power Plants Will Start to Die Amid Heat Wave JUL 17, 2022 The power grid in Texas is not doing okay. Crypto mining rigs shut down earlier this week to prevent blackouts and price hikes, and now, experts are worried the state’s power plants won’t be able…
Ameren, Peabody beef up solar power as fastest-growing power source in US Jul 11, 2022 The region’s outlook for utility-scale solar power is getting brighter. Since February, St. Louis-based electric utility Ameren has kicked its solar expansion into another gear, including the announcement of two separate projects that are each…
DOE launches $500 million effort to turn mines into clean energy hubs 7.1.2022 A $500 million program funded by the bipartisan infrastructure package aims to transform current and former mines into clean energy hubs. The Dept. of Energy (DOE) issued a Request For Information (RFI) to inform how the program…
Fossil-fuel electric generation challenged in Texas heat wave, raising reliability questions Energize Weekly, July 6, 2022 An early season heat wave in May tested the Texas grid, raising questions about the relation of baseload, fossil-fuel generation to wind and solar, according to analysis by the Institute for Energy Economics and…
US launches new federal-state partnership to grow domestic offshore wind supply chain June 27, 2022 The White House has announced that it is joining with 11 governors from East Coast states to launch the Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership, which is intended to accelerate America’s growing offshore wind industry. Read…
New York grid operator sees generating margins shrinking, increased reliability risks Energize Weekly, June 22, 2022 The buffer of extra generating capacity – the reserve or reliability margin – is shrinking in New York State as fossil-fuel plants retire faster than renewable sources are being added, according to an assessment…
DOE: Here’s where renewable costs are heading 06/14/2022 Recent challenges facing wind and solar likely won’t sink their longer-term progress in the United States, as industries figure out ways to keep the cost of renewable power on a downward slope, according to a new peer-reviewed analysis from Lawrence Berkeley National…
Georgia Power retiring some coal units this year but backing off on battery storage Jun 13, 2022 Georgia Power would retire two coal-burning units and two gas-fired turbines at two power plants by the beginning of August under an agreement filed with the state Public Service Commission (PSC) Monday. But…
Activists hail Biden’s use of security powers to boost clean energy June 7, 2022 Environmental groups have welcomed Joe Biden’s invoking of national security powers to rapidly expand the production of clean energy technology as a significant advance in the effort to curb dangerous climate breakdown. Read more
Here’s what has to happen before CPS Energy can shut down its last coal plant June 6, 2022 In recent months, and with San Antonio facing stricter air quality regulations, calls to diversify CPS Energy’s generation portfolio and speed up the closure of the J.K. Spruce coal-burning power plant have…
New England hits a record low in electricity demand thanks to distributed solar Energize Weekly, June 8, 2022 It was a typical spring Sunday afternoon – sunny with temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s – but May 1 was also historic as the demand for electricity in New England dropped…
NYSEG and RG&E Announce “Reliable Energy New York” Plans May 26, 2022 Today, New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E), subsidiaries of AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), announced the companies have filed proposed changes to delivery rates with the New York State Public Service Commission…
G7 decide to “predominantly” decarbonise grid by 2035, but drop 2030 coal exit date 29 May 2022 The environment, climate and energy ministers of the Group of Seven western industrialised states (G7) have agreed to largely decarbonise their electricity sectors within 13 years. Following their meeting in Berlin, the ministers…
Gas generation down across US West this spring as renewable capacity grows 23 May 2022 Recent growth in renewable generating capacity across the Western US is putting downward pressure on gas-fired power burns this spring in a trend that’s only likely to accelerate in the years ahead. Read more
West and Midwest U.S. face summer electricity shortfalls due to heat, drought, and fire Energize Weekly, May 25, 2022 The West and Midwest U.S. risk severe electricity shortfalls this summer due to high temperatures, drought, severe storms and wildfire – all driven by a changing climate, according to the North…
MIT report says energy storage is crucial to stall climate change May 16, 2022 A major report from the MIT Energy Initiative finds the development and deployment of new ways to store renewable energy will be crucial to transitioning to clean energy and averting the worst effects of climate change.…
