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Grid leaders clear the air around Russian hacking
A wind power generator fell into Russia-linked hackers’ crosshairs last year, but the attackers never managed to put the wider U.S. grid at risk, officials confirmed yesterday at a Department of Homeland Security cybersecurity conference here. Tom Fanning, CEO of utility Southern Co., said the hackers’ reach appears to have been “very limited” — perhaps just “one or two wind turbines” at an undisclosed power company. [ read more … ]
Andrew Wheeler, New E.P.A. Chief, Details His Energy Lobbying Past
The acting chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, Andrew Wheeler, has come under scrutiny for his years spent as a powerful energy lobbyist. He has represented an electric utility, a uranium producer, and, most significantly, a coal magnate who paid Mr. Wheeler’s former lobbying firm more than $2.7 million over eight years. Mr. Wheeler is now in a position to act upon issues he once raised on behalf of his clients. And he is expected to be grilled on his relationships in the Senate today, when he makes a regular appearance before the Committee on Environment and Public Works. It will be his first testimony in Congress since assuming leadership of the agency in July, when Scott Pruitt resigned as E.P.A. administrator. [ read more … ]
Annual FERC Reliability Conference Takes on Resilience
FERC Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur, who has been attending the commission’s annual reliability technical conference since her appointment in 2014, always opens the meeting by citing something special about each year’s gathering. At Tuesday’s conference, LaFleur noted it has been 50 years since NERC was formed following the 1965 Northeast blackout. “I was practicing piano when the lights went out in Boston,” she recalled. [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
Public utility officials say FERC overstepped its bounds in PJM capacity market order
A broad group of state governments, market participants and environmental advocates on Monday asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to revisit a June order reshaping the PJM Interconnection capacity market, writing that the ruling overstepped the commission’s jurisdiction and would hamper state clean energy policies.
Illinois, New Jersey and Maryland, along with nuclear and environmental advocates, wrote that FERC’s order improperly intervenes in state energy policies, such as nuclear subsidies or renewable energy mandates. FERC’s 3-2 ruling found that such policies improperly suppress wholesale electricity prices and suggested changes to limit their impact. [ read more … ]
Environmental groups ask Supreme Court to revisit stay the Clean Power Plan
Environmentalists want the Supreme Court to reconsider its unprecedented decision 2 ½ years ago to stay the Clean Power Plan. Attorneys for a coalition of green groups Friday asked Chief Justice John Roberts to force opponents of the plan to explain why the stay should continue. The Supreme Court halted implementation of the rule in February 2016 on a 5-4 vote; it was the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s last action on the court. [ read more … ]
Most exciting U.S. power market this year looks more like a bust
It was supposed to be the country’s most-exciting power market this summer. Texas’ power grid had all the right elements to create an electricity price surge in mid-July — record usage and temperatures and a supply curtailment from the shutdown of three major coal plants. But aside from a few hours here and there, not much happened. And that may prove costly for traders sitting on bets that prices will soar in August, when demand typically peaks. [ read more … ]
New York governor urges Interior to support state’s offshore wind plan
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is calling on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to back the state’s plan to expand offshore wind generation and forget offshore oil and gas drilling. In a letter to Zinke on Monday, Cuomo urged the Interior chief to show support to the state as it strives for a goal of 2.4 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, telling Zinke that the federal government “has an opportunity to play a significant role in this success story.” [ read more … ]
California to Import Power From New Mexico Wind Farm by 2020
Power from a New Mexico wind farm will help supply four California counties beginning in 2020 under two 15-year power-purchase agreements that will contribute to the state’s clean-energy goals. [ read more … ]
New Virginia solar project announced
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has approved a permit for a new solar farm in central Virginia. Gov. Ralph Northam’s office recently announced that DEQ has given approval for Briel Farm Solar to build a 20-megawatt project in Henrico County. [ read more … ]
Clean Line Energy Sells Non-Transmission Development Assets
Clean Line Energy Partners LLC has announced the sale of its non-transmission development assets – including interests in a 600 MW wind project and a series of other wind and battery storage developments – to Quantum Energy Partners, a provider of private equity capital to the global energy industry. Clean Line will retain its existing transmission assets. [ read more … ]
Solar panel glut is muting effect of Trump tariffs: SunPower
A steep global decline in the price of solar modules in recent weeks is nearly offsetting the effect of the Trump administration’s 30 percent tariff on imported panels, the chief executive of a major U.S. solar company said on Monday. While the price drop is trimming the profit margins of manufacturers, it is welcome news for purchasers of solar systems, who had been facing higher prices since the tariffs went into effect in February. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.