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ADVOCACY: Ohio’s consumer advocate wants the state Supreme Court to overturn a decision that prevented it from representing apartment residents in a case involving a submetering company. (Energy News Network)
ALSO: A Sierra Club lobbyist says Kansas lawmakers lack a cohesive energy policy strategy, with ongoing debate about whether the state should support renewable energy. (Kansas Reflector)
GRID:
PIPELINES:
UTILITIES: The former ComEd CEO convicted of bribery conspiracy asks a judge to delay the U.S. SEC’s civil case against her. (Center Square)
OIL & GAS: DTE Energy is among U.S. gas utilities passing on the costs of purchasing “responsible gas” to customers, a process that critics say has questionable climate benefits. (DeSmog)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Indiana officials leading an economic development trade trip to South Korea this week aim to attract more electric vehicle investments. (Indianapolis Business Journal)
CLIMATE: Kansas City is embarking on an aggressive tree-planting strategy to help address heat islands in older, poorer sections of the city. (Flatland)
BATTERIES: A Michigan startup developing technology to double the range and capacity of conventional batteries cuts 37 jobs to reduce operating expenses. (Crain’s Detroit Business, subscription)
COMMENTARY: A top ranking Ohio Democrat says federal prosecutors need to further investigate what Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration knew about details of FirstEnergy’s corruption scheme. (Columbus Dispatch)
SOLAR: As solar installations lag in Massachusetts, advocates urge the state to re-examine its incentive program, which they say has not adapted to economic changes. (Energy News Network)
ELECTRIFICATION:
OFFSHORE WIND:
UTILITIES:
GRID: A Long Island town is welcoming energy storage development despite some local opposition, a contrast to other towns that have passed moratoriums on the project. (Newsday)
GEOTHERMAL: As a Rochester, New York, industrial building is converted to housing, it will be heated and cooled by a $1.9 million geothermal system, in a project that developers say could be a model for others in the region. (WXXI News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Google-backed company unveils what are believed to be the fastest public EV chargers in the U.S. in New York City, promising to add 200 miles of range in five minutes. (Reuters)
MINING: Experts say massive lithium projects in California and elsewhere won’t necessarily negate the need for mining in Maine. (Maine Monitor)
COMMENTARY: A Maine business leader says two recent utility accountability bills are duplicative, and indicate a need for a more deliberative approach on energy policy. (Bangor Daily News)
CLIMATE: U.S. climate envoy John Kerry makes a final push for phasing out new gas infrastructure construction and cautions that capturing emissions won’t replace decarbonization as he departs the post this week. (Guardian)
ALSO: Advocates credit Kerry with devoting “tireless energy” to the climate cause, but say he could have pushed harder for international climate aid and frontline climate action. (Washington Post)
EMISSIONS:
COAL: Environmental groups release a policy platform to address nearly 1 million acres of idled, unreclaimed “zombie” coal mines across 12 states. (Daily Yonder)
ELECTRIFICATION:
OIL & GAS:
SOLAR: As solar installations lag in Massachusetts, advocates urge the state to re-examine its incentive program, which they say has not adapted to economic changes. (Energy News Network)
PIPELINES: Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed multi-state carbon pipeline could qualify for up to $18 billion in federal tax credits over 12 years if the project is built and operates at full capacity. (Inside Climate News)
TRANSPORTATION: The Biden administration pours funding into a proposed high-speed passenger rail line linking Las Vegas and Los Angeles in hopes it will spark a national rail revolution. (Los Angeles Times)
OFFSHORE WIND: Scientists in Rhode Island work to debunk persistent social media misinformation that offshore wind construction is killing whales after a whale is stranded near South Kingstown. (Providence Journal)
ELECTRIFICATION: The Biden administration awards a northwest Alaska borough $50 million to install electric heat pumps in every home and to build solar installations to power them. (Northern Journal)
OIL & GAS:
MINING:
POLLUTION: Dozens of oil and gas industry and environmental group lobbyists work to influence Colorado lawmakers as they consider legislation aimed at reducing ground-level ozone pollution. (CPR)
SOLAR:
UTILITIES:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: California says it has surpassed 100,000 public or shared private electric vehicle chargers throughout the state. (news release)
TRANSPORTATION: The Biden administration pours funding into a proposed high-speed passenger rail line linking Las Vegas and Los Angeles in hopes it will spark a national rail revolution. (Los Angeles Times)
CLIMATE:
BIOFUELS: The Biden administration awards $30 million to a cluster of California projects aimed at converting forest cuttings into biofuels. (Bioenergy Insight)
Ohio’s public advocate for residential ratepayers wants the state’s high court to reverse a decision that blocked it from fully participating in a case it says adversely affected the rights of more than 1,000 people living in apartments.