Hydropower is 53% of the renewable energy supply in the West. Drought is slowing down production. May 17, 2022 A large provider of Colorado energy says sagging hydropower production on the Colorado River system, which has raised concern over the long-term reliability of the power source in the West, has…
California Power Officials Warn of Power Shortfalls This Summer Amid Increasing Strain from Climate Change May 6, 2022 California power regulators are warning of power shortages and possible blackouts this summer as the state’s electrical grid faces increasing strain from drought and extreme heat. “We know reliability is going to…
U.S. and European EV sales climb but more chargers will be needed to sustain growth Energize Weekly, May 11, 2022 Electric vehicle (EV) sales in both the U.S. and Europe are posting strong gains, but to reach the market penetration governments are targeting – the Biden administration goal is 50…
We Energies seeks rate plan to fund clean energy investments, grid hardening May 02, 2022 We Energies proposed a new rate plan to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) last week, potentially raising customers’ rates for electricity, natural gas and steam next year to pay for a large-scale clean…
Power demand to grow in Tennessee Valley as economy electrifies, TVA CEO says April 28, 2022 Tennessee will soon become the No. 1 state for electric vehicle production as part of a power shift that could nearly double electricity demand in the Tennessee Valley over the next three decades, the…
Renewable generation making major inroads on the grid in Texas and California Energize Weekly, May 4, 2022 The steady increase in renewable energy generation – primarily wind and solar – is beginning to show signs of dramatically impacting electric grids around the country as it claims a larger and larger…
The US has more clean energy projects planned than the grid can handle 20 April 2022 The proposed wind, solar and battery projects seeking interconnection to U.S. transmission grids today are enough to bring the country to 80 percent carbon-free electricity by 2030. But based on historical trends, less than…
Consumers Energy settles with stakeholders over Clean Energy Plan, pledges coal elimination by 2025 April 22, 2022 After agreeing to a settlement with key stakeholders, Consumers Energy announced this week that, as part of its Clean Energy Plan, it will cease using coal as a fuel source for electric generation…
PGE offers a look inside its futuristic new ops center Apr. 15, 2022 When you flip the light switch or turn up your thermostat, you expect the juice to start flowing. It’s as simple as that. But in an age of distributed power generation and storage, intermittent renewables, electric cars,…
Covid-19 boost in green spending still not enough, IEA says 04/12/2022 The world’s wealthiest countries are rapidly boosting spending on clean energy, but lower-income nations are struggling to do the same, with higher food and fuel prices bearing down on their already limited finances. The widening gap could challenge the…
Supply-chain issues hobble storage projects but installation still set a record in 2021 Energize Weekly, April 13, 2022 Even in the face of supply-chain problems, energy storage installations set a record in the U.S., and the forecasts have domestic and global capacity growing twentyfold by 2030, according to industry analyses.…
Surging electric bills threaten Calif. climate goals 04/05/2022 Millions of Californians pay among the highest prices in the nation for electricity, a potential threat to the state’s plans to electrify cars and homes as it battles climate change. Surging electricity prices of the three biggest utilities in the Golden State…
UN report on climate crisis confirms the world already has solutions – but politics are getting in the way April 4, 2022 The world is careening toward levels of global warming that will have irreversible impacts, a new landmark report says, but we already have the solutions — the only…
Environmental campaign targets Bitcoin miners in an effort to curb greenhouse gases Energize Weekly, April 6, 2022 Environmental groups are taking aim at the power-hungry Bitcoin cryptocurrency seeking to get it to change the way it operates and thereby cut its greenhouse gas emissions. The “Change the Code, Not the…
Misinformation is derailing renewable energy projects across the United States MAR, 28 2022 On a winter night in early 2016, Jeremy Kitson gathered in his buddy’s large shed with some neighbors to plan their fight against a proposed wind farm in rural Van Wert County, Ohio. The project would be…
US seeks new lithium sources as demand for batteries grows March 28, 2022 The race is on to produce more lithium in the United States. The U.S. will need far more lithium to achieve its clean energy goals — and the industry that mines, extracts and processes the chemical element…
Kauai Quit Using Oil To Produce Most Of Its Electricity Years Ago. That’s Paying Off Now March 15, 2022 In 2008, Kauai’s electric utility set an aggressive goal to power half the island with renewable energy. The plan was so ambitious that no one knew exactly how it could be…
