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Latitude Media: Electricity markets aren’t ready for long-duration energy storage

Posted by Kavya Balaraman on Nov 1, 2023

Latitude Media reports on the need for improvement for how electricity markets and regulatory structures incorporate long-duration energy storage projects, which recently received a $325 million boost in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. United's  Ryan Katofsky and member company Form Energy are featured in the article, which emphasizes that deploying long-duration storage at scale will require concrete market and regulatory reforms across the country. 
 
When the U.S. Department of Energy announced in September its plans to  earmark up to $325 million for multiple long-duration energy storage projects across the country, it was essentially making a bet. 
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Topics: United In The News, Ryan Katofsky

RTO Insider: Advanced Energy United Urges Changes Beyond Order 2023 for ISO-NE

Posted by Jon Lamson on Nov 1, 2023

RTO Insider reports on a recently released white paper, authored by Daymark Energy Advisors and commissioned by Advanced Energy United, that calls upon ISO-NE to make immediate and long-term changes to its interconnection process to avoid delaying state clean energy goals in New England.
 

ISO-NE should go beyond the changes required by Order 2023 to address the high costs and long delays associated with interconnection in the region, said a recent white paper commissioned by Advanced Energy United and written by the energy consulting firm Daymark Energy Advisors.

“The costs imposed by inefficiencies in the interconnection process are borne by ratepayers in the region and are one significant factor which threatens the New England states’ decarbonization goals,” Daymark wrote. Advanced Energy United represents clean energy and storage developers, owners, and operators in the region.

The report detailed specific recommendations for the RTO’s compliance filing, along with longer-term actions to take to address issues that will not be addressed in the filing.

“While it is critical that Order 2023 is addressed and that a solid compliance package is submitted to the commission, we stress that this marks the beginning of the region’s interconnection process reform efforts,” Daymark wrote. “Changing technology, policy efforts and expected FERC orders on planning and cost allocation, among others, makes continued attention to comprehensive market reform imperative.”

Regarding ISO-NE’s Order 2023 compliance, Daymark said ISO-NE should work to limit the potential for restudies and keep the cluster study window to the 150-day time frame prescribed by FERC, instead of the RTO’s proposed 270-day cluster window. (See ISO-NE Details Proposed Order 2023 Compliance.) The firm said that reducing interconnection timelines was one of the main goals of the commission’s order, and a longer cluster study window could push back subsequent clusters.

ISO-NE representatives have said it is difficult to guarantee it will be able meet the 150-day timeline, in part because of the undetermined number of projects it may need to consider in any given cluster.

Daymark also recommended that ISO-NE clarify its methodology for studying separate subgroupings of projects within a given cluster. The firm said the RTO should publish the data and assumptions used in each cluster study in conjunction with its results.

“The process the ISO intends to use in each cluster study should be known before the cluster request window opens so that interconnection customers can replicate the process, if they so choose, and make fully informed decisions,” Daymark wrote.

Regarding alternative transmission technologies (ATTs), Daymark said ISO-NE should include dynamic line ratings with the other ATTs to be considered in interconnection studies. Daymark also called on the RTO to provide transparency around how each alternative will be considered in the study process and detail the results of ATT evaluations in study reports.

Looking beyond Order 2023 compliance, Daymark called for more disclosure around expected regional interconnection costs for project developers prior to interconnection studies, saying this could reduce the number of projects that drop out mid-process.

“Hand-in-hand with providing the data is ensuring that each study cycle follows a well-documented study approach,” Daymark added. The firm also said ISO-NE and the region’s transmission owners should work to minimize uncertainty within interconnection cost estimates and advocated for an upper limit to the cost overruns that can be charged to developers.

Finally, Daymark said spreading costs among a cluster of projects is a good first step toward properly allocating costs associated with interconnection upgrades. At the same time, ISO-NE should consider further steps to share the costs of upgrades with all beneficiaries, Daymark wrote.

