Energy Exchange: Electricity pricing
Clean energy bill is key to reinvigorating Illinois’ post-COVID economy
3 years 11 months ago
When the Illinois General Assembly met last week, lawmakers addressed the COVID-19 crisis among other priorities. This is, above all, a public health crisis and a human tragedy. More than 100,000 people in the state have been infected with this virus, and heartbreakingly more than 4,000 Illinoisans have lost their lives to it. We salute […]
Christie Hicks
Public health crisis underscores need to protect vulnerable Texans. Here’s how the PUC is responding.
4 years 1 month ago
As Texans contend with the threat of the COVID-19 virus and an economic downturn, the state’s Public Utility Commission has adopted a proposal to prevent customers from having their power shut off in the midst of the current crisis. Chairman DeAnn Walker initially put forward a set of policies on Tuesday to protect the state’s […]
John Hall
What if gadgets talked to the grid to cut carbon? With this new technology, they can.
5 years 5 months ago
Having breakfast at a local restaurant last weekend, I was sitting next to parents who were desperately trying to get their toddler to eat the pancakes he had ordered a few minutes earlier. Watching the high-stakes drama, it occurred to me that toddlers are a bit like our electric grid: They can change drastically at […]
Andy Bilich
3 reasons Texas’ electric grid survived a summer that pushed its limits
5 years 6 months ago
As the hot summer approached, Texas leaders expressed concern about potential blackouts and brownouts. Yet, thoughtful planning, a functional electricity market and clean energy helped ensure the lights stayed on. Power outage concerns Hotter temperatures and continued population and commercial growth drove record electricity demand this past summer. Additionally, in early 2018, Luminant (now Vistra) […]
Kim Rainwater
100% by 2045: California evaluates one of the nation’s biggest clean energy goals
5 years 10 months ago
It’s summertime in California, and one thing that means is lots of sunshine. Lucky for us, the Golden State is a national leader in turning that sunshine, and other renewable resources, into electricity to power homes and business across the state. Currently, the state is working to produce 50 percent of its electricity from clean […]
Lauren Navarro
East Coast meets West Coast style – how 2 states are advancing clean energy
5 years 11 months ago
By Rory Christian, Lauren Navarro Cities and states are taking the initiative to address climate change independently from the federal administration. With unique political contexts and environmental needs, each local authorities’ policies address specific climate challenges. California’s new landmark mandate, requiring solar panels on new home constructions, and New York’s ongoing Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) […]
EDF Blogs
Dear FirstEnergy, America doesn’t need your coal plants
5 years 11 months ago
Why do grocers mark down the price of asparagus in the spring, or strawberries in the summer? Because they’re in season and stores have excess supply, and they need to increase demand by cutting prices. The lower prices are a sign, or “price signal,” of excess supply, and the grocers are following the economic law […]
John Finnigan
Recommendations for a resilient grid, no federal coal bailout required
5 years 11 months ago
By Michael Panfil, Rama Zakaria In the past year, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has used the issue of grid resilience as cover for an aggressive campaign to funnel a multi-billion-dollar yearly bailout to the owners of old, uneconomic coal and nuclear power plants. Although this DOE effort was rightly rejected by the Federal […]
EDF Blogs
Fundamentals should guide FERC on PJM’s misguided state policy proposal
5 years 11 months ago
Federal regulators are currently considering a proposal that could fundamentally alter how our nation’s power markets work in tandem with state-crafted public policies. The change being considered, submitted by the nation’s largest grid operator, PJM, would increase electricity prices and undermine state policies in the 13 states and D.C. where PJM operates. Today, Environmental Defense […]
Michael Panfil
New study answers the question, ‘What is grid resilience?’