The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel was denied intervenor status in a Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) case over whether a company that provides billing and other electricity services for landlords is acting as a utility.
AEP Ohio accused the electrical submetering company Nationwide Energy Partners of usurping part of its role and offering services that infringed on its territory as a regulated, public utility.
The PUCO ruled last year in Nationwide’s favor, essentially stripping residents of five properties from several consumer protections and benefits that state law provides for utility customers.
The consumer advocate has appealed the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court, saying that regulators should have let it represent the interests of the apartment residents.
The case now before the Ohio Supreme Court began in late 2021 when AEP Ohio objected to a request that it drop nearly 1,100 residential accounts for people living in five Columbus-area apartment complexes. Nationwide would buy electricity for each complex from the utility and resell it to residents at a higher rate.
“From the customers’ perspective, Nationwide would be stepping into the shoes of AEP Ohio,” the complaint alleged. As such, it would be “mimicking a public utility and doing exactly what AEP Ohio currently does.”
The Consumers’ Counsel moved to intervene so it could represent the interests of the residents, who were not otherwise represented in the regulatory case. Nationwide objected, casting the case as just a commercial dispute.
While anyone can submit public comments in utility regulatory cases, formal intervenors become parties to the case and have a full seat at the table. The status includes rights to conduct pre-hearing fact-finding, brief legal issues, introduce evidence, and present or cross-examine witnesses.
Ohio Consumers’ Counsel Maureen Willis said utilities, marketers and submetering companies “will face far less resistance to their proposals” if the agency is precluded from doing its job. An Ohio statute says that job includes intervening in and representing residential consumers’ interests at the PUCO, in court and before other agencies.
The PUCO “typically” grants the Consumers’ Counsel’s requests for intervention, said Ohio Deputy Consumers’ Counsel Angela O’Brien. “That being said, intervention by OCC is our statutory right and one that we closely guard in order to give consumers a voice on utility issues that matter to them,” she said.
In this case, a 2022 PUCO order denied the Consumers’ Counsel’s motion to intervene. Interests in protecting consumers were “not the issues that will be litigated in this proceeding,” the order said. The commission ruled in September 2023 that Nationwide is not a public utility and reaffirmed its decision in December 2023.
Ashley Brown, a former PUCO commissioner, said it was “crazy” for regulators to keep the Consumers’ Counsel out of the case. The ruling that Nationwide is not a utility “create[s] this inferior species of consumer at the whim of the landlord,” he said.
Among other things, a forced switch of tenants away from utility service makes them give up their rights under metering rules, eligibility for percentage-of-income-payment plans (PIPP), procedures required before shutoffs, access to the PUCO’s call-in line and procedures for filing complaints against regulated electric companies, and more. Ratepayers of regulated electric distribution utilities also have a general right to choose a competitive electricity generation supplier.
The PUCO ruling also means residents won’t be guaranteed the right to benefit from time-of-day rates or other demand-side programs that could improve grid reliability, Brown said. Similarly, tenants won’t be eligible for utilities’ energy efficiency programs if pending legislation clears the way for those to start up again after the state’s 2019 nuclear and coal bailout law gutted Ohio’s prior clean energy standards.
Similar issues are presented in another regulatory case involving Duke Energy and Nationwide Energy Partners. The PUCO has not yet ruled on the Consumers’ Counsel motion to intervene there. Duke Energy Ohio supports the Consumers’ Counsel’s participation, while Nationwide opposes it.
AEP Ohio has sided with the Consumers’ Counsel, saying a forced switch will cause customers to lose rights they’ve had as ratepayers.
“We believe all customers in our service territory should be able to easily understand their bill and get all of the same regulatory protections when offered utility service by someone other than their landlord,” said spokesperson Scott Blake, adding that submetering companies generally don’t make the same types of low-income help available to residents.
