Opt-in dynamic pricing of electricity, which could help balance renewable generation while lowering electric bills for participants and non-participants alike, is now on deck for a California decision.

In a race between governmental processes and the process of extinction, top elected officials in Washington State consider replacing hydro dams with solar and wind in an attempt to save the salmon.

Transmission providers would face firm deadlines for completing interconnection studies, backed by penalties, under a proposed rule. Project developers would face readiness requirements involving study deposit amounts, site control, commercial readiness milestones, and withdrawal penalties.

As applications to interconnect solar and storage projects have “skyrocketed,” the national solar trade group recommends ways to speed interconnection on both the transmission and distribution grids.

A Pacific Northwest National Laboratory study found that allowing customers to opt for real-time power rates, and shift some consumption to lower-priced periods, would lower customer bills 10% to 17%. A pilot study has shown that real-time pricing works, and more pilots are underway.

A residential battery storage system in New York State could soon earn on the order of $190 per year, when aggregated with other systems participating in the state’s wholesale capacity market. Storage system owners in other parts of the country may wait much longer.

Three regional grid operators and two utilities have joined the DOE partnership, alongside renewables developers and trade groups, to pursue faster, simpler, and fairer interconnection of renewables and storage, on both the transmission and distribution grids.

A new partnership that engages grid operators, utilities, clean energy developers, regulators, and DOE’s national laboratories aims to lower costs and reduce wait times for utility scale solar projects connecting to the grid.

“Climate change is one of the most destabilizing forces of our time, exacerbating other national security concerns and posing serious readiness challenges,” said Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, in announcing the target.

Higher natural gas prices call for more near-term solar, said Georgia’s solar trade group in testimony on Georgia Power’s proposed resource plan, adding that a utility cap on rooftop solar should be lifted. Two other groups challenged the utility’s modeling choices.