5 years 11 months ago
By Rama Zakaria, Michael Panfil Whether or not our electric grid is “resilient,” and what if anything should be done to make the grid more resilient, has been a topic of intense scrutiny in the past year. The stakes in this debate reached new dimensions last fall with a highly controversial proposal by Sec. Rick […]
EDF Blogs
Clean energy bill: A roadmap for New Jersey
6 years ago
Today, New Jersey lawmakers will be voting on a “Clean Energy Bill,” a piece of legislation that can help the state transition to a 21st-century clean energy economy, and set us on a path to becoming a national clean energy leader once again. Gov. Phil Murphy’s pledge to source 100 percent of the state’s electricity […]
Mary Barber
California’s disadvantaged communities could benefit from time-of-use electricity prices, but it won’t happen automatically.
6 years 2 months ago
By Lauren Navarro, senior policy manager, and Jamie Fine, senior economist It’s no secret that California is a clean energy leader. The state is on track to meet its renewable energy goals, with many utilities hitting targets ahead of schedule. In order to transition to a system that can handle increased levels of clean energy […]
EDF Blogs
Clean energy – not natural gas – drove decarbonization in 2017
6 years 2 months ago
Despite attempts by the Trump administration and the coal industry to limit clean energy in favor of fossil fuels – including a tariff on solar energy, a thinly-disguised bailout for coal and nuclear power plants (that was rightly rejected), and a dramatic proposed cut to energy research – we are accelerating the transition to a […]
Andy Bilich
Utilities planning to move Californians to time-of-use pricing need solutions for low-income customers
6 years 3 months ago
By Andy Bilich, clean energy analyst, and Jamie Fine, senior economist Last month, all three of California’s major investor-owned utilities submitted applications to the California Public Utilities Commission detailing their respective strategies for how to transition residential customers to time-of-use pricing. Time-of-use pricing, if done right, is a low-cost strategy to help meet California’s climate […]
EDF Blogs
DOE’s compensation scheme for coal and nuclear is dead – Now what?
6 years 3 months ago
In a January 8 Order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) swiftly dismissed the Department of Energy’s (DOE) proposed out-of-market compensation scheme for coal and nuclear units. DOE’s proposal would have provided guaranteed profits to coal and nuclear plants, despite the fact that these aging units are losing out to more efficient and […]
Natalie Karas
FERC’s rejection of DOE’s pro-coal and nuclear proposal shows evidence can still trump politics
6 years 3 months ago
Last week the Midwest and northeastern United States experienced an historic cold snap that tested our nation’s electric grid. Like last year’s solar eclipse, unprecedented wildfires in California, and extreme flooding after Hurricane Harvey, this year’s “bomb cyclone” has not created a reliability crisis. In fact, it appears based on the evidence thus far that […]
Michael Panfil
Data reveals real-time electricity pricing would help nearly all ComEd customers save money
6 years 5 months ago
Over the past few years, Illinois has taken great strides to not only modernize its electric grid, but also to provide people and businesses with access to energy data. In February, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) approved the release of anonymous, aggregate energy-use data on a large scale, broken out in half-hour increments, 24 hours […]
Dick Munson
How clean energy just overtook coal in this competitive electricity market
6 years 5 months ago
Look around the U.S. and you’ll find plenty of examples of smart policy that is driving the adoption of cleaner, more efficient energy resources. In particular, California, New York, and Illinois are all leveraging policy to reduce carbon pollution and transition to a 21st century electric grid. But in addition to those success stories, markets […]
John Hall
If we don’t talk about water, are we really talking about resiliency?
6 years 6 months ago
It’s time to rely on water-smart power Energy Secretary Rick Perry is trying to prop up coal and nuclear companies under the guise of enhanced “resiliency.” The Department of Energy’s (DOE) proposal does not define resiliency, nor does it even make clear what resiliency means in the context of the electric grid. Resiliency in the […]
Kate Zerrenner
Department of Energy's proposal to FERC: Too many costs, no actual benefits
6 years 6 months ago
By Natalie Karas, Michael Panfil, and Rama Zakaria Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Rick Perry recently proposed that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) provide new revenues and guaranteed profits to the owners of inefficient and aging coal and nuclear power plants at the expense of American homeowners and businesses. These aging units are losing […]
EDF Blogs
Checked
2 hours 6 minutes ago