AEP Ohio has a separate appeal pending at the Ohio Supreme Court, where it challenges the PUCO’s finding that Nationwide is not a regulated utility. AEP Ohio also challenges parts of the PUCO’s order requiring it to place consumer-protection conditions in its contract with Nationwide. AEP Ohio’s filing describes those conditions as unworkable, unreasonable and unlawful, adding that any tariff requirements should be adopted through notice-and-comment rulemaking.
On Feb. 23, Nationwide moved to intervene in the Consumers’ Counsel’s appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, as well as in AEP Ohio’s appeal. If the Consumers’ Counsel wins, Nationwide “will be forced to incur the cost of expensive and unnecessary re-litigation of the issues already decided by the PUCO,” lawyers for the company wrote.
“Unfortunately, we cannot comment on open dockets,” said Teresa Ringenbach, Nationwide’s vice president of business development, when asked if the company would have dropped its opposition to the Consumers’ Counsel’s intervention if it knew a denial would lead to the appeal before the state supreme court. She did say Nationwide is prohibited from offering PIPP for tenants, but some other payment assistance programs may be available.
“The commission speaks through its opinions and orders and other rulings,” PUCO spokesperson Matt Schilling said when asked for comment. “Each case is heard on its own merits on a case-by-case basis,” based on Ohio law and rules, he added.
The Consumers’ Counsel represents residential ratepayers in hundreds of cases, but the AEP Ohio and Duke submetering cases are not the only instances where it has been denied participation. A September 2023 ruling kept the Consumers’ Counsel from intervening in a case dealing with a $5.2 million increase in AEP Ohio charges to ratepayers to cover low-income assistance programs.
The Consumers’ Counsel was also initially excluded from a case to settle price gouging claims, where some customers’ monthly bills were nearly $700 per month. The PUCO’s initial December 2023 order said the case involved “the resolution of fact-specific issues between Staff and Inspire Energy and only those issues.” The Consumers’ Counsel pushed for reconsideration, and the commission reversed that ruling on Feb. 7.
In Brown’s view, the Consumers’ Counsel should have had full party status from the get-go in both the price gouging case and the submetering case.
“The whole idea of having a public utilities commission is that things are open, they’re transparent, they’re participatory. You give consumers access,” Brown said.
Karin Nordstrom, an attorney with the Ohio Environmental Council, said Ohio law favors broad intervention in PUCO matters. Also, she said, “consumers must have access to reliable utility service as we face more severe weather due to climate change.” Without discussing the merits of any particular case, she added that a well-funded consumers’ counsel with access to experts “is an imperative component of maintaining a fair and transparent utility process.”
For now, the Consumers’ Counsel’s brief in the submetering case is due at the Ohio Supreme Court later this month. That date might shift if a motion for extension is filed or if the Ohio Supreme Court consolidates the case with AEP Ohio’s appeal.
Climate advocates, public officials, and the solar industry are asking Massachusetts to update its solar incentive program to reignite slowing growth in the sector while making the system fairer and more effective.
The Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program hit its fifth anniversary in late 2023, and the state has launched a review to determine how to adapt the system to current economic realities and environmental priorities. While most agree it has been an effective system for supporting the growth of solar, stakeholders would also like to see changes that would better respond to fluctuating market conditions and encourage development on the most suitable sites.
These recommendations come at a time when the Massachusetts solar industry is losing some momentum, despite the incentives the state provides. The state’s clean energy and climate plan estimates Massachusetts will need some 27 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2050 to meet the goal of going carbon neutral by that year. But current development is not keeping pace. In 2021, the state’s new solar installations topped 600 megawatts, according to data from the Solar Energy Industries Association. In 2022 and 2023, installations dropped to roughly half that level.
“SMART has done a good job of continuing the deployment of solar in the commonwealth and there are a number of really good components to it,” said Mark Sylvia, chief of staff at Blue Wave Solar. “Now we’re at an important inflection point.”
SMART works by paying the owners of solar installations a set rate per kilowatt-hour of power they produce. The base rate is determined by the project’s size and location; so-called “adders” increase the rate for projects that serve low-income households, are located on rooftops, or have other features the state wants to encourage. The system was designed on the assumption that the cost of building solar would keep dropping as demand grew, reducing the need for subsidies. Thus, SMART rates get lower as more solar capacity is built.
Many stakeholders have raised concerns about continuing this declining rate model. In recent years, costs have not continued falling as expected. Instead, supply chain problems during the COVID pandemic and changes to steel tariffs drove up equipment prices. Costs to interconnect to the grid and to acquire land for solar developments have risen as well.