“The establishment of a cost-allocation structure that is simple to administer, clear to all participants and fair to interconnection customers, the TOs and ratepayers should be a reform priority,” Daymark wrote, adding that interconnection upgrades can benefit state policy goals, enable increased electrification, promote system resilience and increase market competition.

“We recommend that the ISO pursue a cost allocation rule that would recognize the headroom created by a set of network upgrades and charge the projects in the cluster only for the system capability they needed to interconnect,” the report recommended, saying this would be conducive in the long term to “more closely coordinated planning of the system to address the reliable delivery of power to load and the interconnection of projects without distorting incentives.”

Read the full article here .
 
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Topics: Wholesale Markets, United In The News, Transmission

New report reveals the reforms New England needs to more quickly connect clean energy projects to the grid

Posted by Adam Winer on Nov 1, 2023

Immediate and long-term changes needed to ISO-NE's interconnection process to avoid delaying state clean energy goals, finds new Advanced Energy United commissioned analysis from Daymark Energy Advisors.
 

BOSTON, MA – A new report from energy consulting firm Daymark Energy Advisors details both the immediate and longer-term reforms needed to ISO-NE's antiquated interconnection process, which is threatening to derail the decarbonization goals of New England states. The process by which energy generation projects connect to the region's power grid, known as interconnection, is inefficient and is driving up costs for ratepayers and preventing many clean energy projects from connecting to the grid altogether. 

“For many clean energy developers, the interconnection process in New England has been a dense, dangerous fog and these reforms can be the lighthouse that helps us navigate a better path forward,” said Alex Lawton, Senior Principal at Advanced Energy United (United), the national business association working to achieve 100% clean energy in America, which commissioned this analysis.

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Topics: Wholesale Markets, Press Releases, Transmission, New England

Businesses Announce Support for Advanced Clean Trucks Rule in Pennsylvania

Posted by Adam Winer on Oct 25, 2023

Advanced Energy United joins coalition effort in support of Pennsylvania implementing Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) standards
 
Harrisburg, PA   Today, a coalition of businesses and other organizations announced their support for implementing Pennsylvania's Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) standards. In a letter to the Shapiro Administration, the companies and organizations urged the Commonwealth to begin the rulemaking process for the adoption of the ACT rule before the end of 2023. The ACT rule helps modernize medium-heavy duty vehicles (MHDV), improves public health, and makes Pennsylvania a leader in electrification as more vehicles and manufacturers move to electric technology.
 
In 2020, Pennsylvania joined over a dozen states in signing a joint memorandum of understanding (MOU), committing to electrifying and eliminating toxic air pollution from new medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs) by 2050. In the Spring of 2022, the MOU signatory states released a draft Action Plan highlighting the adoption of the ACT as a powerful tool to reach the MOU goals.  Eight states  have already adopted the ACT rule, including our New Jersey neighbors as well as California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, Washington, Oregon, and Vermont. Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Maryland, and New Mexico are all in the adoption process or have announced plans to begin the rulemaking process.
 
 “In addition to improving air quality for Pennsylvanians, the Advanced Clean Trucks rule will lower costs for vehicle fleet operators and unlock new, cost-effective options for Pennsylvania businesses,” said Nick Bibby, Pennsylvania state lead at Advanced Energy United, a business association that represents a wide spectrum of companies involved in vehicle production, charging infrastructure, and energy management software. "Small businesses, which have been hit hard by inflation and volatile fuel and supply chain prices, will benefit significantly from this regulation because it will help them switch to vehicles that cost less to operate and maintain.”
 
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Topics: Press Releases, Pennsylvania, Nick Bibby

Global clean energy business leader at Enel named Chair of the Board of Advanced Energy United

Posted by Adam Winer on Oct 23, 2023

Megan Beauregard of Enel North America replaces Prasanna Venkatesan, who is stepping down from his role on United’s Board.

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 23, 2023 – National business group Advanced Energy United (United) announced that Megan Beauregard, Chief Legal Officer and Head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Enel North America, was elected Chair of United’sBoard of Directors. A longtime Leader-level member of United, Enel North America is committed to tackling climate change by electrifying the economy and making a net-zero carbon future possible in the United States and Canada.As Chairof the Board of Directors, Beauregard will support United’s mission of expanding the advanced energy industry in the U.S., which grew to nearly $375 billion in 2022, and accelerating America’s transition to a 100% clean energy future. 

