SPP stakeholders support $7.7B of new transmission projects 10.23.2024 Last week, SPP stakeholders voted in favor of the plans proposed by its Integrated Transmission Planning (ITP) process, asserting that studies show the transmission investments will pay for themselves in a matter of years and return benefits at a rate of…
CenterPoint Saw Data Center Demand ‘Dramatically Change’ Over Summer
CenterPoint Saw Data Center Demand ‘Dramatically Change’ Over Summer Oct. 28, 2024 The leaders of CenterPoint Energy Inc. this summer saw “a fundamental shift” in data center activity in their Greater Houston footprint, CEO Jason Wells told analysts Oct. 28. After beginning the season with about 1 gigawatt of demand…
Georgia Power awarded $160 million from Department of Energy to enhance Georgia’s power grid
Georgia Power awarded $160 million from Department of Energy to enhance Georgia’s power grid Oct 21, 2024 Georgia Power, the state’s largest electric utility serving 2.7 million customers, has been awarded more than $160 million in funding by the Department of Energy (DOE) through its Grid Deployment Office. As Georgia…
World entering the “age of electricity” as demand outpaces all other forms of energy
World entering the “age of electricity” as demand outpaces all other forms of energy Energize Weekly, October 23, 2024 The world is set to enter the “age of electricity” as demand has grown more quickly than any other energy source and is set to accelerate even more, according to the…
Hydro One and Partners Receive Approval on Final Environmental Assessment Report for Waasigan Transmission Line Project
Hydro One and Partners Receive Approval on Final Environmental Assessment Report for Waasigan Transmission Line Project Oct. 14, 2024 Hydro One and nine First Nation partners have received approval on the final Environmental Assessment Report for the Waasigan Transmission Line project from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.…
Dominion Energy, AEP, FirstEnergy propose new transmission lines in PJM region
Dominion Energy, AEP, FirstEnergy propose new transmission lines in PJM region October 8, 2024 Dominion Energy Virginia, American Electric Power and FirstEnergy have announced a joint planning agreement to propose several new regional transmission projects within the PJM footprint, which spans multiple states in the US. This initiative aligns with…
CenterPoint unveils Phase 2 of grid resilience plan, with 25K stronger power poles
CenterPoint unveils Phase 2 of grid resilience plan, with 25K stronger power poles Sep. 30, 2024 CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) +1% in Monday’s trading after unveiling plans to overhaul its power grid infrastructure in the next eight months before the start of the 2025 hurricane season, including adding 25K stronger power…
Power Grid Under Pressure: Is U.S. Transmission Infrastructure Ready for the Surge in Energy Demand?
Power Grid Under Pressure: Is U.S. Transmission Infrastructure Ready for the Surge in Energy Demand? Sept. 23, 2024 The demand for power is growing, but is the bulk transmission’s infrastructure ready for it? This past summer saw peak demands setting records followed by next-day power prices setting their own records,…
Four Kansas GOP members working to blunt federal power on transmission line corridor
Four Kansas GOP members working to blunt federal power on transmission line corridor September 13, 2024 Four Republicans in the Kansas congressional delegation Friday offered support for legislation limiting federal authority to take control of private property for development of a national electric transmission corridor. The bill backed by U.S.…
Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft balk at Ohio utility’s demand they pay for electric grid upgrades to support AI rollout
Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft balk at Ohio utility’s demand they pay for electric grid upgrades to support AI rollout Sep. 16, 2024 Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have banded together to fight an Ohio utility that wants them to pay for upgrades to the electric grid that will be…
Greenlink West transmission project in Nevada gets green light from feds
Greenlink West transmission project in Nevada gets green light from feds September 10th 2024 Greenlink West, the transmission project that will run through Nevada, has received the green light from federal officials. Acting Deputy Secretary of the Interior Laura Daniel-Davis announced Monday that Greenlink West received a record of decision…
Data Centers Face Seven-Year Wait for Dominion Power Hookups
Data Centers Face Seven-Year Wait for Dominion Power Hookups August 29, 2024 Dominion Energy Inc. expects the time it takes to connect large data centers to the electric grid to increase by one to three years amid a surge in requests, bringing the total wait time to as long as…
TVA power grid working overtime amid record-breaking heat
