News

Augusta Free Press summarized the unveiling of Powhatan Elementary School’s new solar energy facilities, featuring comments from Virginia AEE's Harry Godfrey. Read snippets below and the full article here.

Virginia Advanced Energy Economy hosted lawmakers Tuesday for the unveiling of Powhatan Elementary School’s recently completed solar energy rooftop array.

Utility Dive summarized Colorado’s decision to require transmission utilities to join a regional wholesale power market by 2030, citing comments from AEE’s Emilie Olson. Read snippets below and the full article here.

A bipartisan bill requiring all Colorado transmission utilities to join an organized wholesale market by 2030 cleared the Colorado legislature last Thursday, drawing praise from both advocates and utilities.

E&E News summarized a letter from former FERC members urging the organization to develop RTOs nationwide, citing a supportive tweet from AEE’s Jeff Dennis. Read snippets below and the full article here.   

Nine former members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission are urging it to help spur the development of organized power markets, which they say are needed nationwide to support clean energy.

The Christian Science Monitor summarizes the shift of the dominant climate narrative from climate change debate to economic progress with a focus on Illinois, citing an AEE report. Read snippets and the full article here.

For years, the dominant narrative of climate action was one of trade-offs and costs – that saving the world as we know it meant taking hard steps to reduce carbon emissions, and likely sacrificing jobs and lifestyle in the process.

Canary Media summarized the possibility for RTO expansion in the West, citing AEE’s Sarah Steinberg and Amisha Rai. Read snippets below and the full article here.

The Western U.S. is a hotbed for renewable power development. What it lacks are the regional regulatory and economic structures to build the transmission lines needed to move that clean power to far-off population centers and share it across a region facing increasing grid-reliability challenges driven by climate change.

Utility Dive summarized support and criticism for a letter encouraging FERC to expand use of RTOs nationwide, citing a critical tweet by AEE’s Jeff Dennis. Read snippets below and the full article here.

A bipartisan group of former federal regulators are calling on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to expand organized wholesale power markets across the U.S., urging the commission to flex their full authority under the Federal Power Act.

Utility Dive summarized Nevada’s clean energy omnibus bill SB 448, citing AEE’s coalition letter supporting the bill’s RTO language. Read snippets below and the full article here.

SB 448, introduced by state Sen. Chris Brooks, a Democrat from Las Vegas, advances Nevada's goal to reach 100% carbon-free resources by 2050, set in a 2019 bill that also raised the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard to 50% by 2030. The new bill goes further, requiring utilities to forecast a path to achieve an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from 2005 levels by the end of the decade. 

PV Mag outlined a California bill that would gut rooftop solar, citing AEE’s coalition letter opposing the measure. Read snippets below and the full story here. 

The bill would significantly cut net metering rates paid to rooftop solar customers, and also revise long-term rates and other protections that were promised to existing rooftop solar customers.

The Virginia Pilot ran Virginia Advanced Energy Economy Director, Harry Godfrey’s opinion piece on Dominion’s exit from the PJM capacity market. Read snippets below and the full article here.

Earlier this year, America watched in shock as the Texas electrical grid all but collapsed in the midst of an historic winter storm. With power plants and pipelines hobbled by cold weather, Texans were left to huddle in their homes for days without light, heat and, in many cases, running water. Could that happen in Virginia?

Virginia Mercury outlined Dominion Energy's withdrawal from the regional capacity market, quoting AEE's Jeff Dennis on Dominion’s exit. Read snippets below and the full story here. 

Citing a controversial federal order that made it difficult for renewables to compete against traditional fossil fuel power plants in regional electricity markets, Dominion Energy this spring withdrew all its Virginia resources from the regional capacity market run by PJM, which coordinates the electric grid in all or part of 13 states and Washington, D.C.