Good morning and welcome to a brand new week. The long weekend wasn’t exactly restful for utility pros—why do outages always happen on weekends and holidays? We may never know.
But Decatur Utilities at least worked overtime battling a new kind of foe: A five-and-a-half-foot snake wiggled its way into a substation and stretched between two pieces of essential equipment, triggering an outage for a third of the Alabama utility’s customers. Never a dull moment, right?
— Molly, Carrie, and the Energy Central editorial team
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Congress is racing to push permitting reform through before fall. Can it make the dream a reality?
It takes around five years, on average, for generation and transmission projects to move through review—a major hold-up for a grid in desperate need of new gigawatts (and transmission lines) to meet a tsunami of demand. “The current permitting system is broken,” Xan Fishman, vice president of energy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told Energy Central over email.
The fix? To cut through all that red tape ASAP, Congress is racing to broker a deal on federal permitting reform by its August recess.
Quick context: Why does the permitting process take so long? It’s “fractured across federal, state, and local authorities, and it attracts litigation that can last a long time with uncertain outcomes,” Tom Sharp, director of permitting intelligence at analytics firm Arbo, told us via email.
That litigation often stems from federal rules like the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Water Act, which were intended to safeguard US ecosystems and communities. These court battles can add years to the process and even kill some projects.
So, what’s the progress on permitting reform now? In recent years, the House has introduced a flurry of bills. Roll the tape:
You’ve got the SPEED Act, which aims to streamline NEPA and cut down litigation.
There’s also the PERMIT Act, which has similar goals for the Clean Water Act.
Both are sitting in the Senate but aren’t likely to pass, Sharp and Fishman agreed.
What’s more likely: A deal that wraps up these goals (along with accelerating the transmission buildout) into one hefty package. Senate committees are in negotiations right now, Fishman said. This potential deal would likely also tackle President Trump’s crusade against renewable projects, he added.
These talks have run into some speed bumps, but the stakes are high to wrap things up by next month’s Congressional recess: “If we don’t get this done, energy costs are going to rise and chances of blackouts will increase,” Fishman said.
Weekend wind and storms pummeled the Northeast and Midwest, leaving thousands without power.
The numbers: 454K customers across PA, NY, NJ, CT, and MI were still without power as of last night after severe weather took down trees and power lines this weekend. Thousands more in the midwest and southeast are facing power outages due to severe heat, bringing the total close to 1 million homes and businesses without power across the country.
On Friday, PJM directed customers in emergency electricity-reduction programs to limit their power use amid generator outages, overloaded transmission lines, and surges in A/C usage as temps soared.
Complicating things: The $6 billion Champlain Hudson Power Express transmission line (which started delivering power from Quebec to New York on June 1) went down Wednesday and Thursday. The line isn’t yet essential to the state’s power—but NYISO certainly needs all the power it can get, especially during extreme heat.
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The end of federal clean energy tax credits could mean higher PPA prices, experts warn.
July 4 meant more than fireworks: Independence Day was the deadline for wind and solar projects to kick off construction in order to secure investment and production tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act.
Meaning? The price of PPAs for projects no longer eligible for IRA tax credits could spike, according to industry experts. “It’s kind of a shift from the taxpayer to the ratepayer to make up that delta,” one analyst noted to Utility Dive.
Putting the pressure on utilities and developers: Camelot Energy Group said a 200-MW solar facility with a 30% investment tax credit would need a PPA “in the $40 to $45 per MWh range. But if you’re non-tax advantaged, no ITC basis, then you’re basically pushing mid-to-high $60s.”
Amid a major heat wave, PECO workers went on strike for the first time after labor agreement negotiations collapsed.
The demands: PECO’s 1,600 unionized workers have been negotiating with the utility since January, asking for 1) industry-standard wages 2) pension and health benefits for newer employees and 3) retirement benefits based on gross payroll.
PECO management has offered a nearly 20% wage increase over five years, but the union says its workers earn 30% less than their peers.
Zoom out: On June 1, a PECO rate increase that upped monthly household bills by around $5 went into effect. That money does not go to workers, a union spokesperson said.
Ever wondered what your favorite World Cup team would be as…an energy source? Same.
So? Energy Central Editor Molly Glick morphed her energy analysis and sports analysis skills—and made the argument that Brazil is the nuclear of the World Cup. Want to know what other powerhouse, underdog, and wild card teams would be in the generation mix?
Did you know: Over 80% of installed DER capacity isn't enrolled in a virtual power plant. The technology is ready. The economics are pretty compelling. What's missing? The regulatory alignment and system-wide planning to go from good idea to grid-altering tech.
Learn what it takes to make that a reality courtesy of Audrey Zibelman, former CEO of AEMO, former Chair of the NYPSC, and former exec at Alphabet's X moonshot factory.
Disconnected network data is slowing utilities down. Learn how leading teams unify GIS, connect field to office, and improve speed and accuracy with this practical white paper—tap into the insights here.
Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow for more.