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OIL & GAS: Tennessee Valley Authority, Duke Energy and Georgia Power — three of the Southeast’s biggest utilities — want to build more natural gas-fired power into their long range plans, despite the Biden administration’s hopes for more carbon-free energy. (E&E News)
ALSO:
OVERSIGHT:
UTILITIES:
SOLAR:
EFFICIENCY: A Democratic West Virginia lawmaker spotlights job creation in an effort to win more support for legislation to spur energy efficiency programs in the state. (Mountain State Spotlight)
WIND: A Virginia judge dismisses lawsuits trying to block a planned 13-turbine wind farm atop a mountain. (Roanoke Times)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
CLEAN ENERGY: A Virginia commission to promote economic growth in former tobacco-producing areas announces a matching grant program that could deliver up to $12 million for “high-impact” energy projects. (Cardinal News)
An Ohio commission is arguing its decisions last fall to allow oil and gas drilling under a state park and two wildlife areas are final and cannot be appealed.
Environmental groups challenging the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission say it failed to follow state law when it approved land parcels for leasing of drilling rights at Salt Fork State Park, Zepernick Wildlife Area and Valley Run Wildlife Area. Among other things, state law says the commission must consider nine factors in reaching its decisions, including environmental impacts, consequences for visitors or users of state lands, public comments or objections, economic issues, and others.
State lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss, claiming the court can’t review the decisions because the statute doesn’t expressly provide for judicial review.
The plaintiffs seeking to overturn the decisions, though, say the commission’s actions affect their rights and amounted to licensing, which can be appealed under the Ohio Revised Code.
“Our courts play a critical role in overseeing agency decisions to make sure agencies do not abuse the discretion and power the law gives them. Our lawsuit asks that the court provide that critical oversight here,” said Megan Hunter, an attorney with Earthjustice, on behalf of the plaintiffs. Those environmental groups are Save Ohio Parks, the Ohio Environmental Council, the Buckeye Environmental Network and Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.
“Ohio statute has set up a system where an oil and gas company can hand-select those public lands it wants to lease and ask the commission for permission to move forward with the process for it to do so,” Hunter added. “The law places the commission in a gatekeeping role, making them the ones to determine whether an oil and gas company should be able to lease a particular state park or wildlife area.”
And while a winning bidder has to apply for permits to drill, Ohioans generally have no right to appeal permitting decisions, she said. “Therefore, the appeal from the nominations is when there is an opportunity for judicial review of the decision to drill under these state lands.”
Commission chair Ryan Richardson admitted that the commission would need to consider the nine statutory criteria in a Nov. 2 affidavit filed in a related case. Yet the commissioners did not discuss all nine factors at the public meeting where they voted to grant the proposals. Nor did they provide any written opinion explaining how they weighed the nine criteria.
“This is not the way justice is supposed to happen in Ohio or anywhere else in a democracy,” said Melinda Zemper, a member of Save Ohio Parks.
The case is further complicated by the commission’s insistence on moving ahead before the Ohio Attorney General’s office resolves an investigation into claims about allegedly falsified comments that favored fracking under state parks and wildlife areas.
“The [commission’s] decision to approve fracking in Ohio parks undermines core principles of good governance, for it occurred despite an ongoing investigation and enormous public pushback,” said Chris Tavenor, associate general counsel and managing director of democracy policy for the Ohio Environmental Council. The decisions also mean Ohio will be a less healthy place to live and have more greenhouse gas emissions, he said. As of 2021, the Energy Information Administration ranked Ohio fifth among states for total carbon dioxide emissions, he noted.
The commission’s failure to let citizens testify at its meetings also undermined the trust of Ohio citizens and denied them their rights to participate in the process, said Loraine McCosker, a co-founder and member of Save Ohio Parks. A separate lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of House Bill 507, which jump-started the challenged decisions, but where citizen groups had no chance to testify against its natural gas provisions after they were added through last-minute amendments in late 2022.