Industry players and environmental advocates have suggested replacing the declining rate approach with a mechanism that would adjust rates according to market conditions once or twice a year.
“There’s this across-the-board issue around SMART rates being lower than they need to be to drive the market,” said Nick D’Arbeloff, president of the Solar Energy Business Association of New England. “SMART as a whole has to rethink how it can better incent projects.”
Additional rate adjustments could also be used to push specific policy priorities more effectively, said many.
Several pointed to the issue of solar canopies, panels mounted high enough above the ground to provide shade and shelter from rain, usually in parking lots. A report released by the state in July found that the state’s parking lots had the technical potential to support some 14 gigawatts of capacity on solar canopies. However, material and equipment costs make building canopies particularly pricey right now.
SMART already includes an adder for canopies of 6 cents per kilowatt-hour, but it isn’t enough to cover the additional costs. Strategically increasing the adder would make canopies more financially feasible and could help capture some of the untapped potential parking lots offer, supporters said.
Tweaks to the program could also help more low-income households realize the financial and environmental advantages of solar power, said Ben Underwood, co-chief executive and co-founder of Resonant Energy, a Boston-based solar development company focused on projects that benefit low-income communities.
The program currently incentivizes these developments in a few ways. It offers adders for projects on low-income properties and for community solar facilities that allocate more than half of their production to low-income customers, and provides higher base rates for projects smaller than 25 kilowatts on low-income households.
However, these nudges have had little effect so far. Just 4% of the small systems using SMART qualify for the low-income base rate, though Underwood estimates roughly one-third of Massachusetts households could qualify.
“The rates are not leading to adoption in a way that’s proportionate,” he said.
To jumpstart more development in this sector, Underwood would like to see the compensation rates for low-income projects returned to at least their original starting points — between 35 cents and 39 cents per kilowatt-hour, depending on utility — and be exempted from decreases over time.
“There’s really not a risk of having deployment be too fast at this point, so long as sufficient consumer protections are in place, because there’s so much ground that needs to be made up,” he said.
As interest in solar has expanded, siting has been an ongoing controversy in Massachusetts. Some advocates object to the use of previously undeveloped lands for solar projects, arguing that cutting down trees and disturbing habitats for the sake of renewable energy does more harm than good. Others contend that the state’s ambitious solar goals can’t be reached without using at least some so-called “greenfields.”
“It is the industry’s belief that we’re going to have a very hard time reaching the goals Massachusetts has set for itself if we suddenly cease using available land for solar,” D’Arbeloff said.
Many commenters have suggested there are ways to bridge this divide.
The current rules subtract a fraction of a cent per kilowatt-hour from the compensation rate for projects on greenfield land. However, the state should also consider looking more carefully at the parcels included in this definition, said Jessica Robertson, director of policy and business development for New England at solar developer New Leaf Energy.
Now, a large parcel might be subject to the lower rate even though only a small portion of the land within it is considered unsuitable for development. In other cases the data used to classify the land is very out-of-date. Robertson pointed to one case in which a piece of land occupied by a gravel pit was classified as agricultural using soil samples from decades prior. She would like to see a process that more easily allows for the assessment of individual parcels as they are proposed for potential development, rather than just relying on existing lists.
“The regulations in the last round painted with a very broad brush,” she said. “We hope that the next round will take that more nuanced approach.”
The Nature Conservancy proposes a zoning system that would code potential sites as green, yellow, or red, depending on their suitability for development and the potential for negative environmental impact. Mass Audubon suggests eliminating support for solar projects on land identified as high-biodiversity, while boosting or creating funds for development on landfills, residential and commercial rooftops, and parking lots.
The state closed its public comment period on February 9, and will now develop a straw proposal incorporating the feedback it received. While the details are yet unknown, there is wide agreement among stakeholders that the Healey administration is serious about supporting solar.
“She has chosen a veritable dream team to manage energy for the commonwealth, and I am confident they are going to find their way forward to some good solid solutions,” D’Arbeloff said. “But it is complicated and challenging.”
