Generation
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The fallout from PJM’s record-setting capacity auction
Utilities, power plant owners, state lawmakers and regulators are responding to PJM's latest capacity auction, with an eye on the ones ahead.
By Ethan Howland • Sept. 6, 2024 -
Uprates, batteries and DR may offer near-term responses to record PJM capacity prices
With tight supply-demand conditions, upcoming capacity auctions could be volatile, according to ESAI Power’s Scott Niemann. “It just adds a lot more uncertainty to the auction outcomes," he said.
By Ethan Howland • Sept. 6, 2024 -
PJM considers fast-track review for shovel-ready generating projects
The grid operator expects generators will step in with new supplies in response to high prices in its recent capacity auction.
By Ethan Howland • Sept. 5, 2024 -
White House announces $7.3B clean energy financing for Dairyland Power, 15 other co-ops
The federal funding will support 10 GW in clean energy projects lowering electricity costs for cooperative utilities in 23 states, the White House said.
By Ethan Howland • Sept. 5, 2024 -
Texas denies Aegle Power loan application for 1.3-GW gas plant after NextEra’s unauthorized inclusion
Lawmakers said they want to know how the Public Utility Commission of Texas and Deloitte “advanced a problematic and unqualified application by an energy executive who was publicly convicted of fraud.”
By Robert Walton • Sept. 5, 2024 -
Reregulation? How utilities and states are responding to PJM’s record capacity prices
“Houston, we have a problem,” American Municipal Power’s Steve Lieberman said. “If we don’t see new capacity in the [2027/28] auction, we’re really running out of time.”
By Ethan Howland • Sept. 4, 2024 -
CenterPoint to propose $5B for Houston grid resilience, forego profits from mobile generation lease
CenterPoint apologized to state lawmakers about the mobile generators. We “should have communicated more clearly to our elected officials about the cost and the limitations of such large-scale units,” the utility said.
By Robert Walton • Sept. 4, 2024 -
Sierra Club sues Arizona regulators over UNS Electric 200-MW gas expansion
A June decision “overturned the existing environmental review process ... setting a dangerous precedent,” said Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter Director Sandy Bahr.
By Robert Walton • Sept. 4, 2024 -
Ratepayer advocates urge PJM to include RMR power plants in capacity auctions
PJM should hold a stakeholder process to include reliability-must-run plants and, if needed, delay the next auction, set to take place in December, to avoid “unjust and unreasonable” prices, they said.
By Ethan Howland • Sept. 3, 2024 -
Texas PUC selects 17 gas-fired projects totaling almost 10 GW for possible loans
The Public Utility Commission of Texas also finalized a reliability standard and took other steps to strengthen the state’s electric system at Thursday’s open meeting.
By Robert Walton • Aug. 30, 2024 -
PJM capacity prices could jump 157% in next auction: Morgan Stanley
While prices could hit a $695/MW-day cap, relatively small changes in new supply in the December auction could produce large swings in the outcome, analysts said.
By Ethan Howland • Aug. 29, 2024 -
Pennsylvania state senator to propose loan fund to spur new power plants
The Pennsylvania Baseload Energy Development Fund would be modeled after a $5 billion loan fund in Texas.
By Ethan Howland • Aug. 29, 2024 -
US clean energy jobs grew 4.2% in 2023: DOE
The U.S. added clean energy jobs at more than twice the rate of the broader economy, according to the Department of Energy.
By Robert Walton • Aug. 28, 2024 -
Clean energy groups push for more interconnection reforms ahead of FERC workshop
They called for fast-track processes that would give construction-ready projects access to existing and planned interconnection capacity, among other things.
By Ethan Howland • Aug. 27, 2024 -
Southwest Power Pool seeks FERC OK to delay 2024 interconnection queue process
The delay would give SPP time to finish studying and restudying interconnection clusters going back to 2018, the grid operator told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
By Ethan Howland • Aug. 26, 2024 -
CAISO interconnection reform plan draws support from SoCal Ed, PG&E, PUC
However, renewable energy developers and trade groups urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reject provisions they say would favor utility-backed projects.
By Ethan Howland • Aug. 23, 2024 -
New England may need ‘vast renewable build-out’ by 2050 to meet state decarbonization goals: ISO
By 2045, wind and solar resources are projected to meet just 10 GW of the 51 GW peak gross load during peak winter demand, according to the grid operator’s modeling.
By Robert Walton • Aug. 23, 2024 -
MISO, SPP advance ‘unprecedented’ transmission plan that could support up to 30 GW
The grid operators are seeking Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approvals that are needed to build $1.7 billion in transmission projects along their northern border.
By Ethan Howland • Aug. 22, 2024 -
Deep Dive
California pioneers new ways to ease interconnection of large DERs
Limited generation profiles in California will schedule limits to DERs during system constraints. New York, Illinois, Colorado and others are testing more flexible approaches.
By Herman K. Trabish • Aug. 21, 2024 -
FERC rejects Basin Electric’s cryptocurrency mining rate proposal
Basin Electric failed to show it was fair to treat cryptocurrency loads differently from other similar-sized loads, the agency said in a potentially precedent-setting decision.
By Ethan Howland • Aug. 21, 2024 -
CenterPoint issues all-source RFP for Indiana territory
The utility seeks new renewables, thermal generation, batteries, demand-side resources “and other innovative solutions” to supply 150,000 customers.
By Robert Walton • Aug. 21, 2024 -
EIA expects 62.8 GW to come online in 2024, led by solar, energy storage
Also, the pace of power plant retirements slowed in the first half of this year to 5.1 GW, down from 9.2 GW in the same period last year, the Energy Information Administration said Monday.
By Ethan Howland • Aug. 19, 2024 -
Oklo’s microreactor project pipeline jumps 93% ahead of 2027 planned deployment
Data centers account for 600 MW of Oklo’s roughly 1,350 MW in business currently under negotiation with customers, CEO Jacob DeWitte said on the company’s Q2 2024 earnings call.
By Brian Martucci • Aug. 15, 2024 -
Maryland electric customers face up to 24% bill hikes from PJM capacity auction: report
Reliability-must-run contracts for two Talen Energy power plants added about $5 billion to PJM’s capacity costs in its last auction, Synapse Energy Economics found.
By Ethan Howland • Aug. 15, 2024 -
New York ISO reforms interconnection queue, launches cluster study reviews
The changes, which comply with FERC Order 2023, “deliver greater efficiencies and transparency in our interconnection process,” New York ISO President and CEO Rich Dewey said.
By Robert Walton • Aug. 13, 2024