The appeal doesn’t automatically stay the public bidding period for the drilling rights, which began Jan. 3 and runs through Feb. 4. Spokesperson Andy Chow said the commission does not comment on pending litigation. However, he noted, the commission is currently working to schedule its next meeting to decide on the winning bids.
Once companies have secured drilling rights, they would be free to apply for permits to drill wells. Ohio law generally provides up to 21 days for review of those applications, except for urban areas, where a 30-day review period applies. The average review time generally has been running 15 to 18 days, Chow said. So, barring any stay from a court, well construction could start as early as this spring.
Briefing on the question wrapped up last week in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, and the state’s motion to dismiss is now ready for review by Judge Jaiza Page.
GRID: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Willie Phillips says recent winter storms highlight the need for “equitable and forward-thinking transmission solutions” to ensure long-term reliability. (Utility Dive)
ALSO: Texas’ power grid broke records for winter demand but withstood last week’s polar vortex, while a largely partisan debate continues over whether added renewables or natural gas facilities deserve more credit for avoiding outages. (Utility Dive, Inside Climate News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
CLIMATE:
WIND:
OIL & GAS:
SOLAR: Tribal nations say Washington state’s solar permitting and siting process threatens cultural resources and Indigenous foodways by relying on often-inadequate developer-sponsored archaeological surveys. (High Country News)
UTILITIES: Xcel Energy wants time-of-use rates to be the default billing system for its Minnesota residential customers, proposing to double prices for power during peak late afternoon and early evening hours. (Energy News Network)
MINING: Advocates worry that a flurry of lithium, copper and other critical material mining proposals will further strain drought-stressed Southwestern water supplies. (Inside Climate News)
CLEAN ENERGY: A Michigan lawmaker says the timing of the federal Inflation Reduction Act was a significant reason why the state passed sweeping clean energy reforms last year. (Volts)
GAS: In Maine, a proposal to curtail future gas line expansions has drawn criticism from Republican lawmakers, gas utilities and trade groups over consumer affordability and investment concerns. (Portland Press Herald)
ALSO: New York lawmakers want to end a law that requires utilities to connect new homes, businesses and industrial facilities to gas lines if they’re within 100 feet of an existing line. (Newsday)
BUILDINGS: In New York City, the final rules for building emission reduction policies at the state and local level continue to allow for wood-burning fireplaces and stoves, despite their emissions intensity. (Gothamist)
GRID: Grid tech startup NineDot Energy has raised $225 million in equity capital to develop community-scale battery storage projects in small, difficult to develop spaces in New York City. (Canary Media)
CLEAN ENERGY: A year after his swearing-in, Pennsylvania’s governor has yet to announce how the state will achieve his campaign goal of having 30% of all energy sales stem from renewable sources by 2030. (Capital & Main)
REGULATION:
NUCLEAR: The developers of a proposed data center want to build on the same site as the Millstone nuclear power plant in Connecticut and use electricity from it, but some critics have environmental, safety and flooding concerns. (CT Mirror)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A University of Delaware research team is working on new standards to help vehicle manufacturers adopt Tesla’s charging standard and make it easier to integrate vehicle-to-grid technologies. (Delaware News Journal)
SOLAR:
CLIMATE:
OFFSHORE WIND:
GRID: Texas’ power grid broke records for winter demand but withstood last week’s polar vortex, while a largely partisan debate continues over whether added renewables or natural gas facilities deserve more credit for avoiding outages. (Utility Dive, Inside Climate News)
ALSO:
POLITICS:
PIPELINES:
LITHIUM: ExxonMobil and other oil majors are beginning to return to Arkansas and other rural areas with fossil fuel histories in pursuit of lithium to supply the clean energy transition. (Grist)
SOLAR:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric vehicle owners in Virginia line up to charge their cars out of worry a cold snap could sap their batteries. (WRIC)
UTILITIES: Kentucky isn’t among the states that restrict electric utility shutoffs during freezing weather, but customers do have avenues to obtain a hardship reconnection or set up payment plans. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
COMMENTARY:
UTILITIES: Xcel Energy wants time-of-use rates to be the default billing system for its Minnesota residential customers, proposing to double prices for power during peak late afternoon and early evening hours. (Energy News Network)
WIND:
GRID:
PIPELINES:
RENEWABLES: A Michigan panel allows organizers to start collecting signatures for a ballot initiative seeking to overturn a state law giving state regulators authority over renewable energy permitting. (Bridge)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
NUCLEAR: The South Dakota House passes a bill to clarify that the governor can enter into federal agreements on nuclear power development in preparation for a new potential plant. (SDBA)
CLEAN ENERGY: A Michigan lawmaker says the timing of the federal Inflation Reduction Act was a significant reason why the state passed sweeping clean energy reforms last year. (Volts)
STORAGE:
Xcel Energy customers in Minnesota will likely soon have good reason to hold off on running dishwashers or charging vehicles until bedtime.
