electricity

As industry struggles, federal, state offshore wind goals could get tougher to meet

BY: - November 7, 2023

Good news or bad news first? Because there was plenty of both last week for the fledgling U.S. offshore wind industry. On Halloween, the Biden administration announced that the nation’s largest planned offshore wind development, Dominion Energy’s 2,600 megawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, received its last major federal approval. The same day, however, Danish wind giant […]

Electric utilities spend billions of dollars across the country on smaller lines and replacement lines that fall below the requirement for state or federal review and then pass those charges on to customers. (Photo by Robert Zullo/States Newsroom)

Lack of oversight on transmission spending leads to higher electric bills, consumer advocate says

BY: - October 10, 2023

Electric customers have fallen into a “regulatory gap” that’s allowed billions of dollars of transmission construction to happen without oversight of need, prudence or cost effectiveness, according to a complaint filed with federal regulators by the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel. And though the complaint to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was made on behalf of […]

Tracy Anthony, site lead for Depcom, an Entergy contractor, stands in front of a row of solar panels at Entergy Arkansas’ 100 megawatt solar and storage plant in Searcy, Arkansas. Anthony said renewable power, coupled with battery storage, will “play an important part in power generation in the near future.” (Robert Zullo/ States Newsroom)

Battery storage seen as ‘backbone’ of reliable electric grid but adoption uneven across US

BY: - October 2, 2023

SEARCY, Ark. — In the decarbonized future envisioned by many states, utilities and the federal government, expect more power plants like Entergy Arkansas’ facility here, where thousands of gleaming panels and banks of batteries spread across 800 acres about 50 miles northeast of Little Rock. The Searcy Solar Energy Center, a 100-megawatt solar and storage […]

The AEP headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. The utility’s disconnection rate was more than twice that of other Ohio utilities over the past year. (Credit: Creative Commons.)

Ohio disconnection data still lacks detail on racial disparities

BY: - September 14, 2023

Consumer advocates still lack access to data that would let them determine the extent of any racial disparities in Ohio utility shutoffs for customers’ failure to pay gas and electric bills. Information about what share of disconnections affect people of color, low-income families, seniors or other vulnerable groups would be an important step toward making […]

Federal funds can help Ohio electric co-ops cut costs and carbon emissions

BY: - September 4, 2023

A share of $9.7 billion in funding under the Inflation Reduction Act can help Ohio’s rural electric cooperatives save money while cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Buckeye Power, which provides generation and transmission services for the group’s 25 rural electric cooperative members, “has more exposure to coal” than any comparable group in the United States, said […]

A PPL Electric Utilities employee installs a dynamic line rating sensor onto a transmission line in Pennsylvania from a helicopter. The sensors allow utilities to take into account wind speed, cloud cover and other conditions to determine if a line has more capacity. (Courtesy of PPL Electric Utilities)

Federal, state regulators prod utilities to consider technology for grid upgrade

BY: - August 28, 2023

Of the many challenges confronting the nation’s aging, straining electric grid, the need for a lot of new transmission capacity is among the most pressing, experts and policymakers say. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy said the nation will need thousands of miles of new lines to better link regions to handle extreme weather, reduce […]

Hydrogen, nuclear among winners in last-minute changes to Ohio budget bill

BY: - July 10, 2023

Policies for new utility charges, natural gas, nuclear power promotion and solar energy were scattered throughout the 6,198-page two-year budget bill passed by Ohio lawmakers on June 30. Line item vetoes released in the wee hours of July 4 cut some terms and modified others. Ohio’s two-year budget bills have grown in recent years into […]

Inside the battle over who gets to build the grid of the future

BY: - April 6, 2023

The U.S. Department of Energy issued a draft report in February that found a “pressing need” for new electric transmission infrastructure across the country to improve reliability, connect a rapidly growing number of solar, wind and battery storage projects, supply increasing electric demand and alleviate scattered pockets of consistently high prices across the country. To […]

PJM, which coordinates the flow of electricity from power generators to utility companies in 13 states and the District of Columbia, is facing complaints about how it ensures it will have enough capacity to keep the electricity flowing during a winter storm or summer heat wave (fhm/Getty Images).

The nation’s biggest electric capacity market needs fixing, critics say

BY: - March 16, 2023

The nation’s largest grid operator is warning that it might not have enough electric generation in the future to guarantee reliability.  And it comes as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission convenes a forum on the multibillion-dollar capacity market PJM operates to ensure there’s enough power to meet demand even during grid emergencies, such as during […]

After a series of winter storms, regulators approve new standards for power plants

BY: - February 28, 2023

Two years after Winter Storm Uri, which caused a massive power failure in Texas that caused more than 200 deaths, and just two months after another storm, Elliott, forced blackouts in parts of the South, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved new extreme cold reliability standards for power plants.  However, the vote last week […]

Federal-state task force grapples with grid protection

BY: - February 20, 2023

A federal task force wrestled with the costs and benefits of better shielding the nation’s tens of thousands of electric substations from a growing number of attacks, like a neo-Nazi plot the FBI says it foiled earlier this month in Maryland, another that knocked out power to thousands in North Carolina in December and more […]

COMMENTARY

A lot of hot air from the gas stove debate

BY: - January 30, 2023

Growing up in West Texas, our family tells a story about a lightning strike that either hit, or nearly hit, a billboard in our neighborhood. It said: “Gas Cooks Better Than Electricity.” In our contemporary era where anything can be an outrage, our latest political spat happens to be about whether or not Biden is […]