|
James Downing kicks off this week’s NetZero Insider policy and impacts rundown with his coverage of a new report grading the RTOs and ISOs on their efforts on transmission planning in the wake of FERC Order 1920. The verdict: Progress is being made, but it’s too early to judge if and when we will see full implementation.
In a related story, Downing digs into the comments FERC has received on its proposal to push utilities and grid operators to use dynamic line ratings, a grid-enhancing technology that increases the capacity on existing lines. Consumer advocates and state regulators are in favor of mandates, but utilities urged the commission to use caution before issuing new requirements.
John Cropley reports on the hot topic of data centers, with a story on AEP Ohio’s compromise settlement aimed at protecting consumers from the high cost of building out the electric power system to meet the future needs of new data centers, especially if the facilities end up using less power than anticipated.
Cropley also continued his on-the-spot coverage of offshore wind development with the latest update on the six OSW projects in the New York Bight. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has completed its first programmatic, regional environmental impact statement for all six projects that is intended to accelerate the environmental assessments and permitting of the individual projects still to come.
Our DOE reporter K Kaufmann has the story on the department’s latest round of funding for new grid upgrades: close to $2 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, going to 38 projects in 42 states. The top priorities for the federal dollars center on grid upgrades to improve resilience in areas especially vulnerable to extreme weather and to get more power online to meet rising demand.
Moving to our curated content, the Associated Press has a related story on the Biden administration’s push to get clean energy funding from the IIJA and Inflation Reduction Act committed and out the door in advance of the potential return of Donald Trump to the White House. Trump has pledged to claw back any unspent funds and stop further offshore wind development.
An article in The Guardian looks at how election rhetoric about fracking has stirred controversy in the small town of Dimock, Pennsylvania, where drilling for natural gas more than a decade ago has left the 1,200 residents with a methane- and toxin-riddled water supply.
Staying at the grassroots level, Inside Climate News profiles a new nonprofit, Greenlight, that seeks to be a counterweight to the local groups that oppose and often spread misinformation about renewable energy projects. Instead, Greenlight will rally local support to appear before the planning commissions and county councils that can advance or halt clean energy projects.
If you read one thing this week, make it Ari Peskoe’s sharply argued op-ed on utilities’ efforts to secure their right of first refusal on new transmission projects. Peskoe, director of Harvard Law School’s Electricity Law Initiative, writes that such a ROFR could amount to “a tax on new entrants into wholesale power markets that would enrich utility shareholders at the expense of the public.”
Read on for this week’s Intelligence Report:
|
Share
Tweet
Share
Forward