TVA power grid working overtime amid record-breaking heat Aug 30, 2024 It’s no surprise that intense heat in Middle Tennessee has lead a lot of people to crank up the air conditioning. Officials with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) told News 2 that this means the power grid is working…
Idaho Gov. Little unveils new wildfire plan that includes less liability for companies
Idaho Gov. Little unveils new wildfire plan that includes less liability for companies August 23, 2024 A new plan Idaho Gov. Brad Little unveiled Friday to mitigate wildfire risk had more than just policies aimed to protect areas from widespread blazes. A list of top priorities had a broad scope…
ERCOT successfully navigates heat wave, new peak demand record
ERCOT successfully navigates heat wave, new peak demand record Aug 26, 2024 Despite record temperatures last week and a new peak demand record, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said it was able to maintain service without conservation requests, which it required last summer. Large additions of renewables and battery…
FERC rejects Basin Electric’s bid for special cryptocurrency mine and large load rates
FERC rejects Basin Electric’s bid for special cryptocurrency mine and large load rates Energize Weekly, August 28, 2024 The Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s plan for special rates for cryptocurrency mines and other large loads was rejected by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which said the co-op had not proved…
Entergy Louisiana breaks ground on phase one of grid resilience plan
Entergy Louisiana breaks ground on phase one of grid resilience plan August 20, 2024 Entergy Louisiana LLC recently marked the start of phase one of its comprehensive grid resilience plan during a groundbreaking ceremony in Lake Charles, reports Daily Energy Insider. “We harden the grid throughout each year; however, the…
Court reverses ICC order on Grain Belt Express project
Court reverses ICC order on Grain Belt Express project Aug 8, 2024 An Appellate Court has reversed the Illinois Commerce Commission’s granting of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) to a proposed high-voltage direct current transmission line across the state. Grain Belt Express (GBX) failed to prove the…
Texas launches new investigation into Houston’s power utility following deadly outages after Beryl
Texas launches new investigation into Houston’s power utility following deadly outages after Beryl August 12, 2024 Texas’ attorney general launched an investigation Monday into Houston’s electric utility over allegations of fraud and waste following Hurricane Beryl, adding to the mounting scrutiny after widespread power outages left millions without electricity for…
US to invest $2.2 billion to overhaul national power grid
US to invest $2.2 billion to overhaul national power grid August 5, 2024 The Biden administration said on Tuesday it is investing $2.2 billion to revamp the nation’s power grid to protect it against growing threats of extreme weather events. The U.S. government has been working to overhaul the country’s…
Hawaiian Electric nears completion of $1.7M weather station project to help prevent wildfires
Hawaiian Electric nears completion of $1.7M weather station project to help prevent wildfires July 26, 2024 Hawaiian Electric Co. expects to fully complete its $1.7 million weather station project by the end of the month to help the company better predict and respond to weather conditions that could spark wildfires.…
Manchin, Barrasso announce permitting reform deal, breaking lengthy impasse
Manchin, Barrasso announce permitting reform deal, breaking lengthy impasse 07/22/24 Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) have reached an agreement on a bill to speed up the nation’s energy and infrastructure projects after about two years of trying to reach a deal. The bill takes on a suite…
CIB Invests $283.5 Million in New Alberta Transmission Line
CIB Invests $283.5 Million in New Alberta Transmission Line July 11, 2024 The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) is providing Alberta electricity transmission companies, AltaLink and ATCO Electric, with a loan of $208.16 million to construct a transmission line, the Central East Transfer-Out project, in the counties of Red Deer, Lacombe…
Entergy Texas announces resiliency plan to strengthen the Southeast Texas power grid
Entergy Texas announces resiliency plan to strengthen the Southeast Texas power grid 07/01/2024 Extreme weather has become more frequent and severe in Texas. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, there have been 179 extreme weather events in Texas from 1980 to June 2024, including hurricanes and winter storms.…
How Chevron’s fall could remake the energy sector
How Chevron’s fall could remake the energy sector 07/01/2024 The Supreme Court’s decision Friday to give judges more authority over federal agencies creates new hurdles for the Biden administration as it seeks to promote low-carbon energy and address climate change. Forty years after the justices first decided Chevron v. NRDC,…
