Newsroom

March 25, 2021 - utilitydive.com - How California goes, so follows the nation. This axiom has held true the past few decades, especially for energy and environmental policy. Unfortunately, the pandemic’s onset hampered the state’s efforts to fight a record-setting wildfire season in 2020 with an aggressive microgrid policy initiative as well as plans that would have been the largest single utility microgrid purchase program in the country ... [ more ]

March 23, 2021 – USDA.gov - United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Justin Maxson today announced that USDA is investing $266 million to build and improve critical community facilities (PDF, 162 KB) to benefit nearly 3 million rural residents in 16 states and Puerto Rico. This funding includes $156 million to support health-care-related improvements and emergency response services that will benefit nearly 1 million rural residents in nine states and Puerto Rico ... [ more ]

March 9, 2021 - pv-magazine-usa.com - Tools deployed by the state as well as the underlying contract structure have created a program that local business and homeowners can grasp, and are investing in. The Massachusetts Department of Energy and Resources (DOER) was tasked with replacing its highly successful Solar Renewable Energy Certificate I & II programs five years ago. After a couple of band-aid extensions that allowed the SREC II program to continue, in late 2018 the agency launched the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program ... [ more ]

February 22, 2021 - forbes.com - As U.S regulators and industry leaders mull how to consider introducing hydrogen into the nation’s energy supply mix, they’re faced with a choice that sounds more like a decision pondered by the hosts of one of TV’s many home fixer-upper shows – should they go with blue hydrogen or green hydrogen, and what combination of the two will create the right mix? ... [ more ]

January 27, 2021 - ieefa.org - The devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in 2017 highlighted Puerto Rico's "antiquated, expensive and fossil fuel-dependent" electricity grid, providing the Biden administration with an historic opportunity to transform a vital part of the island's economy. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) recommends in a new policy brief that ... [ more ]

December 14, 2020 - Duke, Dominion and Southern say the 15-minute trading platform could boost clean power and lower costs. Renewables advocates want deeper changes to Southeast energy markets. The U.S. Southeast's biggest utilities have filed plans for a Southeast Energy Exchange Market, an electricity trading platform that they say could reduce power prices for about 50 million people and better integrate the region's growing share of clean power in years to come ... [ more ]

December 10, 2020 - Proposed regulations have an uphill battle to speed PG&E's switch from mobile diesel to cleaner, more cost-effective alternatives by 2021. California faces tough cost, reliability and technology choices when it comes to microgrid options for fire-prevention blackouts. California regulators and utilities want to build microgrids for communities most at threat from the state's increasingly deadly wildfires, and the widespread public safety power shutoff (PSPS) grid outages meant to prevent them. [ more ]

December 9, 2020 - New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced today that the New York State Common Retirement Fund (Fund), valued at an estimated $226 billion, has adopted a goal to transition its portfolio to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. This process will include completion within four years of a review of investments in energy sector companies, using minimum standards to assess transition readiness and climate-related investment risk, with, where consistent with fiduciary duty, divestment of companies that fail to meet minimum standards ... [ more ]

November 2, 2020 - Representatives from across the world will participate in the 19th and 20th Council of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) amid a backdrop of renewed calls from the Agency to build the post-Covid economic recovery around the energy transformation ... [ more ]

October 30, 2020 -  New York State unveiled the first fast-charging hub for electric vehicles (EV) in Jefferson County. The Direct Current Fast Charger (DCFC) hub at the Hilton Garden Inn in Watertown is the second set of 150 kW units completed as part of a statewide EVolve NY charging network being installed along key travel corridors and in urban areas to encourage travelers to drive EVs ... [ more ]

October 22, 2020 - A new federal program would offer $1.5 billion in grants for clean energy microgrids under a bill introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill aims to help fund clean energy microgrids for critical infrastructure, with a focus on low-income communities and communities of color. The Energy Resilient Communities Act is designed to help combat power outages and rolling blackouts, reduce pollution ... [ more ]

September 18, 2020 - The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today approved a historic final rule, Order 2222, enabling distributed energy resource (DER) aggregators to compete in all regional organized wholesale electric markets. This bold action empowers new technologies to come online and participate on a level playing field, further enhancing competition, encouraging innovation and driving down costs for consumers ... [ more ]

