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Revamped Western grid on the horizon?
Visions for a new Western grid are beginning to come into focus. The board of the Southwest Power Pool last week endorsed a proposal to integrate eight Rocky Mountain power companies into the 14-state regional transmission organization. The vote paves the way for the Rocky Mountains to join the Great Plains in a single market for wholesale electricity. Advocates say a merger would lower consumers’ bills and help utilities to bring increasing amounts of renewable energy online. [ read more … ]
Perry: ‘I’m not going anywhere’
“While we should always be looking for places to cut the budget, we should also recognize that innovation is critical to our nation’s energy future,” Murkowski said. “We need to focus on maintaining our global leadership in science, research and development.” Cantwell called proposed funding reductions at DOE for clean energy research “devastating,” considering China’s increased focus on energy technology developments. [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
Multiple concerns drive MISO, utilities to seek rehearing on FERC storage order
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Xcel Energy, AES and a group of transmission-owning utilities have asked asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider its landmark storage order approved in February. MISO asked for clarification regarding the minimum size of storage for wholesale market participation, bid parameters, and a six-month extension on the order’s deadlines. AES also asked for an extension, noting MISO is already making tariff reforms under a separate FERC order approved last year. [ read more … ]
Trump admin’s refusal to say ‘climate’ seen as deceptive
As hurricanes slammed into Texas, then Florida, then Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands last summer, the White House said it wasn’t the right time to talk about climate change. Those types of questions politicized present disasters, officials said. Months later, the Trump administration still hasn’t found a voice to discuss the impacts of rising temperatures. Now the omissions are seen by some observers as overtly political as the administration grapples with historic damages from extreme weather without mentioning greenhouse gases. [ read more … ]
Facebook and Adobe to buy wind power from Nebraska facility
Under the new terms, Facebook will gradually buy all of the plant’s 320 MW output by 2029. The wind energy will be used to power Facebook’s data center in Papillon, Nebraska. Separately, Adobe will purchase the energy produced by 10 MW of the wind farm between 2019 and 2028. The Rattlesnake Creek facility is currently being built and is expected to be operational by the end of this year. [ read more … ]
Greens’ poll shows support for renewable energy transition in swing states
Most voters in a handful of swing states support transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy for their electricity needs, an environmental group found. The Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research poll, conducted on behalf of the Sierra Club in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Colorado, shows that most respondents in each state would back a state policy mandating 100 percent renewable electricity from sources like wind and solar power. [ read more … ]
Hawaii campus joins U.S. trend to go all green
A campus in Hawaii is joining a handful of U.S. colleges and universities aiming to use 100 percent renewable energy, it said on Tuesday, part of a growing nationwide trend of schools going green. The move by the University of Hawaii campus on Maui island is forward-looking and makes economic sense given the cost of fuel on the remote Pacific archipelago of islands and atolls, said Michael Unebasmi, a university spokesman. [ read more … ]
New deterrent system may help prevent eagle deaths caused by wind turbines
Researchers at Oregon State University are working on a system that could potentially save the lives of thousands of birds killed every year by the spinning blades of wind turbines. The system — which detects not only when a bird hits one of the giant blades, but also what species of bird — marks a step forward in protecting some animals from what is otherwise considered to be a key piece of environmentally-friendly energy production. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.