Despite bad weather and forced power plant outages the nation’s grid was reliable in 2023
Despite bad weather and forced power plant outages the nation’s grid was reliable in 2023 Energize Weekly, July 3, 2024 Even in the face of extreme weather events and higher rates of forced outages at generating facilities, the U.S.-Canadian electric grid remained “reliable and secure” in 2023, according to the…
Con Edison begins five-year plan to install interrupters to improve reliability
Con Edison begins five-year plan to install interrupters to improve reliability June 24, 2024 Over the next five years, Con Edison plans to install 100 new “interrupters” on underground electric delivery equipment in Brooklyn and Queens. An interrupter is a device that swiftly detects and “interrupts” problems within underground electrical…
Casar leads 22 House Democrats in call for federal electric grid corridors in Texas
Casar leads 22 House Democrats in call for federal electric grid corridors in Texas 06/24/24 Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) on Monday led 22 members of Congress in requesting that the Department of Energy add Texas to the areas serviced by proposed federal corridors for electrical transmission. In May, the department…
New NREL Report Highlights Pathways to Unlock Full Potential of Interregional Transmission
New NREL Report Highlights Pathways to Unlock Full Potential of Interregional Transmission June 14, 2024 Interregional transmission lines, which connect multiple planning regions, can offer numerous benefits to electric customers, such as increased grid reliability and reduced costs. However, current market and operating practices were not designed for such an…
PUCO allows higher AES Ohio transmission charges
PUCO allows higher AES Ohio transmission charges June 3, 2024 State regulators recently approved a bid by Dayton electric utility AES Ohio to increase its transmission cost recovery rider or charge. In so doing, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (also known as the “PUCO”), overruled an objection from the…
California ISO Greenlights Transmission Plan for Offshore Wind Integration
California ISO Greenlights Transmission Plan for Offshore Wind Integration May 24, 2024 The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has approved the 2023-2024 Transmission Plan that identifies and plans for key upgrades to California’s transmission system to deliver power from offshore wind turbines to the state’s homes and businesses. CAISO unveiled…
Biggest electric utility in Wyoming sues regulators over partial denial of rate hike
Biggest electric utility in Wyoming sues regulators over partial denial of rate hike May 21, 2024 Pacificorp, which owns the largest electric utility serving Wyoming, has sued state regulators. The parent company Rocky Mountain Power is asking the U.S. District Court to overturn the Wyoming Public Service Commissioners’ decision in…
FERC adopts sweeping transmission planning regulations with the aim of speeding projects
FERC adopts sweeping transmission planning regulations with the aim of speeding projects Energize Weekly, May 22, 2024 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) adopted a sweeping new regulation, on May 13, aimed at spurring the planning and construction of new transmission lines to meet the growing needs of the nation’s…
AEP Ohio: Data center electricity demands to put central Ohio on same tier as Manhattan
AEP Ohio: Data center electricity demands to put central Ohio on same tier as Manhattan May 14, 2024 AEP Ohio is asking state regulators to sign off on a new plan to deal with the surge in data centers in central Ohio that is expected to eat up so much…
PJM predicts adequate resources to meet hotter, wetter summer demand
PJM predicts adequate resources to meet hotter, wetter summer demand May 06, 2024 Valley Forge, Pa.-based PJM Interconnection said Thursday it anticipates having enough resources to meet electricity demand for what weather forecasters say will be a hotter and wetter summer. In a release, the operator of the nation’s largest…
Interconnection reform needed to keep transmission upgrades moving, industry report says
Interconnection reform needed to keep transmission upgrades moving, industry report says April 29, 2024 If the clean energy transition is to pick up speed, and transmission upgrades are to continue, the way interconnection works – from funding on up – needs to change, according to a new whitepaper from the…
States rethink data centers as ‘electricity hogs’ strain the grid
States rethink data centers as ‘electricity hogs’ strain the grid APRIL 30, 2024 State Sen. Norm Needleman championed the 2021 legislation designed to lure major data centers to Connecticut. The Democratic lawmaker hoped to better compete with nearby states, bring in a growing industry, and provide paychecks for workers tasked…
Internet data centers are fueling drive to old power source: Coal