August 18, 2020  - Performance incentive mechanisms (PIMs) offer utilities the flexibility needed to meet both traditional and emerging demands, according to a July 30 report from Rocky Mountain Institute, which reviews historical examples of PIMs and offers eight recommendations for improving their results.  States have successfully used PIMs to support energy efficiency and demand reduction goals for a number of years and more recently began exploring how PIMs can support a broader range of technologies, Cara Goldenberg, manager in RMI's electricity practice, said in an email ... [ more ]

July 22, 2020 - A new Wood Mackenzie forecast describes the emerging U.S. markets for distributed solar, batteries, flexible loads and electric vehicles as grid assets. The U.S. market for distributed energy resources will look very different in five years than it does today. Fossil-fueled combined-heat-and-power systems will continue to take a back seat to distributed solar and energy storage for behind-the-meter generation — although resilience against wildfires, hurricanes and other extreme weather events will drive adoption of both. [ more ]

July 3, 2020 - Interest in hydrogen is growing, with demand increasing rapidly. It is clear that the next significant transformation in the energy transition will be based on the hydrogen economy, transforming green electrons to green molecules via water electrolysis to create green hydrogen.  At the moment, 80 million tons of hydrogen is produced each year, and that is expected to increase by about 20 million tons by the end of the decade. Looking even further ahead, by 2050 ... [ more ]

July 2, 2020 - The market for microgrids continues to expand, with utilities, businesses, and neighborhoods installing a variety of technologies in systems to ensure a reliable and resilient supply of power.  The benefits of microgrids have been increasingly recognized in recent years, as sources of both backup and at times primary power. The systems provide reliability and energy security, can be at the heart of sustain­ ability programs for businesses, and are decreasing electricity costs for consumers. They also are an important tool to ... [ more ]

June 17, 2020 - In order to meet fuel emissions standards enacted by governments and emissions reductions targets put in place by the corporations themselves, automotive OEMs are investing billions of dollars in battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs). In fact, some auto OEMs are planning on electrifying their entire fleet by the early to mid-2020s. However, BEVs and PHEVs are not the only low-emissions vehicles that will be part of the transition to decarbonized transportation. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) are a new type of low-emission vehicle to rival internal combustion engine (ICEs) and electric vehicles ... [ more ]

June 8, 2020 - Hexagon Purus, subsidiary of Hexagon Composites, has been awarded a contract to supply hydrogen systems to Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) for its newest prototype hydrogen-powered heavy-duty fuel cell truck powertrains. The total sales value of the order is approximately USD 1 million. First prototypes of the hydrogen systems are due to be delivered in the fourth quarter 2020 ... [ more ]

June 4, 2020 - Nikola will be able to produce more than 40,000 kgs of hydrogen a day with the new infrastructure equipment, which was made possible in part by the company recently going public. Electric-truck maker Nikola has officially merged with VectoIQ Acquisition Corp., becoming a Nasdaq publicly traded company, and announced plans to purchase equipment to create new hydrogen fueling infrastructure ... [ more ]

June 1, 2020 - The HYFLEXPOWER project comprises a consortium made up of Engie Solutions, Siemens Gas and Power, Centrax, Arttic, German Aerospace Center (DLR) and four European universities. The €15.2m ($17m) project will mainly be funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Framework Program for Research and Innovation ... [ more ]

May 28, 2020 - The City of Pasadena is pleased to announce the opening of the Marengo Charging Plaza – 155 E. Green Street. With a total of 44 chargers, 24 Superchargers installed by Tesla and 20 fast chargers installed by the City of Pasadena, the Marengo Charging Plaza is the largest public electric vehicle (EV) fast-charging plaza in the nation.  Since the City launched the PowerUp Pasadena campaign in 2018, Pasadena has offered some of the most ... [ more ]

May 27, 2020 - Countries around the world are focused on mitigating the effects of climate change. And getting rid of greenhouse gases is fast becoming a top focus. One of the quickest ways to lower pollution is to reduce fossil fuel burning. The nation's transportation infrastructure is a great place to start, as it's responsible for 29% of greenhouse gases. But we can't just stop burning oil and natural gas in a year or two ... [ more ]

