Utility Dive

Shortages of skilled labor and equipment, as well as local opposition, are threatening even high profile projects backed by big tech companies. Developers are responding by embracing flexibility and alternative technologies once considered too unwieldy.

Inclusive investment is a mechanism enabling distributed resources to scale beyond affluent early adopters, creating a broader pathway for virtual power plants, writes Zuha Maryam Shaikh at Clean Energy Works.

Many improved their performance through building upgrades and energy-efficiency measures like lighting upgrades, envelope work, installing heat pumps or implementing energy management systems, a city official said.

Federal regulatory actions are allowing on-site generators at data centers and other power plants to release dangerous emissions with fewer checks, according to the Environmental Protection Network.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should reject the proposal, in part because it would stifle markets, the Southwest Power Pool’s market monitor said.

Lithium batteries and solar, wind and hydroelectric renewable generation were selected in the state’s first bulk energy storage procurement and its 2025 Tier 1 Renewable Energy Standard solicitation.

 The AI boom is here. Can utilities plan fast enough to power it?

Six strategies to turn commercial buildings into reliable grid assets fast.

The decision in a suit brought by Harris County, Texas, follows a similar ruling last week. A Harris County judge called it “a really important victory for energy resilience.”

The decision affects a 750-MW, mixed technology project in Virginia, which Oklo said would be delayed by at least 18 months if it misses the current interconnection cycle.

Increasing use of AI systems to manage public utilities creates new risks for critical infrastructure, regulators said.

EPRI’s Jackie Baum says microgrids have to do more than sit idle for emergencies. “The majority of the time, the power is on,” she said, urging utilities to use those resources.

The commission’s jurisdiction over transmission governance allows it to modify filing-rights allocations and adjust the PJM Interconnection’s nominating committee, writes Harvard Law’s Ari Peskoe.

A 1.8-GW, $20 billion data center planned by PowerHouse Hillwood was underpinned by a $1 letter of credit — “less than the price of a cup of coffee” — that drew skepticism from FERC Commissioner David LaCerte.

Large-load tariffs and other measures to weed out speculative projects are taking shape. Public backlash to data centers, shifting state-level policies and the utility profit model are complicating those efforts, stakeholders say.

The report arrives as the energy storage industry faces headwinds from tariffs, Treasury regulations and new White House restrictions on foreign-made bulk electrical components.

Programs that serve broad public purposes should be financed through state general funds rather than hidden in your electric bill, writes Marc Brown at the Consumer Energy Alliance.

Bills signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom include regulations aimed at ensuring data centers pay for infrastructure needed to serve them and bear a larger share of wildfire mitigation and liability costs.

The order called out Duke’s commitment to the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge, saying the utility had not established the specific extent to which the proposed facility is intended to serve data centers.

The complaint at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is part of a trend of states seeking to end an extra 0.5% return utilities can earn for voluntarily joining a transmission organization.