NorthWestern Energy commits to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 March 07, 2022 NorthWestern Energy last week became the latest energy company to announce a net zero carbon emissions goal, pledging to neutral out its emissions production by 2050, though cautioning it would need policy and regulatory support to achieve…
Rocky Mountain states to team up on hydrogen tech proposal February 24, 2022 Four Rocky Mountain states will cooperate on developing ways to make the most abundant element in the universe, hydrogen, more available and useful as clean-burning fuel for cars, trucks and trains, the states’ governors announced Thursday. Colorado,…
What the Russia crisis means for U.S. electricity mix 03/01/2022 Gasoline prices have spiked in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the effects of the conflict are also spilling into the U.S. electricity sector, with implications for greenhouse gas emissions and energy policy. Although the crisis isn’t expected…
‘These Waters Are Hot’: U.S. Auction Opens Up Offshore Wind Rush February 22, 2022 When the U.S. last auctioned big plots of ocean to companies that wanted to build offshore wind farms a few years ago, it raked in a then-record-setting haul of $405 million. That’s set to be obliterated…
Clean power faced headwinds in 2021 and the pace of installations faltered Energize Weekly, February 23, 2022 Clean power installations – wind, solar and battery storage – were down slightly in 2021 as the various sectors face challenges ranging from tariffs to expiring tax credits to regulatory uncertainty, according to…
New clean generation technology is needed for the West to achieve 100 percent clean electricity Energize Weekly, February 16, 2022 The West could run on 90 percent clean electricity by 2040 with existing renewable generation and storage, but to get to 100 percent, new, clean generation filling the same baseload…
Peco parent Exelon completes spinoff of its power generation business Feb 2, 2022 Exelon Corp. on Wednesday completed its separation into two companies: a new generation and marketing business that owns the nation’s largest fleet of nuclear power plants, and a Chicago-based utility giant whose operations include Peco, Atlantic City…
Can A Smarter Grid Jolt The U.S. Economy And Circumvent Climate Change? Feb 1, 2022 The electric grid is evolving and adapting to the 21st Century market place. America’s brain trust is developing bells and whistles to increase reliability and to maintain affordability — in the context of bolstering the…
Cleantech investments soar to a record $755 billion in 2021, BNEF says Energize Weekly, February 2, 2022 A record $755 billion was invested in energy-transition technologies in 2021 – a 27 percent increase over 2020, according to energy consultant BloombergNEF (BNEF). In addition, climate-tech companies raised $165 billion in equity…
Tri-State reaches agreement with more than two dozen parties on resource plan January 20, 2022 Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a wholesale power provider serving rural utilities in Colorado and three other states, has reached a settlement with several parties on a plan aimed at cutting costs for ratepayers and…
A rise in U.S. renewable generation to reduce fossil-fuel electricity in coming years Energize Weekly, January 26, 2022 Generation from renewable energy sources, primarily wind and solar, will reduce fossil-fuel generation over the next two years in the U.S., even as the country’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions are set to…
The U.S. is divided over whether nuclear power is part of the green energy future January 18, 2022 As climate change pushes states in the U.S. to dramatically cut their use of fossil fuels, many are coming to the conclusion that solar, wind and other renewable power sources might not…
Energy and Commerce Committee leaders seek information from TVA on business practices January 17, 2022 Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are seeking information from Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on its lack of deployment of renewable energy and other business practices. Specifically, the lawmakers are concerned that TVA…
Western and Midwestern grids may face supply shortfalls as early as this summer, NERC says Energize Weekly, January 12, 2022 The Midwest and Western grids could face shortfalls in electricity supply and generating capacity as early as this summer as baseload plants retire and weather-related disruptions become more common, according…
ERCOT says generation, transmission ready for winter following on-site inspections 30 Dec 2021 Generation and transmission facilities in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas market are ready for winter, ERCOT said Dec. 30 after inspecting more than 300 generation units and 22 transmission facilities representing 85% of the megawatt hours…
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