Electric utility resource and infrastructure planning has been a staple of electricity policy in most U.S. states for decades. Conducted in the public eye, with regulatory oversight and stakeholder participation, integrated resource plans, distribution plans, transmission plans, transportation electrification plans, energy efficiency and demand side management plans, grid modernization plans, and rate cases have all served to guide prudent electric system investments through an increasingly distributed and complex energy and policy landscape.
A Call for Parity Between Gas and Electric Utility Planning Processes
Topics: Building Decarbonization
Texas’ ADER Task Force Makes Progress on VPPs, Challenges Remain
Roughly one-third of Americans report having a side hustle to supplement their income. Side hustles range from delivery drivers to social media influencers and may soon include something surprising—electricity providers. That’s the promise of a Virtual Power Plant (VPP), letting consumers sell their unused energy back to the grid and get compensated for it. A VPP is formed when distributed energy resources – like solar panels, batteries, and EVs – are combined, or “aggregated” together and managed as a single resource like a power plant.
Topics: Wholesale Markets, Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance, Texas, Distributed Energy Resources
Paving the Road for EVs: Getting Our Power Grid EV-Ready
If you’re to believe the headlines, you’d be under the impression that consumer demand for electric vehicles (EVs) is slowing. Cratering even. But in reality, EV sales have never been higher. Literally. The Q3 2023 numbers are in, and September was the biggest month for EV sales in the U.S. ever. And this isn’t a blip. The industry is up around 50% year-over-year, and it is estimated (with final projections still pending) that, for the first time ever, Americans purchased 1 million EVs during the 2023 calendar year, surpassing 11% of new car sales.
Topics: Advanced Transportation
Outdated Energy Laws are Costing New Yorkers Hundreds of Millions Each Year
According to local legend, in New York, it’s still illegal to put an ice cream cone in one’s back pocket while in public on Sundays. As the story goes, this law was enacted to prevent thieves from subtly luring a horse away from its rightful owner before the dawn of the motor vehicle. Though silly, this example is indicative of a larger trend: old laws from the 19th and 20th centuries often remain on the books because it’s more of a hassle to repeal them than to simply stop enforcing them. This can happen as social norms change, or as new technologies eclipse old ones.
Topics: Energy Efficiency, New York, Building Electrification, Building Decarbonization
AABE’s Energy Policy Summit Focuses on Expedient & Equitable Implementation
Last month, the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE) held its annual Energy Policy Summit in Washington, DC. Bringing together leaders across the energy industry, AABE members and other attendees took on the challenge of discussing an ‘Expedient & Equitable Implementation’ of the most recent federal policies aimed at the national energy transition.
Topics: Federal Policy, Event, Advanced Energy United