UTILITIES: The FirstEnergy scandal unfolding in Ohio is part of a resurgence of fraud and corruption in the U.S. utility sector that come as those companies aim to spend billions of dollars in clean energy initiatives. (Floodlight/Mother Jones)
ALSO:
PIPELINES:
SOLAR: A pollinator scorecard developed at Michigan State University helps solar developers mitigate the effects of utility-scale projects when applying for permits. (Interlochen Public Radio)
POLLUTION: Newly proposed legislation in Minnesota would require stronger testing at polluting facilities, and increase penalties for violations, in environmental justice areas. (Sahan Journal)
GRID: Minnesota is among states across the country considering legislation on grid-enhancing technologies that maximize current transmission and increases renewable energy capacity. (E&E News)
RENEWABLES: A northeastern Ohio county plans to take action soon on requests from multiple townships to ban utility-scale wind and solar development. (WKBN)
BIOGAS:
COMMENTARY: Minnesota clean energy and environmental advocates say state lawmakers can help cut emissions from two major sectors — agriculture and transportation — with a proposed clean transportation standard. (MinnPost)
EMISSIONS: The U.S. EPA plans to weaken its power plant emissions rule by excluding existing natural gas plants from the regulation, instead promising a “comprehensive” rule that will also address local pollutants that affect neighborhoods surrounding the plants. (E&E News)
ALSO: The change gets support from environmental justice groups, but climate-focused Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse says the delay may cost the EPA its chance to regulate existing gas plants altogether. (E&E News)
OVERSIGHT: President Biden nominates three new members, two Democrats and one Republican, to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. (Utility Dive)
UTILITIES:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Biden administration plans to probe Chinese-made “smart cars” that can track drivers’ whereabouts as China increases its foothold in the electric vehicle market. (Associated Press)
GRID: States across the country consider legislation on grid-enhancing technologies that maximize current transmission and increase renewable energy capacity. (E&E News, subscription)
WIND:
PIPELINES:
EFFICIENCY: The Biden administration announces new washer and dryer efficiency standards. (Grist)
SOLAR: A pollinator scorecard developed at Michigan State University helps solar developers mitigate the effects of utility-scale projects when applying for permits. (Interlochen Public Radio)
CLIMATE:
OIL & GAS:
CRYPTOCURRENCY: The Biden administration appears to have reached a settlement with crypto miners after the planned collection of energy usage data led to a lawsuit by a Texas nonprofit that represents the industry. (Utility Dive)
COAL: Utah lawmakers pass a bill that would allow the state to purchase a coal power plant slated to transition to natural gas and hydrogen production in coming years. (Deseret News)
OIL & GAS:
WIND:
SOLAR:
UTILITIES:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A company shuts down its 425-employee electric bus manufacturing facility in southern California, citing supply chain constraints and rising costs. (Mercury News)
TRANSPORTATION: The Biden administration awards Colorado $84 million to support public transit. (KDVR)
CLIMATE:
NUCLEAR: The U.S. House passes a bill that would streamline advanced nuclear reactor permitting and support developers in overcoming regulatory hurdles. (Deseret News)
HYDROGEN: Chevron plans to develop a 5 MW solar-powered hydrogen production facility in California’s Central Valley. (Solar Industry Magazine)
SOLAR: A clean energy group’s analysis finds a $7 billion federal program is on track to help more than 700,000 lower-income households install solar and storage systems, making it the largest such investment in U.S. history. (Canary Media)
ALSO: A Cornell University researcher studies what types of crops can best co-exist with solar panels on New York farms. (Spectrum News)
HYDROGEN: The U.S. Energy Department reportedly wants the Treasury to relax its guidance for clean hydrogen incentives, saying the strict rules threaten the industry’s expansion. (E&E News)
CLIMATE:
CLEAN ENERGY: A new report estimates a worker shortage of 1.1 million people across 20 occupations that are crucial for rolling out the Biden administration’s clean energy agenda. (E&E News, subscription)
STORAGE: At least 30 startups look to store renewable power by heating up rocks and other materials, hoping thermal storage can solve solar and wind’s intermittency challenges. (Canary Media)
GRID:
OIL & GAS:
GEOTHERMAL: Oil and gas companies are ramping up investments in geothermal power, betting that drilling for underground heat could be their key into the clean energy industry. (Wall Street Journal, subscription)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Ford electric vehicle owners can now use Tesla public chargers, but they first must get a free adapter from Ford. (ABC News)
NUCLEAR: The U.S. House advances a bill to speed environmental reviews for new nuclear reactors, which it will have to reconcile with the Senate’s nuclear legislation. (The Hill)
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