Internet data centers are fueling drive to old power source: Coal April 17, 2024 A helicopter hovers over the Gee family farm, the noisy rattle echoing inside their home in this rural part of West Virginia. It’s holding surveyors who are eyeing space for yet another power line next to…
Reconductoring transmission lines could be one solution to the growing demands on the grid
Reconductoring transmission lines could be one solution to the growing demands on the grid Energize Weekly, April 17, 2024 Faced with a soaring demand for transmission capacity in the U.S. and a dwindling number of new transmission projects, one strategy could be to upgrade the existing transmission network to carry…
In the central U.S., an electric grid bottleneck persists
In the central U.S., an electric grid bottleneck persists MARCH 30, 2024 Forty-five million people live in the area managed by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, the organization that runs a massive portion of the North American electric grid running from Manitoba, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico. Inside that…
The U.S. is facing an “unprecedented” shortage of electric transformers, NREL says
The U.S. is facing an “unprecedented” shortage of electric transformers, NREL says Energize Weekly, March 27, 2024 The U.S. is facing an “unprecedented” shortage of electric distribution transformers creating challenges for the nation’s utilities, according to a study by the National Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (NREL). The nation’s grid faces…
Shake up looms for Long Island’s power grid
Shake up looms for Long Island’s power grid 18th March 2024 New York’s state lawmakers are considering a measure that would shake up the way Long Island’s power grid operates. The Long Island Power Authority Public Power Act would make LIPA the sole operator of the grid, ending the long-standing…
Xcel says big reason it needs to spend millions on new projects is regional grid’s reliability risks
Xcel says big reason it needs to spend millions on new projects is regional grid’s reliability risks MARCH 4, 2024 The growing risk of unreliability and potential expense of buying energy on the open market is a big reason why Xcel Energy wants to make significant investments in its infrastructure.…
Poor grid interconnection policies are causing project backups across the U.S., study says
Poor grid interconnection policies are causing project backups across the U.S., study says Energize Weekly, March 6, 2024 The grid interconnection process in the U.S. is so “dysfunctional” that more than two million megawatts of generation and storage are waiting to be hooked up, according to an analysis by Advanced…
US government may sue PacifiCorp, a Warren Buffett utility, for nearly $1B in wildfire cost
US government may sue PacifiCorp, a Warren Buffett utility, for nearly $1B in wildfire costs February 26, 2024 The U.S. government is threatening to sue PacifiCorp, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, to recover nearly $1 billion in costs related to the 2020 wildfires in southern Oregon and northern…
Texas Lawmaker files bill that would allow the rest of the country to access Texas’ power grid
Texas Lawmaker files bill that would allow the rest of the country to access Texas’ power grid February 18, 2024 Congressman Greg Casar, D-Austin, says it is the first time it has ever happened in Congress: a bill was drafted and filed that would make Texas connect its power grid…
Facing a growing crypto-mining sector, the U.S. to require reports of power use by miners
Facing a growing crypto-mining sector, the U.S. to require reports of power use by miners Energize Weekly, February 14, 2024 Faced with a burgeoning cryptocurrency market and its rising demand for electricity, the U.S. government is going to collect monthly data on the industry’s use of power. The federal Energy…
Red tape closes power plants before replacements ready
Red tape closes power plants before replacements ready Feb 2, 2024 Despite the key positions states like Ohio and Pennsylvania hold to solve future energy problems, shifting the power grid from coal and natural gas to wind and solar isn’t as easy as flipping a switch. A cadre of Pennsylvania…
Texas’ grid has gone 3 years without a crisis. Will it last?
Texas’ grid has gone 3 years without a crisis. Will it last? 01/30/2024 In the three years since deadly blackouts paralyzed Texas, two major winter storms have hit the electricity grid without plunging the state into blackouts. Texas has touted its success during those two events — Elliott in December…
Energy companies gear up for fight on electric regulation bill
Energy companies gear up for fight on electric regulation bill January 16, 2024 As top lawmakers move to strengthen consumer protections for utility customers who shop for electricity suppliers, large national energy companies are countering with a poll showing an overwhelming majority of voters want to retain robust competition in…