May 27, 2020 - Emanuel DaRosa, the outgoing president and CEO of Jamaica Public Service, JPS, will leave as the company starts setting up an island wide electric vehicle-charging station network. DaRosa entered the position as CEO when the utility was transitioning from dependence on heavy oil towards reliance on liquefied natural gas. Despite the transition, light theft remains a constant challenge ... [ more ]

May 26, 2020 - Political divisions are a growing fixture in the United States today, whether the topic is marriage across party lines, responding to climate change or concern about coronavirus exposure. Especially in a presidential election year, the vast divide between conservatives and liberals often feels nearly impossible to bridge. Our research examines what people know about the energy sources in use today in the United States, and what types of energy they would like to see the nation using in 2050 ... [ more ]

May 26, 2020 - Industry leading companies, together with SolarPower Europe and WindEurope have launched "Choose Renewable Hydrogen", a joint initiative highlighting the crucial role of renewables to ensure a sound economic recovery, aligned with the European Green Deal. Signatories called on the European Commission to make the right choices for Europe's upcoming energy system integration and hydrogen strategy ... [ more ]

May 17, 2020 - Experts from the University of Surrey believe their dream of clean energy storage is a step closer after they unveiled their ground-breaking super-capacitor technology that is able to store and deliver electricity at high power rates, particularly for mobile applications ... [ more ]

April 27, 2020 - The US Department of Buildings (DOB) has launched a Carbon Neutrality Innovation Challenge to spark innovations to boost energy efficiency across New York city's buildings. As part of city mayor Bill de Blasio's historic Green New Deal, NYC plans to be carbon neutral by 2050. Innovative companies from the New York City Economic Development Corporation's Urban Tech Initiative will work directly with the DOB to propose ideas to achieve this goal ... [ more ]

April 22, 2020 - While a pathway to deeper decarbonization requires total energy investment up to $130 trillion (€119 trillion), the socio-economic gains of such an investment would be massive, according to IRENA's Global Renewables Outlook. Transforming the energy system could boost cumulative global GDP gains above business-as-usual by $98 trillion (€90.2 trillion) between now and 2050. It would nearly quadruple renewable energy jobs to 42 million, expand employment in energy efficiency to 21 million and add 15 million in system flexibility ... [ more ]

April 17, 2020 - National Rural Utilities Cooperative (NRTC) will leverage Autogrid's artificial intelligence based FlexTM DER management platform to deliver Bring Your Own Things initiatives across 50 million rural consumers. The platform will support 800 utilities in 48 states to ... [ more ]

March 27, 2020 - A consortium led by circular carbon energy company Liquid Wind will produce liquid, carbon neutral fuel from captured carbon dioxide and green hydrogen at a new facility in Sweden.  The Power-to-Fuel project will see Liquid Wind, Axpo, COWI, Carbon Clean Solutions, Haldor Topsoe, Nel Hydrogen and Siemens combine their expertise and technology to establish a commercial-scale e-methanol facility ... [ more ]

February 10, 2020 - A new decade, a new era for the Caribbean energy market? Correlating the arrival of 2020 with a watershed in the way in which the region operates is, arguably, a fool’s game. What’s undeniable, however, is that if evolution is sometimes slow, sometimes rapid, we are currently in a period characterized by the latter. Change is in the air. Many experts – on-the-ground practitioners who have been active in the Caribbean for years – provided insight and trends to look out for in 2020 ... [ more ]

February 3, 2020 - A Guide to Recent Legislation and Research Throughout the Country ... [ more ]

January 30, 2020 - In 2019, Environment America and its state affiliates played a key role in convincing New Mexico, Maine and Washington to make commitments to 100% clean or renewable energy. On the heels of those landmark victories, the national nonprofit organization announced today it is calling on 15 additional states in 2020 to enact similar renewable energy goals ... [ more ]

January 3, 2020 - The President recently signed into law a spending and tax bill that includes an extension of the wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) for one year. The bill also raises the value of the PTC to 1.5 cents/kilowatt hour. AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan offered the following statement ... [ more ]