WBUR reports on the release of Massachusetts Governor Healey's first annual Climate Report Card, aimed at informing Massachusetts residents of the progress state executive offices are collectively making to achieve climate goals and mandates. The article
quotes
Jeremy McDiarmid, who speaks to the importance of the assessment in mapping out what work needs to be accomplished over the next five years for the commonwealth to reach its longer-term climate goals.
Massachusetts is legally required to zero-out planet-warming emissions by mid-century, and to get there the state must do several critical things: Replace fossil fuel-powered vehicles and home heating systems with ones that run on electricity; develop more renewable resources like wind and solar; and use nature-based solutions to sequester and store as much carbon as possible.
So how is the state doing on all of this? On Friday, the Healey administration revealed in its first annual climate report card that the state is on track for its 2025 goals.
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United In The News,
Massachusetts
News From The States reports on a growing number of states converting old coal plants to renewable energy sites, quoting
Harry Godfrey, who speaks on the opportunities for states to create jobs and generate tax revenue through these conversions with support from the incentives designated by the Inflation Reduction Act.
AES Indiana’s Petersburg Generating Station, which towers over the White River here in southwest Indiana, has been burning coal to generate electricity since the late 1960s.
That era, though, will come to an end soon. Two of the power plant’s four coal-burning units have already retired and the last is planning to shut down in 2025.
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Topics:
State Policy,
United In The News,
Harrison Godfrey,
Federal Priorities
PV Magazine reports on a recent analysis of the electric resource plan for Xcel Energy’s Colorado subsidiary, the Public Service Company of Colorado. The analysis, commissioned by Advanced Energy United and authored by Strategen Consulting Group,
found a clean energy resource portfolio would be a more cost-effective way to power Colorado homes and businesses compared to building a new natural gas “peaker” plant. The article quotes United's Brian Turner, who speaks to the cost impact Xcel's proposed plant would have on ratepayers.
Storage and renewables projects already offered in response to an RFP from the Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo) would be more economic and provide greater capacity than a 400 MW gas peaker unit proposed by the utility, found the consulting firm Strategen in an analysis of the utility’s proposed resource plan.
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Topics:
State Policy,
United In The News,
Energy Efficiency,
Brian Turner,
Colorado
Crain's Detroit Business reports on the passage of Michigan's sweeping climate bills mandating a 100% clean energy standard by 2040, quoting Trish Demeter on the Great Lake State's affirmation of its role as a clean energy leader.
Michigan power providers would have to reach a 100% clean energy standard by 2040 under sweeping climate bills approved late Thursday and early Friday in the Democratic-led House. Legislators also voted to let renewable developers seek state permits to site large-scale wind and solar farms in communities that block the projects.
The party-line votes capped a marathon day and night of session and likely cleared the legislation’s path to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who wants lawmakers to act this fall. The Senate, also controlled by Democrats, passed the main measures last week and appears poised to OK the siting bills next week before legislators potentially adjourn for the year.
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United In The News,
Michigan,
Trish Demeter
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
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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United In The News,
Emilie Olson,
California
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
Energy News Network reports on Virginia's slowed interconnection queue and the impact of FERC Order 2023 on PJM's evaluation process, quoting Jon Gordon on the complexity of the interconnection backlog in the state.
Virginia is on track to meet short-term carbon-free targets laid out in the sweeping Clean Economy Act of 2020.
And advocates agree that’s remarkable considering almost 44,000 megawatts of wind, solar and energy storage projects proposed across the state are still waiting in PJM’s interconnection queue.
Still, they question whether the region’s grid operator is prepared for the massive influx of clean energy mandated over the next three decades. That includes more than 5,000 MW of wind off the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina.
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Topics:
Virginia,
United In The News,
Jon Gordon
E&E News compares how neighboring states Illinois and Indiana have addressed the growth of renewables, quoting Indiana state lead Caryl Auslander on the findings of a new poll from Advanced Energy United showing support more renewables in Indiana's energy mix and rules to make projects easier to build.
Illinois and Indiana are separated by more than a state line, time zones and which political party dominates state government.
The Midwest neighbors have also taken opposite tacks to enable more renewable energy development.
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Topics:
United In The News,
Indiana,
Caryl Auslander
E&E News reports on the recent emergency sounded by Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to stop a potential blackout. The article quotes Matthew Boms of Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance (Advanced Energy United's Texas state chapter) on the importance of incentivizing demand response programs to curb the ever-growing energy demand in Texas.
The Texas grid operator declared an emergency last week, but it didn’t end up cutting off residents’ lights and air conditioning as the state roasted.
Next time, everyone might not be so lucky.
A combination of a growing population, a booming economy and a heat wave pushed demand on the state’s main electric grid to previously unseen levels this summer, including 10 all-time records for demand. That record demand was accompanied by repeated requests for customers to conserve their own energy.
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Topics:
United In The News,
Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance,
Texas,
Matthew Boms
