4 item(s) were returned.
President
The Stella Group, LTD
According to the Fourth National Climate Assessment, humans are the dominant cause of global temperature rise, which many believe is directly responsible for the increased intensity of extreme weather events. The assessment shows that extreme events have cost the U.S.more than $1.1 trillion since 1980, and also warns that “The frequency and intensity of extreme high temperature events are virtually certain to increase in the future as global temperature increases”. We have only to look to Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico where major hurricanes caused catastrophic damage to the electric grid creating heightened concern for resiliency. The inability to re-establish… [more]
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Energy storage, a potential solution for integrating intermittent renewables and improving grid stability, again saw rapid growth this past year. A “transition year” for U.S. energy storage, 2016 saw a more diverse market emerge “both in terms of the types of systems (market segments) deployed and the business models.” These trends are expected to continue in the U.S. with combined residential, commercial, and industrial energy storage deployments predicted to surpass 2 GW by 2021. Despite this rapid growth, there are those who claim that the adoption of storage has been slowed by a “web” of regulations at all levels. Some… [more]
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Director, Midwest Clean Energy
Environmental Defense Fund
In a long-awaited decision, Ohio regulators with the Public Utilities Commission (PUCO) approved a $600 million electricity rate plan for Ohio utilities provider, FirstEnergy. FirstEnergy has been struggling financially since a 2011 merger with Allegheny Energy. The utility paid a premium to acquire Allegheny’s coal dependency just as the cost of natural gas began its rapid decline. The PUCO decision was in response to FirstEnergy’s $4 billion bailout plan, which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rejected after determining the bailout equated to an illegal subsidy that distorted competitive electricity markets. In order to avoid FERC jurisdiction, FirstEnergy revised its… [more]
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Senior Regulatory Attorney
Environmental Defense Fund
Two seemingly unrelated announcements drew much attention in the electric utility industry recently. First, the Edison Electric Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council jointly recommended changing how utilities should be regulated. Second, Duke Energy announced it will sell 13 Midwest merchant power plants. These announcements are actually related, and arise because the traditional utility business model is crumbling, due to several factors: Load growth has declined, due to a slowing economy and greater use of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Utilities are no longer able to obtain economies of scale by building ever-larger plants. New regulations have resulted in… [more]
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