Dive Brief:
Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioners shot down a number of agenda items proposed by Chair James Danly on Tuesday in what stakeholders called an abnormal meeting.
The meeting marked Danly s last as head of FERC, and led to the rejection of several gas infrastructure projects, the dismissal of a proposal that would have expanded the Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR) in the New York Independent System Operator s (NYISO) territory, and the partial rejection of a request for rehearing clarification on the MOPR expansion in the PJM Interconnection. This meeting is not normal, said Gillian Giannetti, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council s Sustainable FERC Project, in a tweet. You don t put orders on the Sunshine notice that will fail.
Dive Brief:
California regulators adopted on Thursday rates, tariffs and rules for how the three largest investor-owned utilities (IOUs) in the state will facilitate microgrid deployment in California to ensure grid resilience and backup power capabilities.
The tariffs with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) have new rules in place to reduce barriers to microgrid development. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) ordered the utilities last summer to submit reports and plans on new resiliency programs and their support of microgrid development.
The latest CPUC decision is part of ongoing efforts by state regulators to prepare for the upcoming wildfire season. CPUC ordered the utilities to create a Microgrid Incentive Program, which would fund clean energy microgrids from a $200 million budget for vulnerable communities impacted by grid outages.
Dive Brief:
New York has selected Equinor Wind US to develop a pair of offshore wind facilities capable of generating 2,490 MW of power. The state has a goal of bringing online 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and the new announcement means there are now plans in place for almost half that target.
The state has also issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the development of $5 billion in transmission projects to move renewable energy from the upstate region and Canada, into New York City.
Dive Insight:
New York s commitment to offshore wind is intended to position the state as a leader in wind turbine construction.
Dive Brief:
A December study by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology concludes the United States can fully decarbonize its power sector through the use of existing technologies and that tackling decarbonization through a federal policy framework, rather than individual states setting clean energy goals, can help to significantly lower the costs.
The research found that interstate coordination and an expansion of the nation s transmission system could lower the cost of fully decarbonizing the electrical grid by 2040 by 46%, relative to an approach where states pursue individual goals.
A separate study sponsored by Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG), a coalition of energy companies and renewables groups, concluded that a comprehensive approach to building transmission lines to serve Eastern load centers could could save consumers $100 billion on electric bills by 2050.
Share it
Editor’s note: This story is part of the Utility Dive Outlook on 2021, a series on the trends that will shape the industry in 2021. For a look at the business trends affecting other industries, see the Dive Outlook on 2021.
At this time last year, few people if anyone could have predicted what 2020 would bring.
That tumultuous year has not yet led to a calmer one, but if January 2020 taught us anything, it s that the first days of a new year may not always be a sign of what s to come. With that being said, Utility Dive spoke to over half a dozen power sector experts who tentatively predict big changes on the horizon in 2021.