The state’s largest utility is asking regulators to approve a major change to how residential customers have paid for their electricity for decades.
In December, the company proposed moving away from the standard, flat hourly rate that almost all its customers currently pay and replacing it with a variable “time-of-use” rate design that charges more for power during periods of high demand.
Rates between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. weekdays would be twice the rate customers currently pay, and seven times higher than the proposed overnight “off peak” rate between 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. Other hours of the day would be charged a “base” rate.
Winter electricity would be, on average, more than 30% cheaper for base and peak rates than Xcel’s summer rates. Xcel told regulators that typical customers will pay 17.8% more for electricity in summer and 10.6% less in winter, assuming no behavioral changes in consumption. Xcel customers use roughly 20% less electricity in winter as most currently heat their homes with natural gas.
Xcel wants time-of-use to be the default billing system for all residential customers, though customers could opt-out.
The proposal follows a two-year pilot project Xcel operated in neighborhoods in suburban Eden Prairie and the Longfellow area of South Minneapolis. The company found a modest shift in customers reducing energy in peak periods, enough to support broader adoption across its Minnesota territory, according to Xcel spokesperson Theo Keith.
“This new proposal will make our successful pilot available to more customers,” he said. “During the pilot, we saw that participants saved a modest amount on their energy bills even with a modest increase in overall energy usage. Customers responded to the pilot rate design by shifting some usage away from peak times with the highest energy prices.”
The new pricing structure is possible because of Xcel’s installation of more than 500,000 smart meters that will allow customers to better track their energy use through an online portal, Keith said. The proposal also fulfills a Public Utilities Commission requirement that Xcel move to time-of-use rates, he said.
The concept has parallels with the growth of dynamic pricing by hotels, airlines, ride-hailing services and sports and entertainment tickets. California has been the leader in time-of-use utility pricing, with power companies there using it as the default for billing customers. Several other utilities nationwide have similar rate programs or are studying its potential to help prepare the grid for more electrification and renewable energy. And Xcel’s Colorado subsidiary has begun rolling out time-of-use rates there.
The utility believes that by shifting consumption to later and overnight hours, it can take advantage of the abundant wind energy typically available during those periods, Keith said. Shifting to non-peak times also helps Xcel avoid building more power plants, especially peaker plants that operate only a handful of hours annually but often create high emissions.
Xcel is part of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) regional energy market, one of two in the country forecasted to have a “capacity crunch” over the next five years, said Gabe Chan, an associate professor and energy policy expert at the University of Minnesota. He said that trying innovative approaches such as time-of-use to reduce consumption at high demand times will help balance the electric grid.
Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota executive director Annie Levenson-Falk said time-of-use rates could be more fair than the current rate because, under a flat rate, customers pay more than it costs to produce electricity in low-demand periods and less than the cost during high-demand times.
The consumer advocacy nonprofit’s Illinois affiliate found in a study “that time-of-use rates are more equitable” because lower-income households didn’t use much energy in peak periods than higher-income households, Levenson-Falk said.