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Topics: Press Releases, AEE Updates, Heather O'Neill

DOE’s new grid-supporting grants will accelerate energy transition and unlock private investment

Posted by Adam Winer on Oct 18, 2023

The U.S. Department of Energy’s GRIP Program shows the importance of building new transmission, says Advanced Energy United’s Harrison Godfrey

WASHINGTON – Today, national business group Advanced Energy United (United)celebratesthe awarding of $3.5 billion for 58 grid-improving projectsas part of the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Deployment Office. The funding is designed to support technologies and services that improvegrid flexibility, generate at least 30 GW of clean energy,and improve the resilience of the power system against the growing threats of extreme weather and climate change.

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Topics: Federal Policy, Press Releases, Transmission

Industry Groups Urge Swift Passage of Clean Energy Legislation in Michigan

Posted by Rory Coleman on Oct 13, 2023

Bills would streamline siting, set higher targets for renewable energy and energy storage  

LANSING, Mich. – Advanced energy industry groups, including the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council (Michigan EIBC), American Clean Power Association (ACP), Advanced Energy United (United), and Clean Grid Alliance (CGA) today applauded the introduction of legislation to streamline and improve the siting of wind, solar, and energy storage projects. The trade organizations, which collectively represent hundreds of businesses in the clean power industry, urged the legislature to pass this legislation, HB 5120 - HB 5123, along with other key clean energy bills to set a 100% carbon-free energy standard by 2040, enact an energy storage target, increase energy waste reduction, and improve customer access to rooftop and community solar.

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Topics: Press Releases, Michigan

Utility Dive: California Governor Signs Bill To Speed Utility Interconnections

Posted by Robert Walton on Oct 9, 2023

Utility Dive reports on the Powering Up Californians Act, quoting Emilie Olson's explanation of how the bill will help to improve delays in the utility interconnection process and speed up clean energy technology adoption in the Golden State.
 

SB 410, known as the Powering Up Californians Act, directs the California Public Utilities Commission to set average and target time periods for grid connections and upgrades. It is supported by several clean energy groups while Pacific Gas & Electric has expressed concern about the balance between speed and safety when it comes to grid upgrades

SB 410 is a key initiative to speed adoption of electric vehicles, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.

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Topics: United In The News, Emilie Olson, California

California Adopts New Law to Boost Electric School Bus Adoption

Posted by Angelyn Tabalba on Oct 8, 2023

Newly signed law mandates new school buses be electric starting in 2035, building on California’s clean transportation leadership  

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA   Today, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 579 (AB 579) into law, speeding up the transition to zero-emission school buses. The law sets a statewide goal requiring all new school buses purchased or leased after 2035 to be zero-emission and extends transportation services and leasing contracts for zero emission school buses to ease the transition. 

By moving up the timeline for clean school buses, California can bring the benefits of clean air and cost savings to children and schools faster.This action is the latest significant effort to fast-track clean school transportation.

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Topics: Press Releases, Ryan Gallentine, Electric school buses, California

Reuters: US states urged to co-plan grids to curb offshore wind costs

Posted by Eduardo Garcia on Sep 28, 2023

Reuters reports on the rise of grid investments across the East Coast ahead of a surge in offshore wind deployment, quoting Kat Burnham on the importance of regional cooperation in transmission planning for lowering costs.
 

From Maine to Virginia, state authorities and grid operators are scrambling to expand transmission grids ahead of a surge in offshore wind deployment.

Power authorities are looking to connect at least 20 offshore wind projects in the U.S. Northeast, many of which aim to start producing power by 2030. The Biden administration aims to complete environmental reviews of at least 16 projects by 2025 and install 30 GW by the end of the decade.

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Topics: United In The News, Kat Burnham, New York, Maryland, New England, New Jersey