Federal agencies are pursuing 37 R&D areas to help reach climate goals
A net-zero power grid with electrification is a priority area for research and development, says an interagency assessment, with R&D needed to advance distribution systems, transmission planning, long duration energy storage, and use of highways for transmission.
Wisconsin groups find 100% clean energy + electrification to be ambitious but feasible
100% clean power plus electrification in Wisconsin would cost the same, when counting health benefits, as continuing “business as usual,” and would achieve four times the emissions reductions as 100% clean power alone, found a study sponsored by two Wisconsin groups.
All 13 states in PJM grid region call for PJM to make faster progress on interconnection
With more than 250 GW of renewables and storage capacity waiting in the PJM interconnection queue, states served by PJM unanimously called for the grid operator to speed up its processing of interconnection requests and its transition to a “cluster study” process.
California requires utilities to develop and post hourly retail electric rates
Hourly pricing is intended to shift some load to periods of high renewables generation, when wholesale power prices are lower. Some customers are expected to opt in to hourly rates with the support of automated demand-shifting technology.
South Carolina electric co-op pursues batteries and other alternatives to a proposed gas unit
Utility-scale batteries are being pursued by many utilities, the generation and transmission co-op utility said in explaining its decision, while aggregated distributed resources “can be counted on as predictable generation capacity.”
Distributed resources to earn compensation from Texas grid operator ERCOT
ERCOT’s pilot project, designed in less than a year, will support grid reliability and is expected to be ongoing. Some other grid operators have already launched or announced similar programs.
Tesla proposes enabling renewables developers to estimate a project’s interconnection costs
With access to grid models, Tesla said it could estimate a project’s interconnection costs with an informational study in less than two weeks. Trade groups SEIA and AEE renewed their call to allow third-party interconnection studies.
Proposed regional clean hydrogen hubs to compete for $7 billion in DOE funding
Several teams plan to propose regional hubs in which large-scale clean hydrogen production would be paired with industrial and other end-uses for hydrogen. DOE gave examples of technologies that could meet its draft standard for “clean” hydrogen.
Artificial intelligence could speed interconnection, says Amazon executive
Grid operator SPP is in discussions with Amazon Web Services about using AI to speed interconnection studies for utility-scale solar. A NextEra executive is bringing the idea to other grid operators.
Rooftop solar adoption rises sharply as system value to homeowners increases
Annual rooftop solar installations more than double when each homeowner’s long-term “profit” on a system increases from zero to $1,000, a study found. Based partly on that study, a Minnesota utility must now evaluate distributed solar incentives as a means to save all customers money.