Using 2016 data from Commonwealth Edison, Illinois’s largest utility company, the report showed that 97% of its customers would save money under a time-of-use plan without making any behavioral changes. They would reduce their bill by an average of 13.2%, with low-income households seeing an additional 1% savings.
Shifting electricity use to base and non-peak hours tends to reduce emissions, too, Levenson-Falk said. Wind energy is widely available at night, while solar energy tops out in the middle of the day. She said that as solar power grows in Minnesota, Xcel could adjust the peak to take advantage of the sun.
But there are drawbacks. Levenson-Falk said customers using power during peak hours will see substantial bill increases. Some low-income households may not have the ability to change consumption patterns. And customers may find it hard not to use electric stoves, heat pumps or water heaters during peaks.
“Are we going to be disincentivizing beneficial electrification?” she asked.
There’s also the problem of reducing peaks during some hours only to create them in other hours. A University of Texas study of 100 Austin homeowners using time-of-use rates found most shifted use of appliances such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment to non-peak times — so much so that they created a higher residential peak in lower-cost hours.
Xcel’s two-year “Flex Pricing” pilot study that ended in 2022 involved nearly 17,000 ratepayers in Eden Prairie and Minneapolis, with 10,000 in the time-of-use program and the rest in the control group. Working with consulting firm Guidehouse, Xcel discovered in the pilot that electricity demand during peak periods was “modest” in Eden Prairie. In Minneapolis, the same was true in the pilot’s first year before trailing off in year two.
The pilot found a small subsector of participants drove much of the reduction in energy use during peak times. Representing around 10% of the participants, these “highly engaged” customers understood time-of-use rates and made proactive decisions to decrease their electricity use.
Xcel concluded in its regulatory filing that “the demand impact was close to achieving the goal of incentivizing less energy consumption during peak times in a revenue-neutral manner.” The study saw customers increase their energy consumption slightly, shifting electricity use rather than reducing it.
Customer bills in Eden Prairie grew slightly and declined marginally in Minneapolis. Participants paid more than they would at the standard rate in summer and less in winter, but Eden Prairie did not see enough decline to make up the difference. The highly engaged participants made the most progress in seeing their bills decline yet averaged just a $4 monthly decrease.
The pilot’s income-qualified customers, mostly living in Minneapolis, saw bills reduced by 3%. Those customers were “statistically significantly more satisfied with the pilot than the general population was,” Xcel said. “This was like the response from participants who were seniors, renters, or those who use a smart thermostat.”
Matthew Grimley, a University of Minnesota researcher at the Chan Lab, said Xcel likely did not achieve more demand response because not all customers had the technology to control demand and reduce consumption, such as smart thermostats, controllable and electrified water heaters, and electric vehicles.
Xcel reported that fewer than 50% of pilot participants knew about energy efficiency kits the company made available to help them reduce energy use. Just 20% went through the process of receiving a kit. Grimley said Xcel will have to do a better job of sharing time-of-use kits for the rates to work.
Chan added that the variable rates should be only the start of a new way of thinking about how the electric grid operates. He believes giving rebates during critical peaks and using text messaging to ask customers to reduce their electricity might be “a more direct way that achieves the same goals at potentially much more effective scaling.”
Organizations and individuals can now forward comments to Xcel’s time-of-use docket. The Public Utilities Commission has not scheduled any hearings yet, but the utility hopes to begin dynamic pricing in 2025.
CLEAN ENERGY: Virginia lawmakers consider legislation to make way for more clean energy produced by customers and third-party wind and solar to increase market competition and lower rates as the state aims to meet clean energy goals. (Energy News Network)
ALSO: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp tells leaders at the World Economic Forum that his state needs more clean energy to attract economic projects such as the electric vehicle and battery factories that have settled there. (Associated Press)
CLIMATE:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
OIL & GAS:
GRID: Experts say Texas’ renewable-energy building spree has strengthened the state power grid so that it’s better prepared to handle extreme winter weather. (Washington Post)
PIPELINES: Mountain Valley Pipeline developers adjust plans for its proposed Southgate spur into North Carolina, shortening the extension by more than half but widening its diameter and capacity. (Inside Climate News)
COAL:
HYDROGEN: Federal officials award a $70 million grant to build hydrogen fueling stations at Texas truck stops. (Texas Standard)
OVERSIGHT: Georgia regulators seem skeptical of Georgia Power’s request to buy more energy and build new batteries and gas turbines to meet the news of a surging state economy they say has produced 40 years’ worth of growth in just two years. (WABE)
COMMENTARY:
NUCLEAR: U.S. Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri says the country should not expand nuclear power until it can address the health and environmental harms caused by existing nuclear waste, including in her predominantly Black St. Louis-area district. (Missouri Independent)
SOLAR:
WIND: Last week’s high winds that accompanied winter storms created record output for MidAmerican Energy’s Iowa wind farms. (Radio Iowa)
OIL & GAS:
UTILITIES:
AIR QUALITY: Michigan environmental justice and health care groups back a lawsuit challenging the U.S. EPA’s decision to label metro Detroit in compliance with federal ozone standards. (Michigan Advance)
RENEWABLES: Michigan’s top energy regulator downplays concerns about a new law allowing state approval of renewable energy projects, saying local input will still play a key role in decision making. (9&10 News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
GRID: Omaha Public Power District customers played a key role by conserving energy this week as the utility’s four coal units were offline during frigid weather. (World-Herald)
CLEAN ENERGY: A new report challenges assumptions that the global cost of the clean energy transition will be astronomical, but rather much less when accounting for the loss in fossil fuel spending. (Inside Climate News)
BIOFUELS: Iowa’s congressional delegation joins eight Midwestern governors in a letter calling on the Biden administration to allow year-round sales of higher blends of ethanol. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
COMMENTARY: A researcher says the U.S. corn belt would be better served by large solar installations to power electric vehicles than inefficient ethanol production to power internal combustion vehicles. (The New Republic)
OIL & GAS: California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes ending some longstanding tax breaks for oil and gas producers, saying it would save the state up to $22 million annually. (Politico)
ALSO:
SOLAR:
WIND: Washington state regulators are slated next week to consider a proposed 600-1,100 MW wind power facility in the southern part of the state. (Center Square)
STORAGE: A company breaks ground on a 312-battery energy storage system in Phoenix, Arizona. (Arizona Republic)
OVERSIGHT: A Utah lawmaker introduces legislation aimed at allowing the state not to comply with federal regulations it doesn’t like, giving the U.S. EPA’s ozone transport rule as an example. (Utah News Dispatch)
NUCLEAR: A Washington state lawmaker introduces legislation that would provide tax incentives for nuclear power equipment manufacturers. (Center Square)
UTILITIES: Colorado natural gas utilities plan to rely on energy efficiency, demand response and biofuels to achieve state-mandated greenhouse gas emissions reductions. (S&P Global)
HYDROPOWER: U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Washington state Republican, looks to use a federal infrastructure bill to block a proposal to breach four Northwest hydropower dams. (Idaho Statesman)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
TRANSITION: An activated carbon air and water purification manufacturer establishes a facility in northwest New Mexico as part of an effort to diversify the region’s fossil fuel-reliant economy. (Daily Times)
ELECTRIFICATION: Palo Alto, California, stops enforcing a ban on natural gas hookups in new construction following a court order axing Berkeley’s similar rule. (Daily Post)
COAL: Montana utility observers ask why the Colstrip coal plant remained offline during a recent cold snap even as utilities had to import power to keep the lights on. (Missoula Current)
GRID: Another severe winter storm pounds utility equipment in the Northwest, leaving more than 40,000 customers without power in Portland, Oregon. (KGW)
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